14 Most Devastating Moves Of The Rock

The Rock is always mentioned when discussing the greatest performers in WWE history. Fans fell in love with the work of Rock during his WWE career in the Attitude Era. Rock was most remembered for cutting promos, but that doesn’t mean it was his only strong suit as a performer. The matches of Rock also delivered the goods with classics against the likes of Triple H, Chris Jericho and Steve Austin.

RELATED: The Great One: 10 Best Matches Of The Rock’s WWE Career

We will look at some of the best in-ring moves used by Rock throughout his wrestling career. Every wrestler has their own set of signature moves that make them stand out in the ring. Rock had a unique offense that consisted of big power moves along with flashy techniques that demonstrated his showmanship. Each move played a role in his matches finding the ultimate success as a legend. Find out which ones took him to the top with the ten most devastating moves of The Rock.

Updated on January 15th, 2022 by Patrick Mocella: As most fans know, The Rock is one of the most charismatic performers in wrestling history. His actual in-ring performances tend to be discussed less, but The Great One lived up to his moniker in the ring as well. Not only could he play a crowd like no other, but he had a great variety of moves for a main event level superstar. Rock's moveset would shrink over time as he honed his skills on WWE television, but he would bring back some of his retro moves for his matches with John Cena and CM Punk in the 2010s. Here are some more of The Rock's best moves.

14 * Flying Crossbody

A move such as a flying crossbody isn't one typically associated with someone of The Rock's size. Weighing in at 260 lbs, The Rock was far from a cruiserweight but especially early in his career, he would nail opponents with flying crossbody from the top rope.

Although he would abandon the move as he abandoned the Rocky Maivia character he would bring it out in his WrestleMania 28 encounter with John Cena only to see it reversed into an Attitude Adjustment from Cena.

13 * Shoulder Breaker

Before The Rock adopted the Rock Bottom and People's Elbow as his two finishers, Rocky Maivia was using a different move to finish off his opponents and one that is rarely used as a finish by any wrestler; the Shoulder Breaker.

For those unfamiliar, a shoulder-breaker sees the user lift their foes on the shoulder only to drop their opponent's shoulder onto their knee. The move would have never really fit with The Rock's moveset later in his career and he would abandon in his rise to the main event.

12 * Float Over DDT

While The Rock would simplify this move and regularly use a basic DDT later in his career, his early career saw him utilize a more agile version of the wrestling staple with a float over DDT.

RELATED: 10 Best Versions Of The DDT, RankedInstead of going straight for spiking their head into the canvas, The Rock would spin around his opponent and then follow it up with a DDT. It was a nice little twist on the move that Jake "The Snake" Roberts made famous.

11 * Dragon Screw

The Dragon Screw is not typically a move one would associate with a powerhouse brawler like The Rock. It is a move typically used by technical and submission wrestlers where they take an opponent's leg with one arm and strike and twist it with the other. It's a nasty-looking move that brings an opponent down quickly and works their knee as well.

The Rock would use this often before attacking with the Sharpshooter and while it was largely a transitional move, it was still nice to see the Samoan superstar bring out a very overlooked move in pro wrestling to the main events of WWE.

10 Jumping Clothesline

The Rock had a few secondary moves that added to his matches. Fans would enjoy his comebacks after the opponent typically controlled the pace. Rock would start delivering a few jumping clotheslines to start gaining more momentum.

RELATED: 5 Reasons Why The Rock Made A Better Babyface (& 5 He Was Better As A Heel)This was not necessarily a move that won matches for Rock since he wouldn’t even go for pins following the execution. However, it was important to establish a secondary move set for transitions during the match.

9 Neckbreaker

Another transition move for The Rock during his matches saw the Neckbreaker implemented. Rock would deliver a few variations from the traditional move to the swinging version of it for more of an impact and a bigger ovation from the crowd.

