Sharpshooter (professional Wrestling) - History and Variations

History and Variations

While Bret "The Hitman" Hart is the wrestler with whom the Sharpshooter is most often associated, Ronnie Garvin and Sting were the first wrestlers to prolifically use the hold in North America, during which time it was called the Scorpion Deathlock, deriving from the original Japanese name. In Hart's autobiography, he noted that prior to his first major singles push, Pat Patterson asked if he could do a "Scorpion Death Lock", which he did not know at the time. Hart revealed that the only person in the locker room who knew about the move was Konnan, who taught the move to Hart. The name "Sharpshooter" was given in general line with Hart's "Hit Man" nickname (from the underworld slang hit, murder). In WWF publications of the era, Bret's father Stu Hart, long known as a trainer in the game, was generally given credit for devising the move.

Hart alone has demonstrated various methods of performing the sharpshooter - when an attacking wrestler performs a leg drop to the chest which Hart will block, cross their legs and flips them onto their stomach while he stands up, thus completing the move. Hart's niece Natalya Neidhart performs a slight variation where she crosses her opponents legs differently, putting more pressure on the knees.

Bret's brother Owen also used the Sharpshooter as his finishing move but he would always lead with his right leg where Bret always favored his left, many like Chris Benoit, Edge, and Shawn Michaels would also performed it with the right leg instead of the left. David Hart Smith also uses the Sharpshooter but with an added ankle lock with his free hand. Owen Hart also had another variant to the maneuver; he would feed one of his hands through the opponents legs and grip his other hand. This would apply more torque and stability to the hold.

Other North American wrestlers known to use the move include The Rock, Trish Stratus, Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit, Terry Taylor, Tyson Kidd, David Hart Smith and Stone Cold Steve Austin during his feud with Bret Hart and Owen Hart.

The Sharpshooter has been known for its use in the Montreal Screwjob, which occurred at Survivor Series in 1997 when Shawn Michaels applied Hart's own Sharpshooter on him. Vince McMahon double-crossed Hart by ordering referee Earl Hebner to ring the bell and award the match to Michaels, despite Hart never having submitted. This moment would be referenced within kayfabe through various future events; McMahon made the same action at the next year's Survivor Series in 1998, though it was part of a storyline, during the "Deadly Games" tournament final between The Rock and Mankind. Another occurred on the March 18, 2006 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, during a Street Fight between Shawn Michaels and Shane McMahon.