If there’s a lesson amid all the history, perhaps it’s simply that some things take on a life of their own. Citing Guerrero biography "Cheating Death, Stealing Life - The Eddie Guerrero Story," Barr’s Wikipedia entry credits wrestling colleague 2 Cold Scorpio with remarking that Barr “looked like a frog” when he performed the move, ultimately inspiring Barr to christen the Frog Splash with its now-famous name. Barr is said to have actually first picked up the move from Guerrero, who was already calling it the “Jackknife Splash,” before Barr decided to make it his own. In Mexican pro circles, the high-impact finisher picked up increasing exposure through the 1980s before another iconic luchador, Guerrero’s tag-team partner Art Barr, would claim it as his signature.įrom here, things get a little more murky. Following in the steps of his own famous Mexican-American wrestling family, Guerrero cut his teeth in the ring early with a 10-year stint in Mexico, steeped in the luchador style where the move - known by other names - was already in common use.Ĭredit for the move itself - an aerial dive from the top rung onto a prone opponent, spiked in midair with a frog-like outward thrust of the arms and legs - conventionally goes to La Fiera, the late luchador legend who began performing it at least as early as the 1980s. She’s tending the flame for a move with some serious old-school origins one that Guerrero himself - though he made it popular - tapped as a key part of his own wrestling upbringing. However, when Banks pulls the Frog Splash as an homage to her hero, it’s more than superficial genuflecting. "I always wanted to make everybody feel how Eddie Gurrero made me feel,” Banks confessed on her recent episode of Peacock’s "WWE Evil." “Unstoppable.” As a kid, Banks said she glued herself to the TV set whenever Guerrero was in the ring, taking notes from her idol on how to lie, cheat, and eventually steal the win - which usually meant ending things with a picture-perfect Frog Splash, the move Guerrero (along with Rob Van Dam) made famous during the proto-WWE days of the 1990s and early 2000s. It all goes back to Banks’ childhood wrestling hero, the late, great Eddie Guerrero. But how did the move end up making it to the top of the rotation as Banks’ best-known signature finisher? Of course, she’s talking about the go-to move she often whips from her bag of tricks to wreak match-ending havoc: Just check out the 3:00 mark in the clip above for a textbook example of Banks splashing down hard - on a hapless Zelina Vega - during Banks’ electrifying SmackDown return last July.įans of The Boss hardly need an explainer to know a Frog Splash when they see it. “It has to be a Frog Splash!” she said, surprising probably no one who’s been following her career since she stormed onto the WWE’s main roster in 2015.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |