I noticed many years ago that wrestlers nearly always work on their opponent’s left arm rather than the right. Pay attention to the application of the Armbar in the next 100 matches you watch — I’ll bet at least 95 of them will be applied to the left arm.
If you really wanted to harm your opponent — to weaken and immobilize him so you can win the match — wouldn’t you want to attack his right arm, the source of his greatest strength? Most wrestlers are right handed, so wouldn’t it make more sense to disable and injure the arm he is most likely to fuck you up with?! Or maybe, I’ve reasoned, the left arm (being the weaker, clumsier arm on most men) is the better arm to attack because it is presumably more fragile and will take less time to dismantle.
Being a Lefty myself, this seems like discrimination! It seems to be a tradition to work on his left arm. Aren’t you always supposed to mount a horse from the left side? Well, you’re apparently supposed to mount a jobber from the left side too.
I was reading some wrestling postings today on social media, and I think I finally found a plausible reason for why wrestlers always punish the left arm:
“A lot of people say that it’s because back in the day there weren’t many left handed wrestlers and also wrestlers had day jobs. So if you end up hurting their arm, they could still work outside of wrestling.”
In most matches, we are led to understand that the Heel wrestler has no mercy for his Baby-Face opponent. He will stop at nothing — he will even maliciously injure our poor hero — to gain a victory.
But this brutal tone is softened when we learn that the big bad Heel will focus on the left arm so the poor guy can still perform his Day Job using his right arm the next morning. This reveals a layer of compassion, sympathy, and support between the two “enemies.” Yes, the cruel Heel wants us to believe he is out to inflict maximum agony, but he also looks after the victim by being careful to avoid harming his good arm. Awww.
Sometimes I think there aren’t many new insights into the mysterious, magical world of pro wrestling that I have not heard about before. But then a new little item of trivia like this explanation for the apparent obsession with left arm abuse creeps up, and I feel pleasantly surprised to now understand something I always wondered about when gooning out to pro wrestling.
So here are some more images of good old-fashioned Arm Torture — all of which is inflicted on the victim’s left arm.
Thanks for focusing on my favorite hold: the arm bar! Great article! A pro wrestler told me once that all the attacks are supposed to come from the left side. It simplifies the range of moves, reducing the chances of either wrestler getting caught off guard (for real) and injured and making it easier to move from one hold to the next. He compared ring wrestling to a dance, largely made up on the spot, but with certain standard “steps” (like the left-sided approach) so that both parties maintain some control of what’s going on. So, apparently (if this guy wasn’t pulling my leg, the left one), you are right about the heel looking after the safety of his victim as well as the smooth progression of move to move. I thought it was rather sweet, actually … the idea of the impromptu dance between heel and victim.
Focusing on any one body part is so hot. I remember Jake Roberts focusing specifically on the left HAND rather than arm (poor Bob Emory).