MY
MOST MEMORABLE WRESTLING MOVES
Recollections
of an Old Time Fan
By
Bob Jinkerson
Everytime
I visit this website, re-read Larry’s excellent account of “Wrestling At The
Chase”
or
look at Roger Deem’s also excellent “St. Louis Snapshots”, I am filled
with wonderful
memories
of
recent
Hall of Fame ceremony, which I proudly attended, brought back even more
wonderful
recollections.
I
thought I would share some memories of some of the moves I so fondly remember.
I
will
try to offer a brief description of each one for the benefit of the younger
readers who
may
have never seen them, especially since they are rarely, if ever, used today.
A
verbal
description doesn’t begin to compare to the actual visual, but I will try my
best.
And
for those fans who WERE around, maybe this little piece will bring back some
memories
of better days and better action. These are in no particular order.
I will
probably
think of more after I’ve submitted this, but at least I have a forum to share
them
with.
As
colorful as the moves themselves were some of the names given them. Here
we go:
COWBOY
BOB ELLIS’ “BULLDOGGING HEADLOCK”
The
Cowboy has his man in the corner, a side headlock firmly in place. Ellis
holds tight,
runs
to the center of the ring and drops the head face first to the mat, then turns
him over
and
covers for the pin. The move was always “lights out” when it was
executed. Any losses
suffered
by Cowboy Bob were the result of the heel avoiding the move, not surviving it.
PAT
O’CONNOR’S ROUNDHOUSE RIGHT IN THE CORNER
The
name of this one is mine, but the move is memorable. O’Connor, a great
technical
wrestler,
has had enough of his opponent’s dirty tactics and is livid with anger.
He has
his
man in the corner, draws back, and throws a blow to the head that would make
Sonny
Liston proud! This always got a huge pop from the crowd.
PAT
O’CONNOR’S REVERSE ROLLING CRADLE
Cradles,
of course, are common wrestling moves. But I have never seen anyone else
execute this one exactly like Pat. Behind his man, both facing the ropes,
O’Connor holds on while running him into the ropes, using the momentum to
bounce them back and turn the opponent over with O’Connor on top. Not a
guaranteed pin as some opponents, especially larger ones, could sometimes kick
out if they were not sufficiently worn down. But the
quickness
of the execution usually got the job done.
JOHNNY
VALENTINE’S BRAINBUSTER
Basically
an elbow drop to the back of the head, Valentine delivered it with such force it
was always portrayed as lights out! When I first saw Valentine many years
ago, he was a heel and I remember seeing him put an opponent out with a sleeper
and THEN follow up with a brainbuster for good measure! To a young fan of
the faces (at the time) that seemed like cruel and unusual punishment!
Even after Valentine became a fan favorite, it took a long time for me to
“forgive” him.
EDOUARD
CARPENTIER’S BACK FLIP AND STEAMROLLER
“The
Flying Frenchman” was always one of my favorites to watch. His back flip
was actually
the
postscript to this sequence of events: Carpentier has absorbed a lot of
punishment at the hands of his heel opponent. Now in control, he has the
heel in the corner, jumps up on the middle turnbuckle, throws a slashing chop
and then does a back flip almost to the center of the ring. It wasn’t
really a finishing move, but it definitely signaled the beginning of a
turnaround in Carpentier’s favor. Once he had his opponent worn down and
lying prone on the mat, Ed would do a standing flip on the opponent’s chest.
He would usually repeat this maneuver three times before covering for the pin.
It was an impressive looking finish.
RONNIE
ETCHISON’S GIANT SWING
Ronnie
Etchison ended his career, which unbelievably spanned six decades, as a lower
card wrestler in
LORENZO
PARENTE’S OLYMPIC STRETCH
This
popular Italian wrestler was a big favorite in
GENE
KINISKI’S KINDLING WOOD BACKBREAKER
“Big
Thunder”. “The Canadian Avalanche”. Gene Kiniski was hand picked by
the great Lou
Thesz
to take the NWA Championship from him. Thesz had great respect for Kiniski.
Unlike other wrestlers with a football background, Gene had a great arsenal of
credible wrestling and heel moves. His signature finisher was the
“Kindling Wood Backbreaker”. Unlike the traditional submission
backbreaker where the wrestler holds the opponent overhead and applies pressure
to the back, this backbreaker was executed this way. Setting up for a
bodyslam with opponent in position, Kiniski instead dropped to one knee and dug
the opponent’s back into the protruding knee, then dropped him to the mat for
the pin.
FRITZ
VON ERICH’S IRON CLAW
Fritz
called himself the “Master of the Iron Claw” with good reason. His
face claw was the
most
dangerous looking move of all. As a young fan, I used to fear that some
poor wrestler
was
going to die as a result of it. Grabbing his opponent’s face and
seemingly smothering it with his massive hand while his fingers acted like
suction cups, bracing it with the free hand to increase the pressure, Fritz was
seemingly able to force his opponent to the mat. Once
the
opponent was either pinned, submitted or in some cases rendered unconscious,
after the
match
ended freeing the opponent was no easy task. The referee would usually
have to help
free
Fritz’s hand from the opponent’s face and sometimes the force would actually
send the
ref
down to the mat! Have you ever tried to open a door and find that the knob
was stuck,
then
have the knob come out in your hand as you pulled and cause you to lose your
balance?
That’s
what the referee’s fate reminded me of.
BUDDY
ROGER’S FIGURE FOUR GRAPEVINE
Other
wrestlers, both face and heel, have used the figure four over the years.
Jack Brisco,
Ric
Flair, The Destroyer and many others have finished off opponents with this move.
Buddy’s was the first I ever saw. Something about the way he did it and
the way opponents
sold
it, if you will, made it appear to be the best. Of course,
the
more memorable.
break
the hold. One incident I remember in particular involved the popular
Cowboy Bob
Ellis,
who was to face
way
to reverse the hold (which has since become common). So on an episode of
“Wrestling At The Chase”, with Joe Garagiola at the mic,
applied
the hold and the Cowboy did, indeed, reverse it and cause Orton great pain in
the
process.
But even my young eye (I was about 12) could see that Orton’s hold was very
different
from Buddy’s. And of course, Ellis failed in his bid to wrest the NWA
laurels.