I went with the Crossface, but the Sharpshooter is a close second. Seeing Benoit's intensity when he slapped the Crossface on out of nowhere and just started bending the guy's head backwards just made the move look even more epic. Not to mention, its legit painful.
Hells Gate is lethal, it's by far the "best" in terms of damage done.
I've always been partial to Angle's Ankle Lock, though. When he grapevines that shit, you're done. If you can make Hogan tap out, that's the real deal.
No, the MOST ridiculous looking is the Torture Rack. I'm still waiting for somebody to explain how the fuck floating on some guy's shoulders hurts in the slightest.
I like the yes/no lock more then the crippler crossface to be honest. I just think looks more painful. Of course Benoit's intensity with his variation is unmatched.
I also like hells gate, the sharpshooter, and the anaconda vice. I love submission moves.
The Crippler Crossface takes it for me by far. The intensity and the way Benoit could lock it in from any angle. Bryan's version hurts more in reality but it's missing something badly and oftentimes it looks like Bryan's hands barely reach out to the other guy's head which is weird since Benoit's arms were pretty short and he still locked it in every single time perfectly.
Second best is Figure Four and Hell's Gate. Also love the Cloverleaf and Sharpshooter. Fuck it, I love pretty much all of them because submission moves are AWESOME!
In terms of a household name, Sharpshooter and Figure 4 leg lock gets the cake. Mention 'Figure-4' to others, hell even non wrestling fans, and most of them will know it's the move Ric Flair made famous. Same goes to Sharpshooter.
As for my fave in terms of legitimacy, it had to be either Hell's gate/kimura lock.
I go 4 Figure 4 because I interpret "best" as fits best into a wrestling match, not because it's legit or simple or whatever.
The reaason for me is that the figure four has a nice setup, with which you can work storywise and BOTH competitors are clearly visible, can sell it with the full upper body, the counter turnaround thing is simple yet brilliant and this alone can be a storytelling highlight of a match.
My favorite would be the Liontamer, or Walls of Jericho as he has applied that in the same manner a few times (and is probably only a Boston Crab move due to having to put it on bigger opponents, which usually means worthless flexibility).
While I always liked the intensity Benoit had while doing the crossface there was always too little to that move that actually held someone in place, which is why I have that further down.
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