There’s been a lot of talk about WWE’s ban on ever-dragging a leg since Dave Meltzer first reported the story in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter last week.
Dave Meltzer provided an update on WWE’s latest edition in this week’s edition of the newsletter. Meltzer noted that SmackDown made a ‘big keeper’ of the leg / thigh rod, and Vince McMahon took it unfavorably. The report did not reveal the identity of the superstitious.
The WWE chief immediately called for a ban on leg slapping, and the company put up signs at a recent ceremony which read, “Don’t slap a leg when you kick”.
Backstage response in WWE to the new ban
Early behind-the-scenes comments on the new command had not been optimistic. People inside the company can’t understand why leg drag is an issue when WWE has a number of other problems to deal with. There is also a backstage belief that a leg ban ban will soon be forgotten, similar to many previous WWE rules and plans.
Meltzer noted that Jey Uso slapped his thigh during his Cage Steel game with Daniel Bryan. Many guards who have an offense with a heavy kick consider leg cramps to be part of their body’s natural movement.
Leg drag has been a common practice for additional sound effects since the early days of wrestling. The slapping mechanism to improve the impact of a strike was even seen as an essential part of the art. There were also many old-timers who would drag the coffins or kick their feet while delivering a punch.
The debate about slashing a leg that may ‘reveal the wrestling industry’ has been commonplace for a long time. The use of slaps during superkicks and kick kicks goes back some 40 years when British keeper Chris Adams used them.
Foot drag is pretty common in today’s combat, and WWE talents from NXT have also been criticized by many for making too much of it. Shawn Michaels, who has used thigh rods all his life, described the ban and recalled his ideas when using it for the first time.
“Clearly, I look back, and I go, ‘Okay, I did it. I just did one.’ I’m always of the clothes. I remember when I started [doing leg slaps], people say to me, ‘Too fast, too much, too this,’ and there’s a balance there. They were right in some ways, and at the same time, the industry is growing and changing. Football is not played the same way. Basketball isn’t played the same way, so I don’t know. I am someone who accepts these changes. I feel like somewhere in the middle, and balance is so important. I appreciate modern style. I value the athletics of today’s actors. Are they perfect? It was not. But we didn’t. “
What are your thoughts on leg drag? Let us know in the comments section below.