Billy Graham is out of pocket on this one.
On Monday, former World Champion "Superstar" Billy Graham took to his Facebook profile to go on a diatribe about WWE wrestler and former UFC Champion Ronda Rousey. Since he last wrestled for WWE in 1987, Graham has had an on-and-off relationship with WWE which included lawsuits, a Hall of Fame induction, and his request to be removed from the Hall of Fame. He has also done interviews and posted on his Facebook disparaging the current talent in WWE including Roman Reigns.
There's a time and place to examine the content and context of Graham's previous rants about WWE, but his comments about Rousey are his most recent attempt at stating an opinion which is completely off base. The following are the words he shared about Rousey's WrestleMania 34 debut.
Ronda Lousy vs HHH
First off to the fan who wrote.. " I find Ronda's use of Piper's
gimmick nauseating " You my brother are dead on my man !!!
I find it a total insult and absolutely reveals that she does not have an original thought in her head. Damn, can't she be an original at anything ? This shows you how shallow she is and by the way, I am a fan of females being in the main event. That is why I put up this photo of Amanda Nunes kicking her ass in 48 seconds. She looked pitiful, a TKO in 48 seconds on Dec. 30th, 2016 by Nunes, a real fighter and Rousey just a jobber.Speaking of jobbers, I read today a quote by Meltzer that shook me to the core, it goes as follows, " There was a rumor going around by WWE officials prior to mania 34 that Rousey was going to make HHH tap out to her armbar finisher
( instead of Stephanie McMahon ) and it appears the company went in the latter direction specifically due to storyline continuity reasons; as Rousey attacked Stephanie's arm the next night on Raw whereas HHH is not a regular on-screen character and has disappeared for now. "
WHAT ??? Miss Lousy was going to make H tap out ??? This would have been received as well as a cement truck full of pig sh*t being dumped on the mania 34 fans. God folks, what is the WWE thinking ??? RR is not a god of some kind but a mere female x UFC failure that got her flat ass kicked twice on the way out. Now this is nauseating. I demand that you fans respond to this crap the WWE is trying to lay on you by even thinking about her making HHH tap out, god this makes me sick.
His first claim of Rousey's disrespect to Roddy Piper seems uninformed. WWE, Rousey, and fans have all repeated the story of how Rousey was given Piper's jacket before her appearance at the Royal Rumble by the son of Piper. In fact while Piper was still with us in 2014, Rousey called Piper to ask permission to use the nickname "Rowdy". Piper was happy to pass down the name to a fellow trainee of Gene Lebell who Piper used to say was like a father to him and Rousey calls "Uncle Gene."
But the strangest part of Graham's anger is he thinks this reflects Rousey not having "an original thought in her head" and called her shallow. It's unclear even if she brazenly stole another wrestler's look and name, what that would mean for every other thought she has ever had. Also, Graham never explained how it would make her shallow and in what way.
Then Graham talks about Rousey's only two losses "on the way out" of UFC. This is an indisputable fact that Rousey lost her last two fights in the UFC which brought her win-loss record to 12-2. But what about those twelve wins? Some fans have tried to assert Rousey was beating up unskilled fighters until she ran into Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes.
Before Rousey was in the UFC, she was defeating former champions like Sarah Kaufman and Miesha Tate. At some points in the UFC, her quality of opponents varied because she was defeating all of the fighters at the top of the division and had bouts against women who were farther down the rankings. But while in the UFC, she dominated the top of the division until she ultimately lost to two contenders who were not employed by the UFC for most of Rousey's championship reign.
Can Graham claim Rousey is a "jobber" if she was defeating former champions and a Olympic Silver Medalist like Sara McMann often in the first round? Is he discounting the skill of the entire division Rousey was at the top of until Nunes and Holm showed up?
Finally, Graham said he became ill upon learning WWE even considered Rousey tapping out Triple H at WrestleMania 34. The mere idea that a female Olympic Judoka with twelve mixed-martial-arts wins could get a male professional wrestler in her signature move made Graham want to vomit.
Here's the thing about Rousey's armbar, it has always been her go-to move. All the way back to her days competing in Judo before the Olympics, she worked diligently on securing armbars as quickly as possible. Her reasoning was the competitions she entered had strict rules about how long the two Judokas could be on the ground. The judges and referees were more focused on throws but submissions were still a viable way to win. That is why Rousey has made it her signature move to slam or throw her opponent and secure an armbar within fractions of a second.
With the knowledge that Rousey has drilled armbars countless times and used them in competitions hundreds of times, the idea of Triple H getting caught in one of them does not seem so far-fetched that it should make Graham lose his lunch.
A lot of fans have dismissed Graham as bitter or attention seeking like some other professional wrestling luminaries who shall not be named. But what he said has been repeated in some fashion by UFC fans and WWE fans since the second she lost to Holm at UFC 193. When Rousey's whole journey from the Olympics to WWE has been brought into the equation, comments like Grahams seem like they are informed by everything after 2015.
