What’s Your Favorite Move?

Being a wrestling columnist isn’t a piece of cake, contrary to what I believed before I began my time here on PWPonderings. I’m sure most of the people who write for the column section of this website will tell you that making sure your article is a literary masterpiece is only half the battle; generating the topic of your column will tear your mind to shreds. This week in particular has been a grind. There are so many possibilities, so many topics, not enough substance. My mind will bat away literary ideas like hanging changeups, to the point of infuriation. “You’re obsessed with wrestling, you can’t possibly have writer’s block,” my mind will say, challenging my treasured fandom of the art of pro wrestling. Then, after hours of frustration, I reached this foolproof plan to cranking out a wrestling column: keep it simple.

And with that, I ask you this: what’s your favorite wrestling move?

Whether someone has been a wrestling fan for a week or a lifetime, one maneuver should rise above all the rest in their minds. Some like the more flashy moves, leaning toward acrobatic feats like the 630 Splash or the Shooting Star Press. Others prefer the brutal moves that show incredible strength and power, the F5 or the Jackhammer for instance. All of us, for whatever reason, take a liking to certain wrestling maneuver. It’s the right to your own personal preference. Isn’t it beautiful?

Oh, you want to know mine, huh? I can see it in your body language; you just can’t wait to know what move your courageous columnist holds dear to him, the move that makes him leap from his chair with mark-like glee. Calm down, my readers (do you exist?), I’ll reveal my most cherished move to you free of charge.

My favorite move is the dropkick.

Simple, right? Out of the vast array of moves in the wrestling world, spanning from moves that share their names with skateboarding tricks to piledrivers that would kill a mere mortal, why would I pick a move that simple and overused? Well, in the words of Bob Marley, “judge not.” I have a

reason for fancying it, and it’s not too complicated. The dropkick isn’t only badass … but it’s pretty, okay?

Invented by Abe Coleman, the dropkick shares a trait with the late “Hebrew Hercules”—it’s old. Through the years, though, the move has been anything but a bystander to change. Once essentially just a back bump combined with two stiff boots to the face, the dropkick has evolved from a rather ugly maneuver to the graceful show of skill that we see in the ring today. You’ll notice that the dropkicks of the 1970’s, while much prettier than the original incarnation of the move decades earlier, are much less refined that their 80’s adaption, and that is a continuing trend. When I began being intensely interested in the WWE, I saw guys like Randy Orton and Hardcore Holly jump to incredible heights and essentially do a back flip from their opponents’ faces. Nowadays, Dolph Ziggler throws one of the most impressive dropkicks in wrestling, and you can’t forget about AJ Styles. The dropkick is impressive, no one can deny that. (Well, maybe if you’re looking at John Cena’s attempt at it. She’s not a beauty, but hey, at least he tries.)

Aside from the visual aspects of the dropkick, the move can be devastating. No other move is quite like a dropkick when another wrestler is rebounding off the ropes. It stops them dead in their tracks, whipping their head back into the mat. Like mentioned above, AJ Styles and Dolph Ziggler both sport some of the most impressive dropkicks in the business, and they are particularly superb when they're delivered to a running opponent. Hardcore Holly had it down to an art. So I guess it’s the combination of both brute force and beauty that originally drew me to the dropkick, and that still rings true today.

But hey, that’s just me. I am in no way trying to convince you to hold the dropkick to such a high regard, like I do. Everyone has their own favorite move; they have the right to like whatever they want. Maybe I think a little too far into my favorite move, but I also think a little too far into many aspects of professional wrestling, so sue me.

Feel free to leave your comments, and explain to me why your favorite move is so special to you.