As a backyard wrestler, what is the ultimate goal? Besides moving up the industry ladder towards professionalism and national/international popularity, we are basically trying to do nothing more than get over with the crowds, with your fellow wrestlers, with anybody. To make somebody clap, cheer, boo and/or gasp, to get a significant reaction for doing something that we love. And as most of us know, the only real way to get over in the backyard wrestling community is either to consistently work quality, well-paced matches that tell an interesting story - or to act like a complete retard, set yourself on fire and fall through a barbed-wire table. Of course, no self-respecting backyard wrestler (or professional wrestler, or trainer, or promoter etc.) takes this ultra-violence, irresponsibility and self-mutilation seriously, and therefore we will focus on getting over the hard, respectable way: actually performing a wrestling match and doing it well. This is the only way to truly succeed in professional wrestling.

The formula for working a quality backyard match is complicated. But if I tackle it scientifically, examine each part and determine how it can be properly executed, we should come up with a pretty decent set of tips and guidelines. This will be the focus of my current series of columns, and in this edition, I will be writing about finishers.

A finisher can make or break a career. It can mean the difference between a main-eventer and a mid-carder, and, if the principle is used correctly, can aid in turning a good match into a great match. Firstly, the best finishers are those that you can apply to anyone, regardless of height, size, etc. The Undertaker feuded with Yokozuna for the better part of a year in the early 90's, but since he was never physically able to lift the 500-pounder up for the Tombstone, how could their rivalry ever have a decent blow-off? Kids, there's a reason why nobody fondly remembers this pairing. Put it this way; If you weigh 95lbs, you'd obviously be an idiot to use a powerbomb for your finish. Look at the great finishers of the modern wrestling era and you'll see a pattern emerge: the Stone Cold Stunner, the Sharpshooter, Sweet Chin Music, the Rock Bottom, and the Pedigree. These moves can be applied to virtually anybody. And what's more, they're difficult moves to mess up.

Now that you have some good finishers to draw inspiration from, let me remind everyone how unimpressive it is to see a backyard wrestler adopt a popular and well-known finisher. As soon as you hear that a wrestler uses a Diamond Cutter or Twist of Fate as his finisher, you pretty much dismiss that wrestler as unimaginative and are thus less likely to be impressed by the finish of his matches. Please don't fall into this trap. Conserve your integrity and invent (or modify) a finisher of your own. Try to make it distinct so that fans can see it coming and get excited; for example, use an original taunt to signal your impeding maneuver (but don't adopt the over-used cut-throat gesture). A good idea is to get your hands on some Japanese or lucha wrestling tapes and study the countless moves therein. You'll also be able to use these tapes to find some inspiration for the last part of this finisher-related column: a little something I like to call 'reversibility.'

A good finisher is a finisher that can be reversed in many different and clever ways. Some of the best and most memorable matches of all time have operated around a basic, central theme: Wrestler A tries to slap on his finisher several times throughout the match, and Wrestler B always manages to counter it uniquely. The false-finish keeps an audience on its toes and gets them excited, especially when reversals of big moves are traded towards the end of a match. The reversal of an opposing wrestler's finisher into your own is the prefect example of this. Use it to your advantage.