Welcome to another edition of #FinisherFriday! This is Wreddit_Regal giving my thoughts on one unique but efficient finisher.
Dragon Gate's Masato Yoshino doesn't have the moniker "Speed Star" for nothing. In all of his matches, he runs on the fastest speed achievable by humans from start to finish, seemingly unable to get slowed down. If you think purebred luchadores are the fastest wrestlers in the whole world, then you'd be shocked to see this guy in action.
Truth be told, the first match in which I saw Yoshino's talent get showcased was at the World X Cup match at Victory Road 2008, in which he was the last wrestler to get eliminated. If you haven't watched this gem of a match, please do, so that you'd understand why I have put him in such a high pedestal in this article:
With his high-octane way of performing in matches, all of his arsenal are also high-paced. Some of these moves are:
Slingblade
Torbellino
Ude Yoshino
And this article's topic, the Lightning Spiral
...wait, how did he do that move again? Let's take another look:
If you're still confused with the move process, let me break the move into chunks:
- The attacker starts with the Olympic/Angle slam position
- Clutching the opponent's left leg, the attacker swings the leg backwards
- The attacker starts to swing the leg forward, in quick fashion
- As the leg reaches its highest point, the attacker swings his entire body to the left, as if performing a scoop powerslam like Randy Orton
- With this motion, the attacker continues to raise the opponent's leg upwards, in order to flip the opponent's whole body. Upon completion of the move, the opponent's head and neck is violently driven first to the mat
This is a very clever technique with which one can perform a maneuver with the same degree of destructiveness as your typical piledriver or brainbuster. In my opinion, Yoshino's way is only second to the simplest piledriver known to man, the small package piledriver:
Using my trusty Regal Rating, I'd give this finisher
9/10 for aesthetics. I'm a sucker for spinning stuff, so this automatically gets a high rating for me. Plus, the move is done in the quickest fashion. No delays, no telegraph to the audience, which means the opponent doesn't have ample time to react or to make a counter. Heck, this move could even be performed as a counter:
8/10 for damage. The main selling point of a piledriver is that the attacker puts some force or weight into driving the opponent's head onto the canvas. With the Lightning Spiral, it looks like most of the force is focuses on flipping the opponent, and not actually on the piledriving aspect.
And that's it chaps, my take on the Lightning Spiral! If by any chance Masato Yoshino became a free agent, in what promotion would you like him to appear? Let us know in the comment section below!
*****
: Lightning Spiral){kind=link}