The Lariat - Who Did It Best?

#3 JBL

JBL had a long and storied career of hitting people as hard as humanly possible

John ‘Bradshaw’ Layfield is a controversial figure in WWE history. He was known as a ‘policeman’ in WWE, which is someone who enforces the rules and traditions of the company and punishes transgressors. In his matches, JBL would often wrestle in an intentionally-stiff style, hitting wrestlers as hard as possible.

Though most of his moves were painful-looking, none of them were more so than his Clothesline From Hell (which is actually a lariat and not a clothesline). Like many of his fellow Texans, JBL believed in genuine toughness and hitting people hard, which came through with his vicious finisher.

What made it stand out so much was JBL’s stiffness: unlike most wrestlers in WWE, JBL was said to hit wrestlers as hard as possible, sometimes to see if they had what it took to survive in WWE (and sometimes to punish someone for some previous mistake). Even when he was playing a heel, fans would either cheer or go ‘OOOOHH’ because the strike looked and sounded incredibly painful.