After making her return to WWE earlier this year at the Royal Rumble, former UFC champion Ronda Rousey decided to add the ankle lock to her in-ring repertoire.
Rousey already had a signature submission of her own with the armbar, a submission that helped her climb to the top of the UFC mountain several years ago. However, upon returning to WWE, while still using the armbar, Rousey has also been using the ankle lock more. The ankle lock, of course, was the signature move of WWE Hall Of Famer Kurt Angle.
Angle was alongside Rousey during her WWE debut at WrestleMania 34. Angle and Rousey teamed up to defeat Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in a Mixed Tag Team match. Speaking in a vlog on her YouTube channel, chronicling her road to this year’s WrestleMania, Rousey explained why she decided to start using Angle’s ankle lock more.
Rousey noted that Angle is like a mentor to her, and has been her hero since she was a child. Now, she uses the move inside the ring as a homage to the Olympic gold medalist.
“I just really wanna be able to put over Kurt as the whole reason that I’m doing the ankle lock, and it’s a way to pay homage to him,” said Rousey (via WrestleZone). “And that’s all I really care about getting out because he was my first mentor in this business, and I never really got to honor him outside of our tag.
“I mean people compare us all the time because we were athletes outside of WWE and then came to it. As an Olympian, he has been like my hero since I was a little kid, so I love that he gave me the blessing to use the ankle lock.”
Ronda Rousey may have come up short against Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 38 for the SmackDown Live Women’s Championship earlier this month, but she’ll get her rematch against “The Queen” at WrestleMania Backlash in an “I Quit” match.
