Pro Wrestling Legend Blasts Today's Talent For Overusing High-Impact Moves

Modern-day pro wrestling has seen a lot of performers use a lot of high-impact maneuvers to keep fans oohing throughout the match, but industry legend Jake "The Snake" Roberts is frustrated with it.

Roberts revealed as much on a recent episode of his "The Snake Pit" podcast to air out his grievances about performers relying too heavily on finishers that do not end the match.

"What kills me is they'll go out and do all these horrible [explicit] crazy unbelievable spectacular moves and nobody gets beat by one of them, but they get beat by the most vicious hold in wrestling, the schoolboy. I hate that," Roberts mentioned.

"God damn I hate that, and shame on you guys for doing the schoolboy you lazy, [expletive]. Has your [expletive] ego gotten so big that you won't [expletive] get beat by the guy's best maneuver? That's what I want to get beat by."

Both WWE and rival promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) are guilty of having matches that fans would call "spot-fests"–referring to times when performers would have highlight-reel moments throughout.

One AEW match that is guilty of doing exactly what Roberts mentioned is between Sammy Guevara and Maxwell Jacob Friedman (MJF) on the June 30, 2021 episode of AEW Dynamite.

Guevara and MJF undoubtedly put on a spectacular show for the fans in that match, but the conclusion was overly saturated with big moments.

Guevara made a leap from the top turnbuckle towards MJF outside of the ring that showcased his athleticism and was arguably a great moment to keep fans watching for more.

However, the most egregious part of the whole thing, at least in kayfabe, was when MJF landed a tombstone piledriver from the second rope and immediately jumped into the cover after selling a knee injury for a split second.

In any other case, it would have been a match-ending move in kayfabe, but Guevara kicked out of it and the match would go on for another five minutes.

The pinfall victory was achieved by MJF after Shawn Spears (Tye Dillinger in WWE) hit Guevara with a chair shot to the head and many fans were frustrated with the finish.

"I want to get beat by that guy's best maneuver, not a schoolboy where it's an accident and I'm such a [expletive] that I can't kick out... Have some respect for your fellow combatant and go out there and sell a little bit. That's my only bitch with these young guys. They don't sell shit," Roberts later added.

In WWE, the greatest example of Roberts' gripes is that of Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano's trilogy of matches in NXT, particularly that of their January 1, 2020 encounter.

The then-black-and-gold brand is notorious for putting on such matches, but none were as egregious as the pair's matches.

Gargano landed his finisher known as the "One Final Beat," a slingshot DDT, for a two-count and Cole landed his own finisher "Panama Sunrise," a second-rope Canadian Destroyer but with the same result.

The ending of the match saw Gargano lock in his signature submission finisher to secure the win–not as bad as that of MJF and Guevara's matchup, but the multitude of finishers was an indulgence of sorts for fans.

Pro wrestling in the modern day relies a lot on having these big moments where performers are trying to one-up each other which leads to injuries down the line and a legend like Roberts knows what he is talking about.

The innovator of the DDT is not alone in his gripe since fans have also been clamoring for some performers to take it a step slow inside the ring.

Change is not expected to come soon since it is simply how the industry works today, but with everyone going full throttle, there may come a time when more matches will not be rushing to include such high spots in order to tell a better story between the squared circle.