Ronda Rousey has been treated as a marquee superstar on the female roster since her entry into the WWE. The previously Vince McMahon-owned brand always liked to make their top Superstars feel special and that included protecting the special moves of those top superstars. The presence of those on the roster can also cause a ban for that particular move.
WWE wanted to make Ronda Rousey’s armbar look like that it was a lethal move during her first run in WWE. This was the reason that other Superstars were not allowed to use that move during that time span.
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During a recent episode of his Oh You Didn’t Know podcast, former WWE producer Road Dogg addressed reports that there were certain Superstars who weren’t allowed to perform certain moves in the ring when he was in charge. He specifically mentioned that Asuka was barred from submitting her opponents with her armbar after Ronda Rousey joined the WWE in early 2018.
After showing up at Royal Rumble 2018, Ronda Rousey made her in-ring debut for WWE at WrestleMania 34 in 2018. On that same night, Charlotte Flair ended Asuka’s miraculous undefeated streak that lasted for over two years. Reports circulated around that time that the armbar was removed from Asuka’s arsenal due to the former UFC fighter’s dominant entry into the WWE.
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WWE had its own reasons for stopping other names from doing armbar due to Ronda Rousey
Road Dogg confirmed the previous reports while doing his podcast by noting that it’s not uncommon for wrestlers to be informed about not doing certain moves. A similar situation arrived when many stars stopped doing German Suplexes after Brock Lesnar popularized the move in 2014-15 although it’s been an old-school maneuver.
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WWE invented a ton of Suplex City t-shirts which called for a marketing strategy to sell those and make the call so that no other WWE Superstar uses them,
“I do remember about Ronda Rousey 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.”
After that dominant first run, Ronda Rousey went into an impregnation hiatus. She then made a highly anticipated comeback during the 2022 Royal Rumble event after a three-year absence from WWE. Despite winning the SmackDown Women’s Championship twice after her return, the current run fell short of the expectations.