The Neckbreaker was not used by Rock in every match, but he did use it enough to make it part of his rotation. In another reality, the Neckbreaker could have been an effective finisher for Rock if he wanted to use it as such.

8 Punch Combo

One of The Rock’s most impressive trademark actions in the ring came when he started delivering a fury of punches. Rock would take control with each punch laying in before raising his hand in the air, spitting on it and adding one more hit for good measure.

This move always received a nice ovation from the crowd whenever he played the face role. Rock used a combination of the credible right hands given his strength along with the comedic effect of spitting on his hand as if that added to the move.

7 Belly to Belly Suplex

A forgotten move of The Rock’s was the Belly to Belly Suplex. Fans think of wrestlers like Kurt Angle, Tazz and Scott Steiner when it came to the suplex masters. Rock did a nice job adding this version of the move to his rotation.

An overhead version of the move would also see Rock use it as a counter when wrestlers were running towards him. Rock would catch them and throw them over his head for the intimidating suplex. They were especially fun in matches against Angle with both men hitting their own versions of the move.

6 Snap DDT

The DDT has always been a beloved move in the wrestling world. Jake Roberts made it famous, but The Rock used it in his rotation of moves as well. Rock went with a snap version of the DDT that saw the move executed faster and with a stronger impact.

Fans always enjoyed seeing the DDT when Rock played a face since it signified that he was heading towards the finishing stretch of his beloved closing moves. However, his heel run saw the move used more intensely often going for covers after hitting the Snap DDT.

5 Spinebuster

Wrestlers like Arn Anderson, Triple H and Bobby Roode would all become known for executing the spinebuster move with great execution. The Rock may not have had one as intense as the others, but it played a huge role in his career.

RELATED: 5 Reasons Steve Austin Was The Best Wrestler Of The Attitude Era (& 5 Reasons It Was The Rock)

Shortly before going for the People’s Elbow, Rock would hit a sick Spinebuster to take the opponent down to the mat. Wrestlers would rarely block the elbow due to the impact of the Spinebuster. Rock would make it a trademark of his offense during his main event run.

4 Samoan Drop

The Samoan Drop is an underrated wrestling move that is always impressive when done right. Given the Samoan background of The Rock, it made sense for him to use the move that became famous thanks to many of his relatives.

Fellow Attitude Era wrestler Rikishi had his own version of it at the time with greater impact due to his size. Rock, however, made his Samoan Drop the more visually pleasing as it looked flat-out cool every time he hit it as a secondary move during his comebacks.

3 Sharpshooter

The Rock started using the Sharpshooter as a submission finisher whenever he wanted a tap out victory. It became a secondary finisher for him channeling his former WWE star friends Bret and Owen Hart, who made the move famous.

Rock won quite a few matches with the submission causing others to tap out. The move has always been beloved in WWE, and fans were excited to see it return when Rock made it a common part of his matches. No one could have expected Rock to use the Sharpshooter when he started, but it worked to his advantage.

2 People's Elbow

Fans fell in love with the People's Elbow despite it being one of the least likely finishers in wrestling history. Most wrestlers and fans would have laughed at a standard elbow drop working as a finisher. However, The Rock was able to sell a simple move in such a way that even the most experienced wrestlers could not dream of.

Rock’s charisma made the move larger than life after hitting the Spinebuster. The slow set-up would see him face the hard camera as everyone cheered before throwing his elbow pad into the crowd and running the ropes to hit the elbow. Rock won many iconic matches with the People's Elbow.

1 Rock Bottom

The Rock Bottom was made famous as The Rock's first legitimate finisher when he became a main eventer. Fans had seen the move before, but Rock was the first person to make it shine as a finisher, especially coming from a wrestler at the top of the card.

The move was flexible enough to be reversed and used in counters, as Rock and Steve Austin did in their classic matches. Most of the matches that The Rock won during his career were done with him hitting a Rock Bottom. The way that he made the move his own convinced fans that it was the coolest finisher in the business for a short time.