As you can see we have yet another new category coming to the page, with our new series The Move Index. And the first move we will be critiquing is the move made famous by none other than The People's Champion, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
The Rock Bottom : A mix between a Sambo Suplex and a Chokeslam, the user wrench's one arm under his oppenent's arm, and lifts him up for a back slam
The Rock did not start off his career using the Rock Bottom as his finish, but instead would use a Elevated Shoulder-Breaker. He would use a less enthusiastic version of the Rock Bottom during his days as Rocky Maivia, as more of a signature move. Once he turned heel and joined the Nation of Domination, he would switch to the Rock Bottom as his finish and the rest is history. Of course Rocky would add the Most Electrifying Move of All-Time to his stable of moves, but we all know that is more like the most asinine joke of a move that got over.
As we progress and find exactly what we want this series to be, we will tweek things, but we will grade the moves of our usual 11 scale, and will grade over 4 different areas. Firstly on Usability, how well can this move be used on any opponent. Devastation, how devastating does the move look, and would it really knock a man out if hit in a real(ish) fight. Uniqueness, is this the first person or last person to use the move? Is it easily stolen by indie boys? Moment-Maker, will the move live forever in a moment that everyone will remember for all-time? With that out of the way let's grade the Rock Bottom.
Usability - 10/11 : The Rock could easily use this move on any of his opponents. I docked this off one point just due to the fact that bigger men would not get up as high and made the move a little clunky (i.e. Big Show, Rikishi), but overall it is a very versatile move that doesn't need too much effort to perform.
Devastation - 4/11 : The Rock Bottom is not an earth-shattering move by any means. You are really just lifting a man up by a few inches then slamming him on his back, plain and simple. I would probably only use this move in a (simulated) fight if the guy was going to land on something painful.
Uniqueness - 8/11: Despite it's simple-nature, only one other person in recent memory has used a version of the Rock Bottom, besides those who used the move on The Rock himself, but more on that in a moment. Booker T's Book End is the only alternate to the Rock Bottom in this time and era, and no-one has come along to add it to their move-set either, which garners higher ratings in the area. Others might not take the move, but they do like to use it on The Brahama Bull many times. From the likes of Stone Cold, to Chris Jericho, to The Undertaker, and CM Punk, and even to this day with Cody Rhodes using it at WM 40 to but Rocky through the announce Table on Night 1. Rock has been hit with it almost as many times as he has dished it out.
Moment-Maker - 6/11: This one is hard to rank, as The Rock never used this move to win in the Main Event of a WrestleMania. He used it on Stephanie McMahon at the end of WM 2000 (16) and hit the People's Elbow to end the show. He did use it to effectively end Stone Cold's career at WM 19 (even though it took 3 to get the job done). But then again the move has been used in almost every match The Rock has had in his career since the Nation days, so it's hard not to pick one memorable one out, but like I said, none really won him anything on the main stage. (Side Note, he ultimately beat Hulk Hogan at WM 18 with the People's Elbow, so kind of right down the same alley I was talking about.
OVERALL - 28/44 (63%)
It's not flashy but The Rock used his Rock Bottom to win many accolades, and further his star-crossed career. It's not the greatest move of all time, but it does let people know WHAAAAAAAAAA(Look at at the tongue, look at the toungue)AAAAAT THE ROCK IS COOKIN!!
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