Exciting Headlock

Some of you may be thinking “Exciting Headlock” is an oxymoron — how can the most basic hold be seen as “exciting.”   Well, watch what Dolph Ziggler does with a Headlock — gritting his teeth, flexing his muscles, positioning his body for our viewing pleasure — and you’ll realize that even this humble resting hold can be a crowd-pleaser.

The coolest part of a Ziggler headlock is when he levitates his ass into a Headstand for extra leverage:

Does the Headstand actually add extra leverage and punishment to the hold?  Perhaps not — but it does enable Ziggler to work his “Show Off” gimmick.  Putting his own body on display, his ever-wedgied ass in the air, drawing our attention away from the suffering victim.  It’s as if Ziggler is screaming: “Look at what I can do!  Stare at my bulge!  Worship Me!”

The best “Cocky Heel” wrestlers are able to interject their pure arrogance into every move they make, every breath they take.  Ziggler demonstrates his skill at infuriating and arousing the audience by making even his Headlock look overdone and showy.  Here is an animation of the Dolph-Lock being applied to Randy Orton if you prefer to see it in motion:

Here is the Show Off using his signature Headstand Headlock on some other guys who aren’t as cool as him:

If you want to watch Ziggler punishing Alex Riley in the same way, check out the short video clip on YouTube.  Back to the Jericho match — Ziggler shows some mercy and drops down from Headstand position, but maintaining his deadly choke (and offering a gratuitous crotch shot in the process):

Dolph Ziggler’s gimmick is that he is a show-off, the guy in high school who was great at everything, constantly strutting his stuff and boasting. You hated him but would have flushed your brand new Walkman down the toilet if it meant you could be just like him.  He was also great eye-candy, so you could never stay mad at him no matter how much he picked on you…

The Headstand Headlock is a slap in the face to his trapped victim — as if to say: “I have you so subdued and helpless right now, I can even take time to play around and show off.”  And his opponents, God love them, obediently lay there, submissive and motionless while Ziggler out-performs them and holds his ass up for the world to see.

The best pro wrestlers can take an old hold or gimmick, tweak it, breathe new life into it, and make it their own.  That is what Ziggler has done with the Headlock.

Below is another variation Ziggler applies where he also wraps his legs around the victim’s mid-section.  Is it just me, or is it getting boner in here…