Manchester native Jonno Mears recently stole the sporting headlines in his latest MMA outing by finishing a fight with a well-known wrestling move. With MMA being known more for its brutal one-punch finishes or choke-outs in the cage, the Englishman secured a stunning stoppage success in his last bout.
Mears’ original opponent, Jay Moogan, had to withdraw from their scheduled fight, leaving the eventual winner with a stand-in foe by the name of Aaron Jones, whom he knew he’d have a better chance of overcoming. It was against Jones that Mears produced the first-ever Walls of Jericho, or Boston Crab, wrestling finishing move to actually earn a proper professional MMA victory and take his record to 2-0.
Milan Chris Jericho.jpg by Andrea90 (CC BY-SA 3.0)
The impressive submission win was shared across social media and has since gone viral, with even Chris Jericho, WWE star and owner of the move in the WWE world, reacting online to such news. In light of the Walls of Jericho being used successfully in the cage, here are four other wrestling moves that could eventually make their way into MMA in the near future:
Stone Cold Stunner
In the build-up to the lightweight interim title clash between Kevin Lee and Tony Ferguson, the latter fighter was captured in his final warm-up and open training session producing a wrestling move of his own. While working with his trainer and coach, Ferguson moved in for the clinch before unleashing a move made famous by former WWE legend Stone Cold Steve Austin: the Stone Cold Stunner.
Could this be implemented into an actual fight in the coming months? There are plenty of future MMA events coming up for it to be utilized properly, including the likes of UFC 217 in November, when Georges St-Pierre returns to challenge Michael Bisping for the middleweight crown. If Bisping can overcome the legendary St-Pierre in his next outing, he is seen as the 8/1 outsider to be Irishman Conor McGregor’s next opponent in the UFC. However, Nate Diaz is the front-runner and Tony Ferguson is the second-favourite to be chosen.
The Sharpshooter
How about another submission move to add to the list? The Sharpshooter was made famous by the one and only Bret ‘the Hitman’ Hart during his reign in the WWE, as he became a fan favorite with his charisma and admirable talents inside the ring ropes. Can you imagine the hysteria if an MMA fighter was to lock in the Sharpshooter and prevail in the cage? It’s a move that can be locked in in a similar style to the Walls of Jericho, so it’s one that could easily make its way into the world of MMA in the future as well.
The Spear
There have been various WWE stars to have embraced the Spear as their own move in the world of wrestling, but the most notable ones have been Edge, Batista and, of course, Goldberg. It’s a hard-hitting finisher that takes the wind out of opponents and leaves them gasping for air.
So it’s a deadly move that could be used in the cage, too, particularly straight from the opening bell when the referee signals the start of the fight. The Spear could be used by the bigger guys in MMA as there will be more force and impact, so the likes of heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic.
There are plenty of wrestling moves that could be implemented into the cage in MMA and any of these outlined four finishers could well be the next after Mears’ unexpected Walls of Jericho.