Former WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey has been widely using the armbar as her signature. There have been reports of fellow WWE star Asuka being told not to perform the armbar after Ronda Rousey got signed by WWE. Now, WWE legend Road Dogg has opened up on the matter.
Road Dogg shares his thoughts
On his podcast this week, the tag team legend reviewed WrestleMania 34, which saw Ronda Rousey make her in-ring debut for WWE. The ‘Mania in 2018 also had Asuka’s undefeated streak ending at the hands of Charlotte Flair in a SmackDown Women’s Championship match.
Rumors circulated back then, via Dave Meltzer, that Asuka’s signature move, the armbar, was removed from her repertoire due to Rousey’s presence on the roster.
Road Dogg seemingly confirmed the rumors to be true and noted that the talents being asked to stop doing certain moves. He highlighted how many stars didn’t do German suplexes after Brock Lesnar popularized it and became a massive merchandise seller thanks to his ‘Suplex City’ t-shirt several years ago.
Here’s what Road Dogg revealed on the latest episode of Oh…You Didn’t Know:
“I do remember about Ronda coming in and people stopping or having to stop using similar armbars. Look, a lot of people do that; you know what I mean? A lot of people come in and have stuff, and you go, ‘Yeah, we’re not going to do that anymore. Don’t do those.’ Look, a lot of German suplexes, when Brock was coming around and taking everybody to Suplex City, and that shirt was selling like wildfire, you didn’t notice too many other people doing German suplexes, didn’t you? But nobody said a word about that.”
