People who have been following the career of Seth Rollins have spent an inordinate amount of time thinking and talking about his finishing moves. Arguably his most well-known finisher, the Curb Stomp, got banned back in 2016 and was even edited out of DVD releases. He then adopted the Pedigree after being taken under Triple H’s wing, but when he finally vanquished H at WrestleMania 33, many fans assumed he would retire the move. They were right!
After a couple weeks of waiting, Rollins gave us his new finisher, the Kingslayer (a move with which he did not slay the canonical king). It’s a wrist lock spun out into a jumping high knee (shout out to the Bootyman), and fans pretty much immediately recognized the move as one Kenny Omega used in his vaunted six-star match against Kazuchika Okada back in January.
Omega’s move in the context of that match was a combination of his own V-Trigger knee strike (which was initially a parody of Shinsuke Nakamura’s Kinshasa — or Bomaye if you’re nasty) and Okada’s setup for his Rainmaker finisher. But since we all know Rollins watches tape of Omega probably all the time, it’s easy to figure out where he got the inspiration for the Kingslayer.
When the move made its debut on Raw, Omega made some jokes about it on Twitter, then had to clarify he was joking.
Well, at least I still have my entrance music… pic.twitter.com/aoWN2CLyay
— Kenny Omega (@KennyOmegamanX) April 25, 2017
To clarify,I'm not upset.The thievery of late is blatant/funny but anyone is free to put their own spin on stuff.I'll be out doing the same😎
— Kenny Omega (@KennyOmegamanX) April 25, 2017
Despite his clarification, fans were still unsure whether Omega harbored any resentment. In a new interview with Sports Illustrated, Omega set the record straight: he’s not upset, he’s actually complimented right now.
“If he was inspired by my match to add that to his arsenal, it’s a great compliment. A finishing move is an important part of one’s character–and sometimes success. So for him, being a top guy in WWE, it’s cool that he chose something that I’d used earlier in the year during my match with Okada. As for the tweet, a lot of guys don’t know that I used to travel with Rollins all of the time in ROH. We never became the closest of friends, but we’re definitely cool with each other and the mutual respect has always been there. If I was legitimately angry, I’d just flat out say so. I’m not one to shy away from speaking my mind.”
And thus ends the latest chapter in the saga of Seth Rollins’ finishers. We’ll see you back here next time, when all jumping knees are banned.
