The People’s Elbow is one of the most iconic finishing moves in professional wrestling history but it was never intended to be.
In fact, it was just supposed to be a joke manoeuvre thrown together in the hope of making The Undertaker laugh.
You know the move. It involved The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) standing at the shoulders of his incapacitated opponent, a dramatic smell of what might be cooking at that particular time, a toss of an elbow pad into the crowd, a swing of the arms across the chest, a bounce against one rope, a hop over the downed foe, a bounce off the other rope, an electrifying lift of one leg and an exaggerated drop of an elbow the the chest.
It was fucking devastating.
Many a man has fallen victim to the move, whose damage is only slightly less impactful than the terrifying Worm used by a certain Scotty 2 Hotty.
Triple H, arguably The Rock’s greatest ever rival, has just revealed how the Brahma Bull came up with his signature move and it will surprise you to learn that it simply started at a house show when the superstars’ main goal was to get a chuckle out of one another.
Speaking on Greg James’ BBC show, Triple H explained how the People’s Elbow came about.
He said: “I can distinctly remember that, in a non-televised match, where we got to the point that, when you’re working in the smaller places and you’ve been on the road for 300 days and you’re in this place of ‘Let’s just make Taker break character tonight.
“And one night Rock did the People’s Elbow, but it wasn’t known as the People’s Elbow then.
"I loved working with @TheRock but the People's Elbow is the hokiest move ever!" @TripleH gives @GregJames the story behind the move 💪 pic.twitter.com/8hLEuYQNlg
— BBC Radio 1 (@BBCR1) June 21, 2017
“It was known as: ‘Watch this move that’s going to make all of you lose it in your corners.’
“And then it got to the point where it would happen at a couple of events and there was a night where, I think we were all working a tag match on TV, and [Mick] Foley said: ‘I dare you to do that elbow tonight.’
“These things morph in those ways that they just catch on and, trust me, we’re quick to go: ‘Oh they like that. I’m sticking with that.'”
