Greg Anthony’s The Golden Circle: Frankensteiner!!!
Posted by flairwhoooooo on February 7, 2010
By Greg Anthony
It was a cold October night when I saw Scott Steiner debut The Frankensteiner during Halloween Havoc. I had just witnessed the greatest move in wrestling. It was athletic and powerful, smooth but devastating. The Steiners were very innovative and this was Scott’s Sistine Chapel. Now fast forward to 2010, is there any move that could make me feel that way again?
Let me clarify, as most already know, I’m more interested in the storytelling process of a match than the moves there within. However the moves themselves are important. What would Stone Cold be without The Stunner, or is there a move the embodies Shawn Michaels more than The Superkick? Having the right move can also tell a story of your personality.
Over the last 20 years we have become so desensitized to moves. Well actually we’ve become desensitized to life. The Frankensteiner was new; I’d never seen a headscissors that ended with a DDT like bump before, it blew my mind. I thought “What else is possible?” The Frankensteiner was innovation and revolutionary but most of all it was safe.
The industry now has this misconception that for something to be cool, then someone has to die. In the late 90s, I started seeing a lot of brainbusters being used in various places. It’s not hard to pick someone up in a suplex then drop them on their head. For awhile I had forgot how safe the brainbuster could be the way Koko B. Ware or Dick Murdoch used it. Some things need to change… back.
I’m not saying we should “devolve” as a business but we can for sure be safer. The business can only strive with talent individuals at the helm. What will happen to the business if the ones with all the talent are dropped on their heads by some goof who created a new move on Smackdown vs. Raw 2010? If the story is there then you don’t need a Three Flip Springboard Cradle Piledriver with a Bridge… I promise.
hbknomore said
I completley agree with this article. Ive noticed lattly, you never see a standing suplex anymore. Hold them up, “and let the blood rush to their heads” and drop them. All you see is snap suplexes. I thing the standing and delayed suplex is a lost moves, that still looks good for such as tv, and audience appeal.
AAPW said
Come to an AAPW event and there is a good chance you will see a standing vertical suplex. Carnage uses it on occasion. The move is used by bigger/stronger wrestlers mostly. Many wrestlers today barely are over 200 pounds.