10 WWE Wrestlers Who Used The Full Nelson As A Finisher

When it comes to finishing maneuvers in pro wrestling, pretty much everything can be fair game if used by the right wrestler — and given a snappy enough name. Take, for example, the Full Nelson, a fairly common wrestling hold wherein a competitor’s arms go under the arms of their opponents and the competitor’s hands join behind the opponent’s neck.

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Over the years, the Full Nelson has been employed as a finisher by wrestlers in WWE on several occasions, often under some very cool names. Let’s take a look at 10 wrestlers who used the maneuver to put away their opponents.

10 The Warlord

For many fans, The Warlord is best known as one half of the Road Warriors-esque tag team Powers of Pain alongside The Barbarian. However, the Powers were forced to go their separate ways in 1990 after their manager Mr. Fuji sold their contracts to separate managers, with The Warlord going to Slick. As a singles star, The Warlord employed the Full Nelson as his finisher, most famously in a segment on an episode of Wrestling Challenge when he had an open challenge to see who could get out of it, which was answered by British Bulldog.

9 Ken Patera

A solid worker with a background in weightlifting and strongman competitions, Ken Patera had a few stints in WWE from the late 1970s to the late 1980s, spending much of his time with the company as a midcarder. While he’s likely not very well known by younger fans, Patera is one of those wrestlers best known for using the Full Nelson as his finisher. In fact, the former WWE Intercontinental Champion had a unique variation on the move where he’d lock it in on his opponents and then spin them around.

8 Chris Masters

For fans that were watching WWE in the mid 2000s, the most memorable wrestler to use the Full Nelson was Chris Masters, who dubbed his version the Master Lock. As part of his heel gimmick, Masters held open challenges like the above-mentioned Warlord called the Master Lock Challenge.

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With each successful Master Lock challenge, the victorious Chris Masters grew ever closer to some babyface answering the challenge and inevitably breaking out of the hold. That babyface would turn out to be Bobby Lashley.

7 Hans Mortier

Hans Mortier is certainly a name that modern fans are unaware of, as the Dutch bodybuilder turned heel wrestler made his debut way back in 1946. In the 1960s, he wrestled for WWE, which back then was known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation, where he enjoyed several high profile main event feuds against WWWF Champion Bruno Sammartino. Mortier employed a Full Nelson finisher he called The Guillotine, which he once famously used to score a surprise victory over Bobo Brazil.

6 Hercules

Wrestling for WWE from 1985 to 1992, Hercules was one of those absurdly muscular guys who failed to truly break out in a company full of absurdly muscular guys with more charisma, and ended up going through a parade of managers and a short-lived tag team with Paul Roma called Power & Glory. As a strong guy, Hercules was the exactly the kind of star to utilize a Full Nelson finisher, since it shows off the wrestler’s upper body strength. Hercules’ use of the move famously came up in his WrestleMania 3 feud with Billy Jack Haynes, who also used a Full Nelson (see below).

5 The Miz

As an MTV reality show star without a bodybuilder’s physique, The Miz seems like the last wrestler who should be using a Full Nelson, which makes his use of it as a finisher seem like such a heel move. Of course, as fans know, the Full Nelson is just one part of the move he calls the Skull Crushing Finale. After applying the hold, Miz quickly sweeps the leg to make his opponent crash face-down into the mat.

4 Superstar Billy Graham

The WWE Champion from 1977 to 1978, Superstar Billy Graham often gets credit for popularizing the bodybuilder physique in pro wrestling, with his persona inspiring future stars Jesse “The Body” Ventura and Hulk Hogan. But the legend was also known for using the Full Nelson as a finisher.

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In 1984, Graham got into his own Full Nelson vs. Full Nelson feud with Billy Jack Haynes, much like the aforementioned Hercules, but this rivalry happened in Championship Wrestling From Florida rather than in WWE.

3 Angelo Mosca

Former Canadian Football League Angelo Mosca — otherwise known as King Kong Mosca in some territories — had a Full Nelson as his finisher, and once famously applied it to Cowboy Bill Watts in late 1970s Mid-South Wrestling, causing kayfabe injury and leading to a match where the winner was the one who successfully applied it. From 1981 to 1984, Mosca wrestled for WWE, challenging Bob Backlund for the WWE Championship on multiple occasions and regularly feuding with Pat Patterson.

2 Billy Jack Haynes

Trained by the legendary Stu Hart, Billy Jack Haynes wrestled in the Pacific Northwest and Florida territories before getting scooped up by WWE in 1986. Known for his use of the Full Nelson, his rivalry with the aforementioned Hercules over who had the best Full Nelson led to “The Battle of the Full Nelsons” at WrestleMania 3 in 1987. The match would end in a double-countout after Billy Jack locked in the Full Nelson outside of the ring, and a ringside attack assisted by Hercules’ manager Bobby Heenan would continue their feud.

1 Bobby Lashley

Most recently, fans have seen the traditional Full Nelson hold in use on WWE television thanks to “The All Mighty” Bobby Lashley, who — as mentioned — famously became the first wrestler to break out of Chris Masters’ version of the hold. Upon turning heel and getting his own faction in The Hurt Business, Lashley began using his own version of the Master Lock, which he called the Hurt Lock. The hold has earned Bobby Lashley some huge wins, including a successful WWE Championship defense against Drew McIntyre on Night 1 of WrestleMania 37.