Battleground Valhalla Rising

Photo by Marko Simonen

We often end up hearing opinions about pro wrestling that are presented by people who have no interest to see the action in the first place and, in addition to that, seem to find the very art more or less worthless. As the perception of such critics equals zero - anybody may notice the contradiction in justifying their condemnation with a lack of knowledge - I am happy to have this opportunity to point out a few factors essential in professional wrestling to people open-minded enough to accept this sort of information. If there is expertise in the text or not, you be the judge of that. However, I will take examples from the match I had against "The Rebel" StarBuck for the Valhalla Nordic Championship at Power Expo in Lahti, Finland 27th of May 2018.

Photo by Timo Muilu

First of all you can see a hold that does look simple but there are indeed various ways to apply it, meaning one has several methods of increasing the pressure. StarBuck chooses to crank the neck by pulling the upper part of my head to the side, for if his hands were any lower I could use my jawbone to break his grip. He also makes me arch my back a little bit; the position is far from optimal for me to utilize muscle strength other than that in my arms, so I'm mainly moving my legs and waist area to change the layout.

Photo by Timo Muilu

The headlock here is slightly different from the typical one because of the grip: there is a twisting motion which enables me to drive the sharp bone in the forearm into the tender part of StarBuck's face right under his cheekbone. When one grabs his/her own wrist simply from underneath without going spiral-like as mentioned the result is having soft tissue/flat surface against the area where the opponent's nerve pressure points should be attacked... Also notice how I lean forwards in order to stop StarBuck from standing up after which he could easily lift me and then land me hard in numerous ways.

Photo by Timo Muilu

In the next picture there's basically a combination of the previous situations with StarBuck once again having gained the upper hand. It is clear how he pushes my head deeper into the hold so the pressure is coming to me from three sides - not to mention the position he's put my legs in; due to that the route I would have to take to execute most of the counter-moves is as long as possible. Yet I must stress that the extremely powerful nature of StarBuck's chin lock is not simply about the strength of his arm, but the weight and the movement of his body PLUS the strength of his arm (actually both of them to be precise).

Photo by Marko Simonen

Some people love to proclaim that pro wrestling is not a combat art or that it has nothing to do with sports to begin with. Once you take a look at what's being done to my body it is easy to comprehend how important it's for us as wrestlers to be both strong and flexible: the more tense your muscles are the more damage the impacts will do to you, and while being aware of that we must at the same time remember that what we do is not ballet either. My training - at the gym or so - is very similar to what's practiced in other fighting skills so I assume that it has a lot to do with having been able to avoid serious injuries. If you want to have more room for your body to dance around I suggest you go functional at least from time to time.

Photo by Timo Muilu

I find the next hold very interesting for I first had StarBuck in a hammerlock which he was able to resist by turning to the side instead of lying face down and trying to move away (it was thus more difficult for me to actually manipulate his shoulder). There's a way of putting on even more pressure in that position by locking the opponent's elbow between your knees and then applying a crushing wrist lock, but since I'm a professional I'm not there to injure the adversary but to pin him - so in the photo I do use my legs to trap StarBuck's hand behind his back while catching his other arm to get the leverage to roll him until his shoulders hit the mat. Keeping him there long enough is a different story though.

Photo by Marko Simonen

StarBuck going for an extra gear in order to keep the title. As Yukio Mishima said: "I had no taste for defeat - much less victory - without a fight." In matches like the one in question the wrestlers are obligated to find the mode which allows them to not only offer the spectators an experience worth the trouble of being there, but to show them something they did not expect to witness. When the battle is in one's heart it affects the mind in a manner which turns it into a weapon, and the rest is not history but a mystery rather... There's something supernatural in the way that the Sport of Kings is able to change the physical realm.

Photo by Marko Simonen