Welcome to another edition of #FinisherFriday! This is Wreddit_Regal giving my thoughts on the most daring of daredevils' finisher.
In today's era of professional wrestling, an aspiring competitor can do around three things to make their name stick on the audience's minds. One is to be technically sound in your in-ring skills and psychology...
Another is to develop your promo or mic skills...
And the last route is to turn yourself into a human ragdoll, or "spot monkey" in local wrestling slang:
A wrestler could definitely incorporate all three of these elements and become a well-rounded athlete, but for independent wrestlers who are constantly seeking to be noticed by the big leagues, sometimes the most high-risk, high-reward option for them is to prioritize the ability to do death-defying acrobatic stunts (and living to do the same stuff tomorrow). Arguably, this is how Jack Evans made his way from the local indies up to the AEW roster:
Despite his flops in the past (pun intended), he has shown great promo work and sound technical wrestling prowess in his matches as time passed by, and he has proven that he belongs in the big leagues.
Now what piqued my attention is his finisher, which is a combination of two aerial moves. The first is Hayabusa's Phoenix Splash:
And the second is the 630 senton (which Sportskeeda credits him as the inventor):
The result? A move that defies the laws of physics.
Since this move is a fusion of two maneuvers, it definitely faces the problem of not having enough "hangtime" (as in the case of the first GIF). Also, making the decision of having the posterior or the back hit the opponent isn't fully in Jack's control, since he started the aerial maneuver not looking at the distance between the corner turnbuckle and the opponent. (For further info regarding the mechanics of a splash and a senton, please refer to this article.)
Using my Regal Rating, I'd give it a:
12/10 for aesthetics. I'm no Meltzer, but when it's evident that the move is crazy, then you break your own scale. Combining two aerial moves into one, using the SAME hangtime, and actually completing the move, is a beast on another level.
4/10 for practicality. I'm a sucker for "spot monkey" spots, but when you are a wrestler who wants to win with the least risk, you'd naturally erase this move from your list (or curse yourself that you even thought of this move in the first place). If you are the embodiment of ragdoll physics like Jack, it's likely that you'd live another day after botching one of these, but you'd be better off without this on your arsenal.
And that's it chaps, my review of the Phoenix 630! How are you liking the duo of Jack Evans and Angelico on AEW Dynamite so far? Let us know in the comment section below!
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Wreddit_Regal is the resident sports kinesiologist of Reddit's wrestling forum, r/squaredcircle. From the most basic of punches to the most intricate double-team maneuvers, he can explain them within the realm of human anatomy and physics, because when doing absolutely nothing wrestling-related, he also happens to work as an operating room nurse.
