The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1935-05-03

the evolu-
Kirk Miller ton of the
sport, declared that these
new-fangled holds such as
Danny O'Mahoney's Irish
Whip" and Chief Little
VOLTS death hold" are
offsprings of wrestling grips
familiar to serious observers
of the strangest profession Of
them all.
Scoffingly, Bisignano declares
any claims to originality in
either O'Mahoney's or Little
VOLTS fancy-named grips are
practically bogus.
'"There are only about a dozen
fundamental holds in wrestling"
says this sprightly Italian ex-
ponent and historian of the mat
game, land all of the others,
including Danny'S and Little
VOLTS are merely adaptations
of the basic forms Of leverage
known and practiced since the
Greeks and Romans first tested
their strength upon each other"
Few New beverages
Bisignano holds that since the
World War but three new meth
DDS Of attack have been devel-
oped and all of these are COM
paratively simple.
He referred to the forearm
nudge, the flying tackle "a foot
ball weapon which amounts to
nothing more than a body
charge) and the dropkick, an
other football hybrid, and even
the flying tackle, he claims is
merely a variation of the old
body check used by wrestlers.
back in the days when Joe Tur-
ner and Bob Roy Mack were
beginners.
Bisignano elaborated on his
assertion that the Irish whip
and death hold, the newest crea-
lions of wrestling advocated by
O'Mahoney and Little Wolf re-
spectively, are adaptations OF
old holds:
"The basic idea of the whip
is found in one of the most
familiar and widely used
maneuverS known to wrestling
the flying mare. In employ
ing the flying mare, you seize
your opponent by the wrist,
pull him forward and at the
same time, whirl yourself
around. Then, using the Shout
der as a point of leverage. you
pivot him over your head and
smash him to the mat.
An Extra Arm Jerk
Cali of this O'MahOney does,
except that after jerking his
man forward by the wrist, in
stead of pivOting him from the
shoulder, on the first jerk, he
merely steps aside, jerks him
the second time and then gives
him the flying mare. Two jerks
instead of one is the only diff.
ference between the flying mare
and the whip. Simple, isn't it?
And quite unoriginal!"
Pressed to expound the truth
as to Little VOLTS death hold,
your wrestling pedagogue pro-
ceeded to tear down any mys-
terry surrounding the Chiefs vi
cious leg clamp that puts his
adversarieS in utter rout and
leaves them flat of their backs
in excruciating pain.
can Indian never discovered
that hold" says BisignanO, "but
he may have speeded it up and
added color thereto with his war
whOOp which he yells as signal
of victory and to drown out the
grOanS Of his victim. But it
is the original HackenSchmidt
grapevine which was brought to
this country long, long ago by
a German wrestler whose first
name was Carl.
"Hackenschmidt was more
cumbersome and slow about
applying this grapevine than is
Chief Little Wolf who has be-
come quite adept at working
his man into this wickedest of
holds. 1t is as painful a wise as
there is, the tOe-hold and
strange included, and done
with the flOuiSheS the CHIEF
puts on it, makes it a Spectacu.
lar thing. But it is Carl Hack
enschmidt'S pet appliance, 20
years and more ago."
The professor also exposes
the nimble fact that Everett
MarshallS famous "arm pull"
is another exaggeration of tho
flying mare. Instead of yank-
ing by the arm and turning
and tossing the victim over his
shoulder, he says, Marshall
charges forward low after jerk
ing his foe by the arm, and
dumps him over the shoulder
with much the same effect as
in flying mare.
v