How Randy Orton's Height Changed Jon Moxley's Career Forever
RK-Oh dear, that finisher needs changed...
According to Jon Moxley's comments during a recent interview with Fightful, Randy Orton was directly responsible for why the AEW star switched up his finisher when he was still with WWE.
Mox said that he loved using the spiked variant of his DDT (one he called the "Headlock Driver", "Death Rider" and "Super DDT" during the interview), but said it was hard to perform safely on men the size of Randy. After a match between the pair, the then-Dean Ambrose decided he should probably find a finisher he could use on all shapes and sizes.
That's when Joey Mercury suggested a double arm version of the DDT.
He wouldn't have been in any position to pitch that move had Orton's height not proven troublesome for Moxley's preferred spike bump. It was tricky to use on guys taller than Jon, and he didn't much fancy struggling with it for years to come anyway. So, change was needed before someone got hurt.
Moxley, who thought the spiked move on Orton had been "just really awkward and stupid looking", accepted that a double-armed clutch was his best bet.