#4 The Kneebar
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Leg submissions have been vogue in wrestling for decades now, from Bret Hart’s legendary Sharpshooter to Kurt Angle’s use of the ankle lock and eventually the heel hook.
They’re always a great submission move to use because they can easily build drama into a match – will a wrestler tap, or will he hold out and escape? – and the knee or leg is an easy move for a wrestler to work over to build to the hold.
The simple kneebar though has never been used in WWE to the best of my knowledge.
I’m honestly not sure why, either. Not only does it look absolutely agonising, but it’s also easy to apply and can be locked up from various positions – I can’t find video footage, but Josh Thomson was able to apply one in PRIDE directly after escaping an armbar.
As a matter of fact, probably the most famous kneebar in UFC history was used by Frank Mir to tap out none other than the Beast Incarnate, Brock Lesnar, in his UFC debut back in 2008.
With Lesnar having history with the move, it’s a mystery to me why nobody in WWE has ever decided to introduce it to their arsenal. A feud with Lesnar built around an opponent’s expertise in the kneebar could prove to be a lot of fun.
Leglocks are known as a staple of the Russian sport of Sambo, a base for many MMA fighters such as Khabib Nurmagomedov and Fedor Emelianenko. Sambo, leglocks, and Russian/Eastern Bloc fighters have always gone hand-in-hand.
With Rusev always being proud of his Eastern Bloc heritage, who better to introduce the kneebar to a WWE audience?
