The physics just don't work

I've never understood how "reversing" a Figure-Four Leg Lock works


It's really quite simple. Wrestling is fake, so whatever you believe is happening really is.


Well, that much is clear, but most things in pro wrestling are at least grounded in reality. If you punch a guy in the face, it hurts...so when a wrestler pretends to punch a guy in the face, and the other guy pretends it hurts, you believe it. Likewise, when a 7-foot tall guy picks you up and throws you onto the floor, it's not out of the realm of possibility that you'd feel that as well...so selling a body slam is pretty easy.

When it comes to finishing moves, most are likewise believable. The Undertaker uses a move called "The Tombstone" where he drops his opponent on their head. Yeah...I can see how that could knock a guy out for three seconds. The late (very recently late as a matter of fact) Macho Man Randy Savage would jump off the top rope, be about 10 feet in the air and drop an elbow on his opponents' throat. Yes, it's pretty easy to see that allowing a pin. Also in the genre of finishers are famous submission holds, like the "Million Dollar Dream" chokehold, which....you know...chokes. Also, the Camel Clutch and the Boston Crab (True story, I originally typed Boston Crap while writing this) are variations of the same move, just on different parts of the body...but it involves pulling an opponent's back into an uncomfortable position. Then there's the Figure Four Leg Lock, as applied IN THIS VIDEO by Ric Flair on the aforementioned Undertaker.

The idea here is that you're using your own legs to apply downward pressure on your opponents knee and ankle, using the opponent's own knee for leverage. Certainly understandable how this could become unbearably painful. On various occasions throughout wrestling history, various wrestlers have been able to escape the Figure Four by reversal. Reversing the Figure Four is apparently fairly easy. As you can see from the video, the victim is laying on his back at the time the hold is applied. To reverse the hold, all you have to do is roll yourself over onto your stomach. This causes "the pressure to be reversed" and now the wrestler who originally applied the hold will be in great pain and unable to escape the hold.

This makes no sense.

The hyper extension of one knee is still in place, and the other leg is still crossed over with pressure being applied to both sides. Since the original knee is the fulcrum simply inverting the entire system does absolutely nothing to the applied forces.

Consider if you will a pencil and a hockey puck standing on edge. If you put the pencil on top of the puck and apply a downward force on both ends of the pencil, it will break in half. If you then get a new pencil and glue the puck to the ceiling, position the pencil on the bottom of the puck and apply an upward force (inverting the entire system), guess what? The pencil still breaks, and your fingers will be fine. The fact that this seems to work entirely opposite this in wrestling is baffling to me. I am forced to Call Bunk on Pro Wrestling...and this makes me a little sad. Oh well.


Jeremy Is In The Office will be Out Of The Office tomorrow in celebration of Memorial Day. Jeremy's apparently a huge slacker and will be taking next Tuesday off as well. Jerk. We'll be back on Wednesday, June 1 with more Sametimey Goodness.