Sharpshooter (professional wrestling)
The Sharpshooter, originally named the Scorpion Hold, is a professional wrestling submission hold. The move is also known by the names reverse figure four, cloverleaf leg-lace crab, grapevine boston crab, Grapevine crab, Scorpion Deathlock, and despite its original scorpion hold name, the move is still commonly known by its Bret Hart-given nickname Sharpshooter.
The hold begins with the opponent supine on the mat with the applying wrestler stepping between the opponent's legs with one leg and wraps the opponent's legs at shin level around that leg. Holding the opponent's legs in place, the wrestler then steps over the opponent, flipping him over into a prone position before leaning back to compress the legs.
The main objective of the Sharpshooter is to put pressure on the lower back. Ironically, however, most users of the submission hold often attack their opponent's legs rather than the lower back.
Variations
Through the many methods of performing the Sharpshooter (other than the usual method), it has been demonstrated that the Sharpshooter can be performed from virtually anywhere.
The Rock's version of The Sharpshooter sees him hooking an opponents legs at the ankles instead of at shin-level (as most users do).
Edge uses an inverted version of the Sharpshooter dubbed the Edgecator. This variation sees the wrestler starting off the move as a normal Sharpshooter, but after crossing the opponent’s legs over their own, the wrestler does not mount the opponent, instead remaining to the side of the opponent with the opponent’s legs hooked around the wrestler's own leg.
Bret Hart alone has demonstrated various methods of performing the Sharpshooter - most notably when an attacking wrestler performs a leg drop to the chest which Bret will block, cross their legs and flips them onto their stomach while he stands up, thus completing the move.
At SummerSlam 1997 during the main event for the WWE Championship, Bret Hart performed an altered version of the Sharpshooter in which utilized the corner ringpost (tying his opponent The Undertaker's legs around the ring post and proceeding to compress his legs).
Reversals
There are three main ways to counter or escape the Sharpshooter:
- Breaking out of the Sharpshooter: The opponent proceeds to "regain" strength within his body and uses it to "break free" from the Sharpshooter. This of course only contributes to the wrestler merely "letting go".
- Reversal: Performed by Bret Hart on many occasions, the opponent trapped in the Sharpshooter would grab his opponents foot/leg and proceed to pull him off balance. Once off balance and on the mat, they would then cross the wrestler's legs and create a Sharpshooter of their own.
- Blockage: A simple and most common method of reversing the Sharpshooter - the opponent would block the wrestler's foot when trying to perform the sharpshooter.
Users
This hold was first popularized by New Japan Pro Wrestling star Riki Choshu, who called it the Sasori-gatame (Scorpion hold).
In North America, it was first popularized by Sting in the National Wrestling Alliance and later World Championship Wrestling, under the name Scorpion Deathlock.
The move's most popular name in North America, Sharpshooter, was made popular by the World Wrestling Federation star Bret "The Hitman" Hart. On the DVD "The Best There Is...The Best There Was...The Best That There Ever Will Be", Bret Hart states that Konnan originally taught him the Sharpshooter.
- Other wrestlers to use the Sharpshooter:
Trivia
- Konnan does not normally use the Sharpshooter, despite having taught it to Bret Hart.
- Chris Benoit and Lance Storm learned the Sharpshooter from their training in Stu Hart's Dungeon (as Bret would help to train wrestlers).
- The Rock used the hold as a homage to Owen Hart, but was never directly taught the move, hence his "sloppiness" while applying it. He has, however, performed the Sharpshooter "correctly" on one occasion, that being the 1998 Survivor Series, in an ending designed to mock the Montreal Screwjob - which occurred at the same event the previous year.
- In the SmackDown! and SmackDown! Vs RAW games, the Sharpshooter is featured in the moveset of Shawn Michaels (originally as a reference to the "Montreal Screwjob"). The Rock also has the Sharpshooter featured in his moveset, although it is his variation of the Sharpshooter (called The Rock Sharpshooter).
- Performing the Sharpshooter in Canada (by an American wrestler) usually results in loud booing from the Canadian crowd and references to the Montreal Screwjob.
- In response to the health and safety rule of the WWE, Bret Hart has often joked in various interviews that "they should see him for lessons on how to put the Sharpshooter on properly". He even said in an interview "I wish WWE Wrestlers could perform the Sharpshooter properly - they're not doing it right."
- WWF Magazine wrote an article named Wrestling's Most Dangerous Submission Holds, in which the Sharpshooter was amongst one of the most painful.
- The Undertaker was the first wrestler to break free of Bret Hart's Sharpshooter.
- In her final match at Unforgiven 2006, WWE Diva Trish Stratus defeated Lita for her seventh WWE Women's Championship by using the Sharpshooter.