There’s a lot of wrestlers who are unfortunately forgotten, overlooked or overshadowed for various reasons. They may have upset the wrong people, left the business young or just never been a part to the remaining wrestling, WWE. Whilst it is wrong these wrestlers are lost in the annals of time, it’s some what understandable. It happens in all sports, in all entertainment and walks of life. Then there are those who are have left a legacy that’s open and in front of everyone’s eyes, yet they’re still unheard of.
As you may have guessed from the title of the article we’re going to take a look at five maneuvers that have been named after an individual. The moves included will be the Kimura Lock, the Fujiwara Armbar, the German Suplex, the Beell, and the Asai Moonsault.
5 – The Asai Moonsault
A relatively new move yet the majority of people are unaware of it’s creator. To start with for those who may not be familiar with it, what is it? It’s basically a middle rope, springboard moonsault to the outside off of the apron. Occasionally the top rope may-be utilized. To provide an example for fans who may only be familiar with the WWE product, think Shawn Michaels Vs. Ric Flair at Wrestlemania XXIV when Shawn lands on the announce table. Obviously normally you’d hit the opponent though.
Just in case I didn’t paint a clear enough picture. Visual Example:
One of the reasons this moves is never noted to it’s creditor is because nobody has ever heard of Yoshihiro Asai. The name doesn’t even ring a bell. That’s because it’s the real name of a well known star who competed under his real name briefly at the beginning of his career. Asai was trained in the NJPW Dojo. Upon completion they refused to sign him stating he was too small and would amount to nothing.
Undeterred the young Asai moved to Mexico, where in the EMLL promotion he was given the name that many people would know him by the world over. Winning gold in WWE, WCW, WAR, CMLL, just to name a few. Oh, I nearly forgot, he also went back to NJPW winning the J-Crown, meaning he held eight title belts all at the same time plus an additional two belts from two different promotions.
If you haven’t guessed who this man is yet (Or read the video title), it’s the Ultimo Dragon. Now I know there are going to be some fans who enjoy wrestling the world over and they’ll be screaming at their screens right now, “HE’S NOT FORGOTTEN,” to an extent, no he is not. There’s a large portion of the audience who only watch WWE though that won’t remember him or will only as a footnote in the Light Heavyweight division.
I fear one day he will end up one day muddled in with a bunch of other guys in the history books only remembered by the fan that leans toward the historical side of the business. Yoshihiro Asai is often credited with innovating the move and it was named after him, it’s almost become a staple of wrestling during bouts containing smaller guys and he deserves the credit for doing so.
4 – The Beell Toss/Throw (Sometimes wrongly spelled biel/beal)
This is a move that is nearly as old as wrestling itself. What is it? It’s a move that’s used to show how powerful a wrestler is by exerting his power over the other guy. Normally these days you see it performed by someone like the Big Show, where he is in the corner with his opponent, places one hand under the opponents armpit, one on the hip, he takes a step and literally tosses his opponent across the ring.
Visual Representation:
Whilst it’s pretty safe to say the man who this move is named after wasn’t the inventor. He certainly perfected it enough for it to be named after him. A name that has stuck for well over a hundred years. The man in question is Fred Beell. Not a particularly big name by any means, but, he was an essential part of turn of the century wrestling.
Fred was born in West Prussia and immigrated with his family as a child to the United States. Excelling at sports in school. When he left school he found himself being tutored to be a wrestler by one of, if not the best teacher you could possibly ask for in the 1890’s, former American Heavyweight Champion Evan ‘Strangler’ Lewis.
With the knowledge of Lewis imparted on him, Beell would be one of the few men to defeat Frank Gotch. That match took place in 1906. Beell would hold both the American Heavyweight and American Light Heavyweight Championships and was considered to be very powerful for a man who weighed 169lbs. For the most part though Beell toured the country with Gotch, once Gotch became the World Heavyweight Champion as part of his troupe.
When Beell retired from active competition he continued to referee the occasional bouts and joined the police force. Unfortunately he was murdered during the investigation of a breaking and entering. Fred Beell was an amazing athlete and an essential part of the Gotch camp. But, more importantly he popularized the beell throw that is still seen and enjoyed by people over a hundred years later.
3 – The Fujiwara Armbar
An innovated version of a very old submission hold. What exactly is it? Your opponent is face down on the canvas, you position yourself seated at a 90 degree angle next to him, leaning onto his back to stop him moving, you hook his arm stretching it at 45 degree angle from the opponents head toward yourself. Your hands can either be clasped on the opponents wrist wrenching back in this position or hooked around the upper arm, or both
Visual Example:
This is such a popular move is this, over here in England there’s actually a band named after it. The inventor was a legitimate tough guy in the world of wrestling. Growing up he trained in Muay Thai kickboxing before becoming the first graduate of the NJPW dojo. Strong style suited him well. So much so he was among the people who defected from NJPW to start the original Japanese UWF based on a shoot style of wrestling containing a lot of submission wrestling.
Like most of the stars who were apart of the UWF when it closed he went back to NJPW and would find minor success, but never really was trusted enough to get a full main event push. It wasn’t just his former leaving though, he really could legitimately hurt people with submissions if he so chose. When the UWF was reborn he of course would be apart of it, after all the shoot style wrestling is where he excelled.
