Former TNT Champion Christian Cage recently shared the story of how he developed his well-known finishing maneuver, the Killswitch.
The move, which Cage has used as his finisher throughout his career, was originally dubbed the Unprettier during his time with WWE.
During a recent appearance at “Steel City Con,” Cage provided some insight into the inspiration behind the move. He said,
“So when I was first breaking into wrestling, I used to study a lot of tapes because I’m a student of the game. Unlike most of the wrestlers you see today that play a wrestler, I actually am a wrestler. So… I used to study a lot of different genres of wrestling, one of those being Japanese wrestling. So it was Tommy Rogers, and he used to do a movement. It was called the Tamakaze, which is a version of the Killswitch. He did it a little bit different than I do. When I saw him do it, it was when he hooked the guy’s arms from behind and spun him around. First of all, I couldn’t figure out how he did that. So I had to slow it down. This was at times of VCRs. So I had to slow it down on a VCR and push pause multiple times to see it frame by frame to see how he turned the guy.”
He continued, “When I saw how he turned the guy and the head was in the position facing down, I was like, okay, it’s almost like a pile driver move. It can be devastating. It can be something that I can actually apply to any wrestler no matter what size they are, which is also important as a finisher in my opinion, but he ran with it. He used to run two or three steps and run and jump with it. When I looked at it, I was like, I felt like that took something away from the move. I thought it’d be more devastating if you turn somebody in that position and just drop them straight on their head. So that’s my version of it. I think it’s served me well.”
Cage will challenge Swerve Strickland for the AEW World Championship at AEW Double Or Nothing 2024 later this month.
Former TNT Champion Christian Cage recently shared the story of how he developed his well-known finishing maneuver, the Killswitch.
The move, which Cage has used as his finisher throughout his career, was originally dubbed the Unprettier during his time with WWE.
During a recent appearance at “Steel City Con,” Cage provided some insight into the inspiration behind the move. He said,
“So when I was first breaking into wrestling, I used to study a lot of tapes because I’m a student of the game. Unlike most of the wrestlers you see today that play a wrestler, I actually am a wrestler. So… I used to study a lot of different genres of wrestling, one of those being Japanese wrestling. So it was Tommy Rogers, and he used to do a movement. It was called the Tamakaze, which is a version of the Killswitch. He did it a little bit different than I do. When I saw him do it, it was when he hooked the guy’s arms from behind and spun him around. First of all, I couldn’t figure out how he did that. So I had to slow it down. This was at times of VCRs. So I had to slow it down on a VCR and push pause multiple times to see it frame by frame to see how he turned the guy.”
He continued, “When I saw how he turned the guy and the head was in the position facing down, I was like, okay, it’s almost like a pile driver move. It can be devastating. It can be something that I can actually apply to any wrestler no matter what size they are, which is also important as a finisher in my opinion, but he ran with it. He used to run two or three steps and run and jump with it. When I looked at it, I was like, I felt like that took something away from the move. I thought it’d be more devastating if you turn somebody in that position and just drop them straight on their head. So that’s my version of it. I think it’s served me well.”
Cage will challenge Swerve Strickland for the AEW World Championship at AEW Double Or Nothing 2024 later this month.