recently saw an old alfred hitchcock presents where the character does the cheesiest most absurd rug pull ... and the person was boom dead. i assumed that was the origin of the term
'rug pull' has come to be mean (thanks to crypto) a premeditated & malicious financial play in which someone offers something for money and then vanishes before fulfilling their part of the original bargain.
OP edited to the idiomatic 'rug pulled from under my feet' to specify that he doesn't mean the above.
(not arguing)
recently saw an old alfred hitchcock presents where the character does the cheesiest most absurd rug pull ... and the person was boom dead. i assumed that was the origin of the term