The Ronda Rousey–Liv Morgan Extreme Rules match at the recent event of the same name had more than its share of cool, hardcore spots, along with some that weren’t as great (lots of Rousey hitting Morgan in the backside with a baseball bat, for instance).
The finish to that match, however, was not very extreme, consisting of Rousey applying a submission hold until Morgan passed out. It was effective in making Liv, who was defending her SmackDown Women’s Championship, look fairly strong in defeat, but nothing special otherwise.
But if Rousey had her way, the ending of that bout would have been a bit different and definitely would have lived up to the name of the event. She commented about the finish she pitched on a recent YouTube gaming stream (h/t to POST Wrestling for the transcription).
“Yeah, actually I pitched the finish to be on thumbtacks [at Extreme Rules but it was turned down],” Rousey said. “She [Liv Morgan] put down thumbtacks and powerbomb me onto the thumbtacks and then as a repeat of our finish before, I would go for the armbar on the thumbtacks, but they start counting the pin, but then I would have to push up onto my one shoulder, like into the thumbtacks to keep the arm bar on… and Liv would be biting her hand trying not to tap and then pass out face down into the thumbtacks and have her hand there to protect her face.
“But, they said we can’t do thumbtacks anymore. That legally, we can’t purposely injure people and cut their skin and stuff. I don’t know, so I was like, ‘Well, how about tiny, little maple leaf pins?’ They’re like, ‘No.’ I’m like, ‘How about a bunch of screws? There on the side, it’s the ground.’ They said, ‘Nope.’ So …”
Rousey’s story lines up pretty well with recent comments made by Paul “Triple H” Levesque about how he feels intentional use of blood during matches is unnecessary and that he couldn’t see WWE doing it going forward. Thumbtacks would definitely qualify there.
Still, it’s nice to know that Rousey was brainstorming ways to give fans in the home of extreme, Philadelphia, a spectacle worthy of the name. Much appreciated.
[listicle id=13824]