The promotion would ultimately fail and other efforts by the man would, however, he found his place training stars. Teaching them all his feared submissions and the shoot style as a base for aspiring wrestlers. Not just that though, he teamed up with www.scientificwrestling.com in an effort that is ever paying off to reintroduce Catch-as-Catch-Can Wrestling as a legitimate and major martial art.
Yoshiaki Fujiwara someone you still don’t want to mess with to this day. Forever immortalized by his innovated version of the armbar. If only the exceptional wrestler that was and is Yoshiaki Fujiwara was as well known as the maneuver.
2 – The German Suplex
A move when executed well never fails to get a pop from an audience. What is it? Located behind your foe with your arms in a belly-to-back waist-lock, positioning your stance so your hips are below there’s. You then lift them up and over you, backwards, crashing the back of their head and shoulders into the mat. You can release on impact or go into a bridge for a pinfall still with your grip. Most fans will know Chris Benoit or Kurt Angle’s triple German Suplex combination.
Visual Example:
The God of Wrestling, Karl Gotch. That’s the name of the man who the devastating suplex variation is named after. Gotch did not invent the hold, that credit often goes to Lou Thesz, but no-one could pop their hips and execute a perfect bridge quite like Karl Gotch.
Strangely Gotch is not actually German. He was born in Belgium and was a captive in a Nazi prison camp during World War II. Early in life he had learned how to Greco-Roman wrestle though and took on locals. After the war he even competed in both freestyle and Greco-Roman at the Olympics in 1948. If that wasn’t enough he’d also learned the martial art, Pehlwani.
The story goes that Gotch, whose real name was Karl Istaz, was told he should never go wrestle in Wigan, England because he’d get ‘torn a new asshole.’ Gotch tells it he responded, ‘Well, I need a new asshole,’ and off he went to learn the art of Catch-as-Catch-Can submission wrestling where it had been developed many decades before.
Under the guidance of Billy Riley and others at the Snake Pit Gym, Gotch learned how to really hurt a man with moves designed to break bones and rip ligaments. Sadly he never really caught on in America as he refused to put over men who couldn’t really wrestle, however, he became a huge name in Japan. That’s where the God of Wrestling moniker originated.
Many wrestlers would be trained by Gotch, Karl Gotch trained many wrestlers including, Antonio Inoki, Hiro Matsuda, Tatsumi Fujinami, Osamu Kido, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Satoru Sayama (Tiger Mask I), Masanobu Fuchi, and Akira Maeda. Gotch got his name from the legendary star of early wrestling days, Frank Gotch, and he earned that name by being one of the last, great hookers of this industry, who is credited with helping forge the Japanese strong style.
Whenever you hear JBL mention Karl Gotch on WWE TV now, you can smile and think to yourself that not only was he an innovator in Japan, was the God of Wrestling before JBL was even born, inspired Antonio Cesaro so much so he uses his finishing move, but, this iconic Belgian also has the German Suplex named after him.
1 – The Kimura Lock
A devastating hold used regularly in both MMA and professional wrestling. What is it? It’s a form of wristlock where by you get a grasp on your opponents wrist, twisting the arm back into a chickenwing position. Then thread your free arm through the chickenwing to grasp the wrist of your arm holding his arm. From there you can crank the pressure taking the arm as far back as to put it into a hammerlock. Very possible to break bones with it.
Visual Example:
Masahiko Kimura. Judoka. Catch-as-Catch-Can wrestler. The only man to defeat Helio Gracie. There’s been a lot of Kimura’s in the history of Japanese wrestling. Some more famous and remembered, some not. Masahiko is the definition of ultimate fighting machine though.
Kimura grew up learning Judo and reached 5th-dan black belt by the age of 18. Provided with a very highly respected job within the society of Japan, a police officer due to being surrounded with much praise for his abilities as a judoka. It’s said he lost less than five fights in his career in Japan.
Wanting to challenge the best in the world though, Masahiko left Japan and went traveling to prove his Judo against all comers. Taking up Catch-as-Catch-Can as he toured Europe in a way to help keep himself with money. It would be in Brazil where his biggest success would come though, whilst on a professional wrestling tour.
Helio Gracie was keen to prove his families Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu against the touring pros. Resulting in a match against Masahiko in front of 30,000 fans. Masahiko proved he was too much for Gracie and locked on his name famous hold the Kimura Lock and snapped Gracie’s arm not once, but twice. It’s said Gracie refused to quit and Masahiko was going for a third break when Gracie’s corner man threw in the white towel. For what it’s worth, before the match Gracie had a casket put in the arena, when Kimura arrived he asked what it was, he was told, ‘Helio brought it here for you after the fight.’
Back in Japan he would help Rikidozan start up the JWA the first truly successful promotion over there. The two wrestlers drew extremely high ratings together and were both extremely over. All that came to a head when Rikidozan appeared to double crossed Masahiko in the ring though. He would also open his own promotion the IPWF and is credited with being the man who first brought lucha libre wrestlers to Japan.
Yet there is still more. At the age of 42 he took on the 27 year old Gracie trained stand-out, Valdemar Santana. In this legitimate grappling contest Mashiko defeated the young opponent, once again using the Kimura Lock. They had a rematch under Vale Tudo rules and went to a forty-minute draw.
That is why Masahiko is another wrestler who should be remembered for his impressive career rather than just the move they created and/or popularized. And that concludes our look at the five moves named after five stars who really should be remembered much more than they are.
– By Jimmy Wheeler