LOL right. His version looks a little more like the Scorpion Deathlock, where Sting would often hold both legs with one arm. Bret's looked the best tho with Sting's a close second.
It's not that it looks loose, which yea it does, it's that it just isn't a sharpshooter. The rock just crosses the ankles which isn't the move. I've even seen instances where he doesn't even cross the ankles where it's basically just some kind of weird modified Boston crab and they still call it sharpshooter lol.
Even as a child I thought Rocky's sharpshooter was ass. He just straps it in and just kinda sits there, no tension or torque on the spine at all lmao. I'll never forget Bret Hart tweeting at Rock telling him that he'd be happy to personally teach him to apply the sharpshooter correctly.
As much grief as the Rock gets for his sharpshooter, he could still execute that move better than someone like Dave Meltzer or Conrad Thompson doing that move. Well, Conrad could probably do a decent Figure 4 Leglock since he is a horseman.
I was gonna say, in most of the clips it just looks like a Boston Crab. The silhouette itself is totally different than a Sharpshooter. I thought Rock did it on purpose. Haha
@thethird1977 as a Sting mark, someone asked me why Stings Scorpion Death Lock suffered during the late WCW days. I assumed it was injuries that caught up with him. Stevie you’re fucken crazy to think Rocks sharpshooter is better than Stings Scorpion Death Lock.
Considering that Rock debuted his crappy Sharpshooter at Survivor Series '98 to reference the Montreal Screwjob, my personal headcanon is that Rock went to Owen Hart for advice on how to do the Sharpshooter, since he was buddies with Owen, and Owen decided to just rib him & taught him how to do a terrible looking one. Then, after Owen's passing, Rock has since decided to NEVER improve on his Sharpshooter, in honor of Owen. In essence, I want to believe that Rock purposefully does it crappy to pay tribute to Owen ribbing him. Not saying that's how it came about, but it is how I wish to actual story would go.
So now he's stealing Disco Inferno's moves! Disco did a match with a gimmick where he was trying a sharpshooter to prove something to the crowd; he's facing away, fumbles the legs trying to figure it out, until the guy on the mat shoves him off with a kick in the butt.
I think James nailed it: Bret is doing a proper cloverleaf where he hooks the opponent's shin/ankle under the back of their knee, then cranks it back to put pressure. Rocky is just crossing his opponent's ankles under his arm and squatting.
According to Bret, there's a very specific reason why he crosses the legs the way he does: it's supposed to resemble a shooter's crosshair, hence the name "Sharpshooter," hence the "Hitman" moniker. By that logic, it makes little sense for either Owen or Rock to call their crossed-leg bostom crabs "Sharpshooters" except for heat (or conversely, they intentionally make it look different out of respect), and Sting doesn't even call it a Sharpshooter: it's a Scorpion Deathlock.
@@insomniacbritgaming1632I don’t think it matters who did it first. But still, Sting did it better. He has nothing on how Bret does it, but he is leagues better than Rock
There’s a huge difference between the way Rock did his sharpshooter during his Attitude Era run and post Attitude Era. He got increasingly sloppier as time went on. During his Cena run he was just too big to do it like he used to. I think age, size, and risk of injury limits his ability to do it like Bret.
In the initial side by side, it also looks like Rocky crosses them in reverse. Like in Bret's left side version, the opponent''s left leg is on top and the right is crossed under. In Rocky's right leg version, it SHOULD be right leg on top, but instead it's left leg on top.
exactly, the leg on Bret's out leg should be crossed underneath, which essentially makes it a figure four lock with your arms, and then flips over into a boston crab. That's the whole point of the move. Rocky doesn't even understand what the hold is.
I honestly don't think that the mouth wide open thing that Rock or Cena do is pretty ridiculous, it looks more like they are in pain, not their opponents.
Wait. Stevie needed to be convinced that Rock has a bad Sharpshooter? It's not just blatantly self-evident? Uhhh... okay. Really makes me question his judgement.
Are you questioning Steven's logic? How do you know he is just now finding out the Rock couldn't perform a sharpshooter properly? How do you know he hasn't been aware for a while and is now choosing to make an analysis on how bad the move looks?
