This topic was inspired by recent discussion about Kurt Angle and his "formula" of matches during the later half of his WWE run.
A phrase we like to throw around pretty haphazardly is "killing someone's finisher," and I honestly feel like its a bit overused. I'm curious if you could rattle off some famous/modern examples of people's careers that were never the same after a specific match where one wrestler kicked out of another's finisher (perhaps multiple times, even).
Also, for fun, what are the most protected finishers in Wrestling history? Daniel Bryan's "Knee Plus" (have they called it that on TV yet?) is the most protected move I can think of when it comes to the current main roster.
HHH's pedigree is obviously the most protected, followed closely by Orton's punt. Typically the main event guys can kick out of each other's finishes with impunity and it's no big deal, but the finisher killing is more of a concern in the midcard. If, say, Dolph Ziggler only has the Zig Zag as a big finish and guys start kicking out of it, that doesn't leave him with much. Like, for example, Miz beat a couple of guys with the figure-four, and then it stopped working and now it's nothing more than a quick submission attempt and a chance for fans to go "woo". John Cena has kicked out of a ton of finishes, but on the flipside when he DIDN'T kick out of the flying knee it was suddenly a meaningful finish.
That being said, it's incredibly easy to rehab a finisher: Just book the guy to beat some people with it and it'll get over. The Brogue Kick was a transition move that became a deadly finisher, and ditto for the Bullhammer elbow. It's not rocket surgery.
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