The Big Picture
With recent Ring of Honor tapings wrapping up in Palm Beach Gardens, the word "palm" has been trending in wrestling circles. We are taking that literally. The closed fist is technically illegal in most traditional rulesets, though referees rarely enforce the ban. The open-handed palm strike, or shotei, bypassed that rule entirely while delivering concussive force a closed fist couldn't legally match. It became a staple of Japanese strong style, a desperate weapon in shoot-style bouts, and a legitimate knockout blow. This isn't a list of mere chest slaps. We are ranking the heaviest, most precise, and most devastating upward thrusts and open-handed facial strikes in history.
10. Moose
Moose doesn't just hit hard; he throws his entire NFL-linebacker frame behind his strikes. His palm strikes in the corner aren't technical masterpieces, but they don't need to be. When a 300-pound man throws an open hand at your jaw, basic physics does the work. It is blunt force trauma disguised as a wrestling hold. Watch his physical wars against Josh Alexander in TNA; Moose routinely uses the open hand to stop momentum dead in its tracks. It lacks the crisp snap of a Japanese junior heavyweight, but it looks like a violent car crash. Sometimes his placement is noticeably sloppy, catching the shoulder instead of the chin, but the sheer force makes the opponent crumble anyway.
9. Bryan Danielson
Danielson adopted the palm strike as a brutal way to punish opponents without breaking his own hands. During his legendary Ring of Honor run in the mid-2000s, he would trap an opponent's arms and rain down downward palm strikes to the neck. It was vicious, highly calculated, and perfectly fit his American Dragon persona. He brought that exact unyielding aggression to WWE and AEW, using palm strikes to tenderize the neck before locking in the LeBell Lock. Look at his marathon draw with Hangman Page, where he relied heavily on open-hand strikes to wear down the larger man. He leans too heavily into them during long matches, purposely slowing the pace to a crawl, but the damage inflicted is clear.
8. Samoa Joe
Joe’s striking combinations are legendary, and his heavy palm strikes serve as the connective tissue for his offensive output. He uses them to aggressively back opponents into the corner before unleashing his face-wash kicks. The sound of Joe's palm connecting with a face echoes through the arena, a sharp, terrifying crack signaling the end of a sequence. The sheer speed of a super-heavyweight throwing these strikes makes them jarring to watch. He strings them together with jabs and elbows in a blur of violence that overwhelmed guys like AJ Styles during his peak TNA run. His current AEW run sees him use them more sparingly, relying on grappling to finish the job quickly, which is a disappointment.
7. Katsuyori Shibata
Shibata’s entire offense was built on legitimate, uncomfortable contact. His palm strikes in the corner were absolutely relentless, usually culminating in his trademark hesitation dropkick to a seated opponent. He didn't just slap the chest; he targeted the jaw and neck with upward thrusts that legitimately rocked his opponents. The Shibata palm strike was less a professional wrestling move and more a shoot-style assault designed to test a chin. Matches against Tomohiro Ishii showcased this bruising approach perfectly. It is a style that ultimately cost him years of his career due to a catastrophic head injury, a grim reality permanently attached to his violent aesthetic.
6. Shinsuke Nakamura
Nakamura's King of Strong Style moniker wasn't just marketing fluff. Before he significantly toned down his striking offense for WWE's television environment, his palm strikes were a key part of his arsenal in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. He threw them from awkward, unpredictable angles, catching opponents off guard as they rebounded off the ropes. They were snappy, highly theatrical, and incredibly precise. The way he would violently vibrate his arms before delivering a knockout shotei added to the undeniable spectacle of the moment. His classic Wrestle Kingdom bouts with Kota Ibushi featured some of the crispest, most beautifully timed palm strikes captured on film.
5. Tomohiro Ishii
The Stone Pitbull simply does not care about finesse. Ishii’s palm strikes are essentially forearm replacements, thrown with maximum torque directly at the throat and chin of anyone standing in front of him. When Ishii trades heavy strikes in the center of the ring, his open-hand shots are often the ones that finally drop his exhausted opponent to a knee. There is absolutely zero wasted motion in his physical delivery. It is just two men seeing who can withstand more brain-rattling punishment, and Ishii's shotei is his great equalizer against much taller opponents like Jon Moxley. The strikes are ugly, bruising, and highly effective.
4. Minoru Suzuki
Suzuki doesn't just hit you; he legitimately enjoys hurting you. His palm strikes are often delivered with a sadistic, unsettling grin that genuinely spooks the crowd. He uses the open hand to humiliate as much as to physically hurt, slapping the fight completely out of younger wrestlers in preliminary tag bouts. But when the match reaches its climax, those humiliating slaps quickly turn into heavy, driving palm thrusts that routinely knock spit and sweat from his opponent's mouth. The sound alone is genuinely sickening. He throws them with a remarkably loose wrist, creating a whip-like effect that leaves massive red welts across the chest and neck.
3. Shinya Hashimoto
Hashimoto was a true pioneer of the heavyweight shotei. He threw palm strikes exactly like a seasoned judoka throwing punches, utilizing his massive hips to generate terrifying, forward-moving power. His strikes didn't just sting the skin; they thudded deep into the muscle and bone. When Hashimoto connected with a combination of stiff kicks and upward palm strikes, the match was effectively over for his opponent. He treated the shotei as a legitimate martial arts technique rather than a simple transition spot. His raw execution was flawless, though his heavy reliance on them made his mid-90s IWGP title defenses feel slightly repetitive if the challenger couldn't strike back.
2. Yoshihiro Takayama
Takayama's legendary PRIDE fight with Don Frye was a gruesome masterclass in the sheer violent potential of the collar-tie and strike. In professional wrestling, he brought that exact same chaotic, unhinged energy to the squared circle. Standing six-foot-five, Takayama would grab an opponent by the back of the neck and throw heavy, looping palm strikes that severely battered their head. They were ugly, completely unrefined, and terrifyingly effective at scrambling an opponent's senses. It wasn't about textbook technique; it was about raw, unadulterated aggression from a massive man. His legendary, blood-soaked battles with Kenta Kobashi featured palm strikes that sounded like literal gunshots.
1. Jushin Thunder Liger
Nobody else could possibly take the number one spot on this list. Jushin Thunder Liger didn't just use the palm strike; he weaponized it and gave it a recognizable name that fans screamed from the Tokyo bleachers. The Shotei became his signature counter, his primary offensive setup, and very often his definitive finisher. Liger threw it like a traditional karate thrust, stepping deep into the strike and driving the heel of his hand violently upward into the opponent's chin. Whether catching a diving opponent out of mid-air or finishing a grueling main event, Liger's Shotei is the absolute gold standard. It defined the junior heavyweight division for a decade, solidifying him as an 11-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion.
Honorable Mentions
Aja Kong deserves a massive nod for her Uraken spinning backfist, which utilizes the palm and back of the hand to shatter noses. Kenta Kobashi's machine-gun chops blur the line between chop and palm strike, overwhelming opponents with sheer volume. Finally, Akira Maeda utilized heavy, open-handed slaps in the UWF that paved the way for the modern shotei we see today.