Bret steps through with his left leg, then crosses the leg in HIS left hand first. The Rock, if he’s stepping through with his right, should cross the opponent’s foot in his right hand over. Bret crosses it horizontally, then the other hand vertically. Bret stepped out further and has 2 steps in his pivot. And being 5’11”-6’0” he sits down lower. His legs are shorter than Rock’s so he can sit in a little more. With all that being said, shout out to Konnan for teaching Bret the proper technique.
Bret had great emotion when he used the sharpshooter. I've heard Dutch and Al Snow also comment on Bret's lack of selling with his face. I have no idea what Bret Hart matches they were watching lol. He was great at that. Rock's sharpshooter looked completely ridiculous and unserious. His facial expressions and intensity just made a sloppy looking hold look even worse.
As nobody's mentioned it; I'm going to throw credit to Natalyas version. Nobody sits back as far as she does (she did one on Melina where she actually ended up with her back on the mat!)
almost everyone who does the Sharpshooter/Scorpion Death Lock makes it look like they're at least trying to do something with it, Bret, Owen, Sting Then we have the rocks version which just looks lazy
16:30 The "almost tapping" is actually a real thing, you can see it in grappling and MMA matches. It's either when you feel the submission is sitched in properly but you don't yet feel the familiar pain, or you feel that you can whithstand it a bit, so you think you might have a chance of still escaping but are not quite sure. It might also be an instinct from training where you don't mind tapping out quicker even if there's a small chance to escape.
isn’t it so cool how such lil details make all the difference. It’s the same move, but it looks drastically different between the two. Bret was truly a pro and my fav of all time for sure
I just watched the 60 min Iron Match from WM12. Bret had the most emotion on his face I've ever seen from him when he finally got that sharpshooter on Shawn.
he also crosses the legs over the wrong way for the direction he turns them over bret mentioned that it should look like a bullseye with the opponent's legs when turned over
Man i like your choices of topics. All the little things others don’t talk about and you are not afraid to say it like it is. No agenda only pure truth. You have a new subscriber here beother
The first time the Rock did the sharpshooter was mocking the Montreal incident to get heat. I am not sure he meant for it to look good, but he shouldn't of kept doing it. I still think his Sharpshooter is why Canada booed him versus Hogan.
The Rock pushes the outside leg down second, instead of first, this is the inherent flaw in his technique. The outside leg must go down first, Sharpshooter (left) or Scorpion/Rocky (right) Sting and Bret push the outside leg down first.
As an American trained wrestler who doesn’t know Lucha Libre but you’re in a Lucha Libre show wrestling Luchador’s, USE the sharpshooter (candado del escorpion) in the match and you’ll impress the boys in the ring.
I think everyone's missing the point of why it's called the "Sharpshooter" in the first place, and the signature move of a man known as the "Hitman"; Bret crosses the legs in a manner that resembles a crosshair. You can clearly see it here: 10:36
My man Brets Sharpshooter is perfect! One thing no one ever mentions is how he can also pull it out from different positions like versus Mr Perfect! When Mr Perfect went for the leg drop to the nuts and Bret caught it while laying on the mat then proceeded to lock in the Sharpshooter while they were both laying down, so slick! The Rocks Sharpshooter is so ugly! Sonia Danny Garcias, IDC how much he tries to act like he's wrenching it in it's horrible!😂 KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK YOU GUYS LOVE Y'ALL BOTH! 🤘🏽✊🏾
If you watch Rock workout videos- he never goes all the way down on his squats. He seems to have some undisclosed knee issue that may be keeping him from doing a proper sharpshooter
My takeaway from this video was really how Brett Hart truly was the excellence of execution- all the details he uses applying that sharpshooter and really locking it in… incredible
Rock had the wrong leg on top! This is a huge problem! The top leg is the one under the armpit, but if you have the wrong leg, you can’t do that! Sting at least had the correct leg on top. Bret also basically had his opponent’s legs in a figure-4, which allowed him to really get it tight.
