"Sleeper Hold" in Professional Wrestling
Pro-wrestling's first "sleeper hold" is thought to have been performed by Jim Londos on June 29, 1931. Suspicion abounded as to the nature of Londos' move (which had looked suspiciously like a choke against the windpipe); however, Londos was quoted the next day in The New York Sun as simply having performed "a new hold I perfected which shuts off the jugular vein."
Though Londos' original move may or may not have been inspired by judo's "hadaka jime," pro-wrestling's sleeper and a rear naked choke both share a similar style of execution. However, in order for the sleeper to be used in the performance art-related world of pro-wrestling, the "leverage" arm is positioned in a relaxed state so the hold is not fully applied.
It is more realistically used by TNA wrestler Samoa Joe (whose wrestling move-set is closer to mixed martial arts). From then on out, the move has become more of a staple among independent wrestlers, as well as the Japanese wrestlers with the "strong style" of the sport; the most notable being former MMA star Minoru Suzuki.The sleeper hold is now more realistically done in pro wrestling.
Read more about this topic: Rear Naked Choke
Famous quotes containing the words hold, professional and/or wrestling:
“A woman hostage
will call a young thief “hero”
and look at him with love,
even if she’s lost her mind with grief
because her family
has been slaughtered.
As far as virtues go,
who can hold a grudge?”
—Hla Stavhana (c. 50 A.D.)
“I hate the whole race.... There is no believing a word they say—your professional poets, I mean—there never existed a more worthless set than Byron and his friends for example.”
—Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke Wellington (1769–1852)
“We laugh at him who steps out of his room at the very moment when the sun steps out, and says: “I will the sun to rise”; and at him who cannot stop the wheel, and says: “I will it to roll”; and at him who is taken down in a wrestling match, and says: “I lie here, but I will that I lie here!” And yet, all laughter aside, do we ever do anything other than one of these three things when we use the expression, “I will”?”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)