Becky Lynch has been putting people away with the Manhandle Slam for years, but apparently the move fans see today isn’t exactly what she originally had in mind. Somewhere along the way, Becky basically decided to make things easier and just steal The Rock’s homework.
During an appearance on So You Think You Can Sports with Elliott Glazer, Lynch was asked about the Manhandle Slam being a pumphandle maneuver. Becky quickly pointed out that description is a little outdated because she stopped using the original setup.
“It’s a pumphandle — it’s wrong, because I used to use it as a pumphandle. It’s like a pumphandle Rock Bottom.”
That naturally brought The Rock into the conversation, and Becky explained that her original version involved hooking her opponent’s arm before grabbing the other arm from underneath their legs and hitting the slam. The problem was that getting everything into position was kind of a pain in the ass.
“The Rock’s finishing maneuver. He hooks an arm here, and then I started doing it where I would get another arm, and I would grab it from under their legs, and then I would slam them.
“I stopped doing that part because it was just kind of hard to get into, and then I just took The Rock’s finishing maneuver and just took it and used it as my own. And kindly, he allowed me to do so. He’s the best.”
So instead of continuing to mess around with the more complicated pumphandle setup, Becky simplified the Manhandle Slam into essentially her own version of the Rock Bottom. The best part is that she isn’t pretending otherwise. Becky straight-up admits she took The Rock’s move, and apparently The Great One had no problem giving her his blessing to run with it.
What do you think about wrestlers putting their own spin on finishing moves made famous by previous generations? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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