Hook kicked out of a Muscle Buster by Samoa Joe. So what?

Except for a very few cases, the idea of “protecting” a finisher in pro wrestling is ridiculous.

There was a moment, late in the AEW World Championship match this week on Dynamite between Samoa Joe and Hook that got the crowd to roar.

It came at the end of a vicious sequence of offense by the world champ. Joe dragged Hook to the corner, chopped him across the chest and planted him with a Muscle Buster. Joe uses that maneuver often to close out matches, and Hook’s dad, Taz, sold it even more on commentary, noting that Hook put up a hell of a fight and he was proud of his son.

Not only did it not put Hook away, he kicked out at one. Joe looked astonished, as did referee Bryce Remsburg, playing their roles perfectly. The fans in attendance in North Charleston were on their feet cheering.

It was a fantastic moment in a great match overall. Joe unleashed hell on Hook for most of it, which was logical since he’s an experienced champion and a much physically bigger man. Hook has a bright future ahead of him and was valiant in defeat, which is exactly the outcome you try to achieve when booking a match of this type.

Yet there was plenty of clutching of pearls online all day today about whether AEW had somehow made a critical error in judgment, allowing Hook to kick out at one. How dare he make Joe’s finisher look weak?

Here’s an example:

It’s the kind of argument that makes non-wrestling fans’ eyes immediately roll back into their heads. Surely, none of this matters, as it’s all scripted entertainment anyway. The moves don’t really matter!

And while that’s a non-nuanced view of pro wrestling, it’s also correct in this case.

Admittedly, there are a couple circumstances under which it make sense to “protect” a wrestler’s finishing move. Let’s take a quick spin through why neither of them applied in this case.

When “no one ever kicks out of that” is part of a move’s mystique

Sometimes a finisher achieves legendary status simply because no one ever kicks out of it. This has been true for decades, from Hulk Hogan’s Atomic Leg Drop to Kenny Omega’s One-Winged Angel. Even Baron Corbin’s End of Days is in this group.

When someone finally kicks out of, it’s An Event. Joe’s Muscle Buster is an awesome visual that has put away plenty of talented opponents, but it’s not in this class.

When it would make the wrestler delivering the move look weak

You watched the match, right? Samoa Joe dominated Hook for the majority of their time in and out of the ring. Except for trying to overwhelm the champ with pure enthusiasm right after the bell and sporadic rallies, Hook was taking a beating throughout.

Joe is a legitimately scary human being who can believably end a match in a number of ways — which is exactly what he did by choking Hook out shortly after the kickout. There’s zero chance people won’t take him seriously going forward.

It was all really much ado about nothing, and people who were upset about it probably aren’t inclined to say anything good about AEW under any conditions. Jeremy Lambert of Fightful summarized the proper attitude to what went down:

It’s important to remember that pro wrestling exists to tell stories within the framework of athletic competition. You can (and should!) admire wrestlers for their technique and awesome arsenals of moves and holds, but in the end, all of that is meaningless unless they’re in the service of some kind of tale.

Joe and Hook told one on Dynamite. It was about a man looking to prove himself worthy and another trying to reassert his dominance. That got across to the live audience and translated on TV as well, and there’s nothing about one Muscle Buster failing to end the match that changes that one bit.