I think that you should have the ability to attempt a finisher whenever you want, but the less damage your opponent sustained in the match, the higher the chance of him reversing the finisher. In order to prevent finisher over-attempting, Every time a finisher is revered, the person who attempted the finisher takes a lot of damage, or is taken out of focus so that you have a better chance of hitting your own finisher (explained later). other elements could be taken into consideration, like finisher speed (attempting a Spear should be relatively easier than, say, a Death Valley Driver or a Power Bomb) and timing (the longer it takes you to attempt the finisher when the opponent is in the right position for it, the more chance he has to reverse the finisher attempt and vice versa. Even if your opponent isn't too damaged but you time the finisher right, you would have a bigger chance to hit it) and opponent focus (I think this might be tough to program, but catching the opponent off guard could have a large effect on your chance of hitting the finisher).
KoC has that system to some extent, but I think it could be done better and in more depth
That could add a whole new way of strategizing in a match, where you center the match around hitting your finisher, like in most real matches.
Also, a thing that really irritates me in SVR is the damage finishers do. make a finisher be much stronger than it is in SVR, to a point where IT ACTUALLY ENDS THE MATCH, without having to hit 5 finishers to finish off the opponent.
The wrestler focus system I suggested could also be used to increase the chance of winning in pin attempts, surprise roll-ups and such, but again, I can see how ths would be hard to program.
I think its a good idea in theory but difficult in implementation, it would be great if u could nail ur finisher as a reverse or out of no where but it has the potential of being abused.
Not if done in a way that abusing it will cost you, since if the reverse system for this is random (with higher odds of execution the more your opponent is worn down, and the more sudden the finisher attempt is) than attempting the finisher without being confident it would hit would likely cost you the match. As I said, the sudden hit system probably is hard to program, but It could be done it a much simpler way. Not all finishers can be done with suddenness, as you would probably agree that a powerbomb out of nowhere isn't very realistic, so maybe certain finishers could be attempted when the opponent is groggy without a grapple, which will have a higher chance of execution (but those finishers willl inflict less damage than the slow ones). Maybe failing a finisher attempt will temporarily increase the opponent's chance of executing a finisher for a small amount of time, and the timing system the game has for strong moves would make succeeding the finisher from a grapple harder and timing it correctly more critical. It shouldn't be a problem attempting preventing abuse, maybe after an unsuccessful finisher attempt you wouldn't be able to attempt it again for 5 in-game minutes. What do you think?
Something like a stat based timer to prevent finisher spamming could be done. As it already stands finishers have a chance of succeeding that depends on the amount of damage already done.
I think that a temporary (5 seconds or so) increase of damage to increase the chance of hitting a finisher after countering your opponent's one would add excitement to taking the gamble of attempting a finisher. It could be an on/off option, so people who do not like it don't have to use it, and it doesn't seem too hard to implement (add X damage, after 5 seconds decrease X damage).