It's amazing we can still watch a Bret Hart match and admire just how he did everything well. The excellence of execution was so fitting for the way Bret worked.
Brets was a work of art. It always pisses me off how in videogames Bret puts it on by keading with the right leg though, he did it in reality with the left leg, which is opposite to everyone else, despite (to my knowledge) him been right handed. The way Bret synched in the opponents legs and made it look like there was no spaces ANYWHERE. It was so tightly locked in it subconsciously makes it look like there is no way the opponent can escape. GOAT.
I was always under the impression that the Rock was trying to apply pressure to the ankles, while Bret was applying pressure to the knees. The Rock always used to catch both legs under one arm while Bret only would caught one leg.
The main problem with the Sharpshooter he did on the Miz is that he crossed the Miz's legs the wrong way. Not having the legs in a figure 4-esque position made things worse, because he didn't use one of the opponent's legs to trap the other, which is the whole point of crossing the opponent's legs. He could have compensated by switching which ankle he held under his armpit (this is what Shawn Spears does - technically incorrect, but it looks good enough I guess), but he...didn't. Instead, he awkwardly tried to hold both ankles under one armpit, so one leg was always in danger of slipping out. One of the Young Bucks, I think it's Nick, is almost as bad as the Rock.
This is a great video. Comparing the two wrestlers, I want to tap when I just see Brett do the sharp shooter lol. Speaking of tropes, I often didn't like when the Rock would yell while performing the move as if he's in pain too lol.
The hand hovering and almost tapping out is just like... that's wrestling though, haha. I'm usually at nitpicky as they come but that's one area where suspension of disbelief is totally appropriate.
An example, after wrestling myself for years and being a fan for 20+ years at the time, when Daniel Bryan and Brock Lesnar faced each other, I was about as jaded as it gets. Love wrestling, but know all the ins and outs and view it more from the work aspect than the entertainment, which is fine but... that childhood wonder was just dead. So it goes. But when Bryan had Brock in the crossface, and then clobbered him across the forehead with a few stiff forearms, and cinched in the crossface even harder... I jumped to my feet. I believe Brock's hand was hovering at this point, though I may be remembering it wrong, but the point is I got totally worked. As if Daniel Bryan, especially under Vince's regime, would make BROCK LESNAR tap out clean. Would never happen in a million years, but those bastards made me BELIEVE for a glorious 1.8 seconds, where I felt like a kid again and somehow believed in the impossible. And I think it was that exaggeration of reality that wrestling is entirely based in to begin with, that made that banner moment for me as a fan, really work.
I learned to apply the Sharpshooter from watching Bret on VHS tapes, rewinding, putting it on slowmo, when I was a teenager in the 90’s, and I put it on A LOT better than the Rock. I’d apply it on friends and my little sister and they couldn’t get out of it. Then, I learned how to do it on the opposite side like Sting would. I have never disagreed with what Stevie has ever said more than when he said “dare I say it I think Rocky’s is better than Sting’s” …. WHAT?!!!!!! Sting’s is the just the mirror version of Bret’s, literally! Bret steps in with his left foot, Sting (like the Rock) steps in with his right foot. Oh, and Bret learned how to do the sharpshooter from Konnan (while Konnan was doing shots with WWE before given the gimmick of Max Moon, before he dipped).
The Flair/Goldberg comparison around 10:45 shows it perfectly. Rocky has the legs crossed at the ankles, Bret has a figure 4 secured across the shin. Even before they start to roll, it looks like Bret's would be more uncomfortable. Once they roll, Bret looks completely in control. Balanced, with a snug grip and looking like he can put more pressure on to hurt you more if he wants. Whereas Rocky looks like he's just trying to stay upright and an opponent could just lie there being mildly inconvenienced. The bow and arrow set-up comparison also highlighted the problem. The leg position problems makes it a different hold altogether.
In Bret's sharpshooter the opponent is already screwed before the twist, the ankle is already in a comprised situation. A simple lean back the ankle is going to hurt. Unlike Rock Bret puts it on as if it's a legit submission move.
