[2] The move was invented by Gory Guerrero in Mexico, where it was called la de a caballo (horse-mounting choke),[3] but got its more common name from The Sheik who used it as his finisher.
Also known as a stomach vise, just like the original clawhold, the attacker applies a painful nerve hold to the adversary's abdomen, forcing them to submit or pass out.
The attacking wrestler tucks their opponent's head underneath their armpit and wraps their arm around the neck so that the forearm is pressed against the chin.
Mexican luchador Místico innovated a variation in which he performs a tilt-a-whirl on the opponent them slams face first with a single-arm takedown and uses the submission hold called the La Mistica.
The wrestler grabs the wrist of the opponent so that the arm is held bent against their back, and their hand is forced upwards towards the neck, thereby applying pressure to the shoulder joint.
This is a legitimate controlling or debilitating hold and is commonly used by police officers in the United States to subdue uncooperative persons for arrest.
While this can inflict pain on its own, it is most often used as a transition hold, leading into either a hammer lock, an elbow to the held arm, or kicks to the opponent's abdominal area.
A wrestler stands behind the opponent and then wraps both of their arms around them in a reverse bear hug, sometimes clutching their hands together by the wrist for added pressure.
The wrestler then sits on top of their opponent using their own body weight to apply pressure with the option to grab and crank back on the right leg.
Also known as Ashi-Dori-Garami in Judo, the wrestler sees the opponent in a crouching position and then takes hold of their foot and cranks it sideways, putting pressure on the ankle and achilles tendon.
By controlling the opponent's body and using the hands to plantar flex the foot either straight or slightly sideways, hence putting considerable torque on the ankle.
A grapevine variation sees the wrestler applying the ankle lock hold and then falling to the mat and scissoring the leg of the opponent.
This is also performed by Jake Hager and Chad Gable, the former calling the move the Patriot Lock during his tenure in WWE as the "Real American" Jack Swagger.
This variation is the most famous version, invented by Buddy Rogers and popularized by Ric Flair, and is also the finisher of choice for several wrestlers like Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, The Miz, AJ Styles, Jeff Jarrett, Tito Santana, Jack Brisco, Gerald Brisco, and The Silent Warrior.
On the Steve Austin Show Unleashed Podcast, George Scott was credited by Ric Flair as the person who came up with the idea that to reverse the figure-four leglock, the opponent would simply turn over onto their stomach.
The late Eddie Guerrero used this move,[20] sometimes transitioning from a headscissors takedown which sees him rolling backwards from the momentum over the supine opponent to end up at their legs to then apply the hold.
The performer of the hold then falls back while grabbing the opponent's legs or feet, hanging upside down from the ring apron.
William Regal used a variation where he would face the opposite direction while distracting the referee, allowing him to maintain the choke for a prolonged period of time.
WWE wrestler Carmella uses an inverted variant of this hold as her finisher where she uses her shin to choke the opponent instead, making it resemble a gogoplata.
The attacking wrestler tucks the opponent's head underneath their armpit and wraps one arm around the neck so that the forearm is pressed against the throat, as in a front chancery.
But instead of taking a big step forward to lock in the Sharpshooter submission, the wrestler falls to their back and then catches the opponent's throat with their shinbone, as if to perform a Gogoplata.
Another variation sees the attacker performing a reverse STO, then locking the regular Koji clutch in, but crossing their legs in a modified figure-four headscissors.
The hold can also be applied while standing with the opponent's arms crossed across their chest or stomach held by the attacker to transition into other moves such as a suplex or an iconoclasm.
The justification for its legality is that, like a head scissors, it uses the legs rather than the hands to perform the "choke"; also, it does not crush the windpipe (strangulation); rather, it compresses the carotid arteries (jugulation).
This may lead to an armbar, a wrist lock, the wrestler pulling the opponent onto their shoulders in a fireman's carry, an Irish whip, or a short-arm maneuver, such as a clothesline.
The wrestler takes hold of an opponent that's standing on either of the ropes in the corner and pulls them down into a bent over position to trap their head with the top turnbuckle.
It is mostly used by Mark Henry, Goldberg, Beth Phoenix, Ric Flair, Sting, Kurt Angle, Jason Jordan, and Nia Jax.
The wrestler sits down, crosses their legs, tucks their head into their chest and wraps one arm around their ankle (so they are effectively rolled into a ball).
Usually performed on a charging opponent, this can also be a transition hold for counterattacks that sees the wrestler hit many throws and drops like a DDT or headscissors takedown.
This can also be a transition hold for counterattacks that see the wrestler (who is being wheelbarrowed) hit many throws and drops, like a DDT or a bulldog and rolling pin combinations.