5 Times WWE Superstars allegedly copied other wrestlers' finishing moves (and what happened next?)

A finishing move is one of the most important aspects of a wrestler's overall presentation inside the squared circle. Ever since pro-wrestling came into being, wrestlers have come up with a long string of innovative finishing moves, that they use as a final blow to put down their opponent and pick up the win. With every WWE Superstar needing a finisher for their in-ring contests, situations were bound to arise where a wrestler used someone's move or ended up doing a variation of the same that looked a lot like it.

In these situations, the ones that previously used the move or were using it at the time weren't thrilled with their finishers being used by someone else.

In the following list, we will take a look at five Superstars who felt that someone was copying their moves to the T, or a certain degree, and their reaction to the same.

#5 Kurt Angle was angry at Jack Swagger and Randy Orton for using his finishers

Back when Kurt Angle wasn't a WWE Superstar anymore and was wrestling elsewhere, he once noticed that Jack Swagger was using the Ankle Lock on WWE TV. In another instance, Angle noticed that WWE veteran Randy Orton used his signature Angle Slam move on his opponent. This angered him and the Olympic gold medalist didn't mince his words while talking about the same.

“When Jack Swagger copies my ankle lock and Randy Orton does my Angle Slam, it’s disrespectful. I didn’t come up with the Ankle Lock, Ken Shamrock came up with the Ankle Lock but I waited until he retired to do the Ankle Lock. That company has no respect for me.”

Angle would improve relations with WWE down the line and be then inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017. He went on to become the WWE RAW GM and was a part of several matches. His last outing came at WrestleMania 35, where he was defeated by King Corbin.

#4 DDP asks Triple H to stop using the Diamond Cutter

WWE legend Triple H had a brief stint in WCW in the 90s before he made his way to WWE in 1995. Soon After Triple H debuted in WWE, he began using the Diamond Cutter. Around the same time, DDP was popularizing the move over in WCW, and he decided to call Triple H to talk about the situation.

I didn't force Triple H to stop using the move, but I asked him if he could stop doing it as his shot as a favor. He said there was no problem and he never used it again because we were friends. That says a lot about Triple H. He is a close friend and a classy person.

Triple H adopted the Pedigree soon after, and the rest is history. The Pedigree quickly became one of the most devastating moves in all of WWE and was instrumental in Triple H becoming one of the biggest Superstars in WWE history. Both Triple H and DDP are WWE Hall of Famers today, courtesy of their contributions towards the business as in-ring performers.

#3 Billy Kidman confronts Paul London and accuses him of stealing his finishing move

Paul London and Billy Kidman were once Tag Team partners on WWE TV and went on to have a rivalry on WWE SmackDown. It seems like the duo wasn't fond of each other in real life as well. At one time, London and Brian Kendrick were doing a variation of the Shooting Star Press, and Kidman wasn't happy.

And I remember [Billy] Kidman coming up to me, and he said, 'Hey man! You're gonna steal my move every night?! You're gonna keep stealing my move every night?!' I just looked at him and said, 'Do you do a running Shooting Star off the back?' He goes, 'uh... well no, but...' I go, 'Well... yeah.'

Billy Kidman used to perform the Shooting Star Press on his opponents, and WWE once weaved a storyline around the move about how it was incredibly dangerous for his opponents. As for London and Kendrick's move, the latter used to get on all fours, while London would jump off him and perform the move on their opponents.

#2 Chris Jericho slams The Revival for using a variation of the Codebreaker

This happened in 2014 when Chris Jericho was on a WWE hiatus. Around the same time, FTR fka The Revival started performing a move that looked like Jericho's Codebreaker. It was essentially a Flapjack-Codebreaker variation, and they kept doing the move even after Jericho made his return to WWE TV. Jericho went on to post a tweet dubbing The Revival as "indie guys" who were disrespectful towards him.

Cash Wheeler didn't take this kindly and proceeded to apologize to Marufuji, a wrestler who had been using the move way before Chris Jericho adopted it while wrestling in WWE. After their WWE exit earlier this year, The Revival appeared on Chris Jericho's podcast, and the trio discussed the incident in detail. Jericho and The Revival made it clear that there were no hard feelings on both sides, and all was forgotten. Today, both Chris Jericho and FTR are a part of All Elite Wrestling and are doing well for themselves in the promotion.

#1 John Cena tells several Superstars to not perform moves similar to the AA

John Cena started using the AA way back in 2003, as a way to mock Brock Lesnar, whose finisher was the F-5. Years later, Cena's move had become an integral part of his arsenal and used to garner a big pop whenever he executed it. A short while ago, it was reported that John Cena had told several WWE Superstars backstage that if their finishers looked somewhat like the AA, they needed to stop using those moves. Cena also confronted Tyler Reks once, who was performing a move that looked similar to the AA.

Tyler Reks told me a story one time about how he went through the curtain after doing his inverted death valley driver (the burning hammer) and John Cena didn't go off on him but as like, 'What is that? That's too similar to my move. Don't do it again.'

And I have actually heard that about multiple people as it pertains to John Cena and their finishing move that if it looked similar to his, then he was like don't do it.

John Cena was with WWE for almost two decades and popularized the AA as one of the most effective finishers in recent memory. He won a total of 16 WWE World titles during his run, and many of those victories came with the help of the AA.

Edited by Alan John