No one ever notices but a big reason it doesn’t look right and it’s not cinched in properly is because The Rock crosses the wrong leg on his opponent. I’m not a wrestling expert, but I feel like I’m an expert in this hold because I’ve studied it extensively and applied it to a lot of people. The Rock uses his right leg, which is completely fine, but he doesn’t reverse the leg crossing sequence, which is why his had less stability. If you’re using your right leg, the opponents right leg goes on top of his left leg, and the opponents right ankle gets cinched under your right armpit. This allows a deeper squat, far more control, and more stability. If you wanna hurt someone, you can, but the illusion of causing pain is created but how much you’re able to bend your opponents knees.
Yall should really check out owen hart's sharpshooter. He really locked it in! Bret always used his left leg first. Owen used the right leg like most others. But Owens was different than all of them. It was quite nice. Occasionally he would raise one arm in the air to taunt while submitting his opponent
The whole move is sloppy and not tight. It looks like a half ass sharpshooter. Like he's doing the move as a throwaway and not a real threat. With Brett, you always felt like he meant it and he was literally trying to break his opponent with the hold. Also, if he's using the opposite leg, wouldn't that make it a Scorpion death lock and not the sharpshooter? That's the only real difference between Sting and Brett's finishers.
I vaguely remember either Brett or Sting saying that there is a slight and subtle difference between the two, but for the life of me, I can't remember what they said. It was something to do with opponent leg position as well as one move targeting the legs while the other targets the back.
I've put a lot of Sharpshooters on friends, cousins, and siblings over my life, and I can confirm that if you do it just like Bret does, you can hold someone in place, mostly helpless, with one hand. Hooking the lower (left, in Bret's case) leg over your thigh does 80% of the work. The other 20% is done by hooking the upper (right) foot in your armpit. The move can essentially be held hands-free once you roll them over. Rocky's method of crossing the ankles and holding both between his arm and his obliques has looked awful since the very first time he did it, and he's only gotten worse at it with time.
I did like his dragon screw, sharpshooter era where he was a bit more technical but still sloppy and loose because at least he brought in some of that Muto influence we already knew was there
It’s a shame that in the history of the sharpshooter that nobody has specifically stated/sold it to where it’s the femur that’s the most affected area of the leg that’s impacted by the sharpshooter as the femur is the worst place you could fracture as not only will it be the most painful experience you could have in a broken bone, but it could be fatal if not appropriately handled when it is fractured as it can lead to severe bleeding in the lower intestines and muscles that are blow the waist where the femur is near. I can tell you from experience that shattering your femur is a nightmare as even after 12 years after the fact I’m still dealing with femur issues as it hinders my ability to walk and most recently a piece of the rod that was put in it shot out of the bone and got nestled into my pelvis which caused severe internal bleeding and the wire that was from the rod that shot out protruding against the skin and nearly piercing through the skin of my lower back. If done correctly then wrestling could’ve made a lot of money off of selling specific body parts being affected like holds, which could’ve led to a safer environment in the ring where wrestlers would be in holds they could be protected in as opposed to doing stunts where there’s little to no protection in letting gravity take charge of the match.
Even though Rock’s version may look less believable in a lot of peoples’ eyes, you could also say that he is also protecting his opponent I see that with a lot of Rock’s overall move set - Rock Bottom - People’s Elbow - DDT - Combination Rock punches - Samoan drop - Jumping lariat You can tell Rock takes a very safe approach with just about all of the moves in his arsenal. I’d say The Rock in 2002 was his best in-ring work
I think we all ignored the "don't try this at home" warnings and took turns with brothers/friends to try out wresting moves. The sharpshooter can hurt, I've felt it just as I have the cross face or cloverleaf etc but just a glance at The Rocks you can tell it's not even a slightly bit uncomfotable. His opponents body is almost straight and their legs bent no more than they would be sitting at a chair. Obvioulsy not tryin to actually hurt your opponent but there is zero sell, Miz doing a great job to try and sell but he's being done dirty by Rocky
I know Stevie said he likes Rocky's facials better , but it was more over the top to me, Brets facials while doing would look more realistic, as if he was straining all he could to put that pressure on it and hold it. Bret is correct when he would call this an artform, and he was a master artist on that canvas.
