30 Day Wrestling Challenge - Day 20 Favourite Submission

May 8, 20205 min read

Sometimes pinning your opponent's shoulders to the mat simply isn't enough. For some wrestlers they want to bend bones and ligaments into ungodly shapes to cause their foes to submit.

Here are the favourites from the submission sorority that no one wants to see or pay for... WSBF.

PETE HITCHCOCK - TEXAS CLOVERLEAF

The cool and classic Texas Cloverleaf. Not too far from a Sharpshooter but oh so much better. Tanahashi squats so deep on his I am convinced he is trying to use the bathroom right there in the middle of the ring.

JCH - THE HALF CRAB

I cannot for the life of me work out which one of ZSJ's submissions are which and that is holding him back from winning this award. In general though I love his quick transitions from one submission to another.

I think I heard him say that if they haven't tapped in 3 seconds, they won't. So he adds another element to the move. What a guy. However as I can't remember which is which, I'm promoting what was going to be my honorable mention to the winner.

He is the MASTER of the half-crab and the undisputed British Cruiserweight champion, Michael Oku. I'm pretty sure he won his first match with a half crab, tagging in after Big T had destroyed someone??? Am I remembering that right?

But now he utilises the NOW WE PLAY catchphrase to set up to the move, which culminated in one of my favorite moments. Tapping out ELP to win the Cruiserweight Title, as we all chanted TAP TAP TAP at the top of our lungs.

Some call him a breakout star for the future, I agree with his Battle Pro promo - he's not a star for the future. He's already come.

BRUM - THE SASKATCHEWAN SPINNING NERVE HOLD

In one of the previous articles in this series I talked about Bryan Danielson's Cattle Mutilation as my favourite finisher but rather than talk about that again, I wanted to talk about my real favourite submission, Chris Jericho's "The Saskatchewan Spinning Nerve Hold" (SSNH).

Absolute jabronie marks who couldn't tell the difference between Ronnie Garvin and Jimmy Garvin just by looking at their crotch will probably tell you that Jericho's most devastating submission is The Walls of Jericho.

Some of them may have stopped chanting "WHAT?" long enough that they may go wild and say the Liontamer is his most dangerous submission.

They are also jabronie marks, because real wrestling fans like me that are cool know that his (and anyone's, for that matter) most dangerous submission is the Saskatchewan Spinning Nerve Hold.

The reason why most people don't know about this is because he has never done it on a taped show. There was a rumour that someone had it a couple of years ago, but it turned out to be some shit Bret Hart match instead.

If you speak to most cool people like me or Ryan Gosling or John Cusack, we'll tell you that the first reported sighting of the SSNH was at a WFWA house show on 1992 against Lenny St Clair.

However, most Jericho scholars now think this was actually just a prototype version of the "Moss-Covered Three-Handled Family Gradunza". Either way, St Clair struggled psychologically after the match and resorted to the death match scene as he was so traumatised by the move.

The first confirmed use of the move was actually later, in 1993 against Fabuloso Blondy in Arena Mexico at a non-televised CMLL show. Apparently the crowd was split; half in awe and half in disgust. Blondy was never the same again.

Even as a youth, I'd heard rumours of the move and finally got to see it 1994. I was visiting my good family friend, Uncle Ray, when he was doing some work over in the US and he took me to an SMW show at the Loudon High School Gymnasium in Loudon, Tennessee.

The Thrillseekers (Jericho and Storm) were in a match against Steven Dunn and Timothy Well ("Well Dunn" as they were known).

The match was standard dark match fare. Fast paced to get the crowd going but nothing really to write home about. However, at some point in the match, Jericho looked over at Storm and winked.

Lance Storm has always been a consummate professional, so when we saw him panicking and shouting "NO" at Jericho, both Uncle Ray & I knew something was up.

Jericho grabbed either Well or Dunn, I can't remember which one, and span him around in a way that his hypoglossal nerve was tucked under his armpit. It didn't look much but I still hear the screams to this day.

The ref quickly stopped the match as a submission but Well/Dunn was not in any state to make a coherent response. I don't know what got into Jericho that night, but it didn't feel human.

Since then, there were few, if any, confirmed uses of the move but you always hear "friend of a friend" stories that he used a variation of the move in some long lost match as the start of his career or even in WCW.

I used to hope they were true, but after seeing it (and most importantly hearing it) for myself, I hope they were just campfire stories and he only did it the couple of times we know about.

This is why I take back my earlier sentiment. The SSNH is actually my least favourite submission because of the memories it gave me and other first hand witnesses, not to mention the victims themselves.

But as what the most dangerous and effective submission is? No question. It's the Saskatchewan Spinning Nerve Hold. And I hope it's never ever used again.

ROSS CASEY - ROLLING HALF CRAB

In the WSBF group chat, conversation turned to how good Lance Storm was whilst in WCW recently and it reminded me of his spectacularly smooth finisher - the rolling half crab.

Everyone from the Repo Man to O.J.M.O have utilised the half crab, but only Lance had the gall to pull off the move with the style and grace of a Canadian wrestler from Alberta, Canada.

If I could be serious for a minute, Lance Storm deserves more praise for his run and if he doesn't get it, we are going to force you to watch every Nitro in the years 2000 and 2001 to ensure he gets it.

30 DAY CHALLENGE

DAY 1 - FAVOURITE MALE WRESTLER

DAY 2 - FAVOURITE FEMALE WRESTLER

DAY 3 - FAVOURITE MOMENT YOU'VE SEEN LIVE

DAY 4 - FAVOURITE TAG TEAM

DAY 5 - YOUR FIRST WRESTLING MEMORY

DAY 6 - FAVOURITE FACTION

DAY 7 - FAVOURITE PROMOTION

DAY 8 - FAVOURITE MANAGER

DAY 9 - FAVOURITE COMMENTARY TEAM

DAY 10 - FAVOURITE ENTRANCE THEME

DAY 11 - FAVOURITE MATCH