Give a round of applause to Miz for volunteering for the sharpshooter demonstration.
The demonstration would have been better with Dave Meltzer, Bryan Alvarez, Sean Oliver, or Brian Last (especially him) in place of the Miz.
Miz is a 2 time grand slam champion! On paper greatest of all time!
@@jonesyjones74 miz and greatest of all time should not be in the same sentence
Looks like Rock is in more pain than the guy hes doing the move to
For sure 😅
Agreed! 😄
Yeah it’s almost like he’s not trying to hurt anyone
Exactly. The guy in a submission should be the one selling the pain not the one applying the hold.
@@SeanEShay But he should look like he is. The Rock's sharpshooter is the worst.
He just makes it look so loose, Bret would LOCK that shit in
Facts
LOL right. His version looks a little more like the Scorpion Deathlock, where Sting would often hold both legs with one arm. Bret's looked the best tho with Sting's a close second.
It's not that it looks loose, which yea it does, it's that it just isn't a sharpshooter. The rock just crosses the ankles which isn't the move. I've even seen instances where he doesn't even cross the ankles where it's basically just some kind of weird modified Boston crab and they still call it sharpshooter lol.
That’s why Bret was the best there was best there is best there ever will be
Shawn Michaels' Sharpshooter was not the best either. That may have been intentional though on Shawn's part.
Even as a child I thought Rocky's sharpshooter was ass. He just straps it in and just kinda sits there, no tension or torque on the spine at all lmao. I'll never forget Bret Hart tweeting at Rock telling him that he'd be happy to personally teach him to apply the sharpshooter correctly.
As much grief as the Rock gets for his sharpshooter, he could still execute that move better than someone like Dave Meltzer or Conrad Thompson doing that move.
Well, Conrad could probably do a decent Figure 4 Leglock since he is a horseman.
I don't recall the Rock ever tapping anyone with it either. I could be wrong, but don't remember anyone ever tapping to it.
@@roccojamison89gooker51. So…?
He made heel Stone Cold tap. However, Vince distracted the referee. He also made William Regal tap.
@roccojamison89gooker51 I would certainly hope so cause Rock is a trained wrestler and they're not 😅
The Rock essentially does a single arm Boston Crab rather than a Sharpshooter.
Rocky does a leg massage.
I was gonna say, in most of the clips it just looks like a Boston Crab. The silhouette itself is totally different than a Sharpshooter. I thought Rock did it on purpose. Haha
Every time I see him do the sharpshooter I just see the rock squatting in the woods taking a dump
Accurate
Saying that The Rock's Sharpshooter is BETTER than Sting's IS WILD!
That statement confused me!! I mean it's gotta be personal... right? XD
Late-era Sting did not apply the hold well (age and a long career catching up with him), but overall pre-WCW closing Sting's was great.
@thethird1977 as a Sting mark, someone asked me why Stings Scorpion Death Lock suffered during the late WCW days. I assumed it was injuries that caught up with him. Stevie you’re fucken crazy to think Rocks sharpshooter is better than Stings Scorpion Death Lock.
EXACTLY‼️
Considering that Rock debuted his crappy Sharpshooter at Survivor Series '98 to reference the Montreal Screwjob, my personal headcanon is that Rock went to Owen Hart for advice on how to do the Sharpshooter, since he was buddies with Owen, and Owen decided to just rib him & taught him how to do a terrible looking one. Then, after Owen's passing, Rock has since decided to NEVER improve on his Sharpshooter, in honor of Owen. In essence, I want to believe that Rock purposefully does it crappy to pay tribute to Owen ribbing him.
Not saying that's how it came about, but it is how I wish to actual story would go.
Good thing Owen didn't teach the Rock how to do a piledriver.
Ha.
This is now also my own personal headcanon. Makes total sense.
Ah yes the old Kung Pao "We trained him how to do it wrong, on purpose, as a joke" strategy...
The survivor series 98 sharpshooter wasn’t bad. For some odd reason, the more Rock did it, the worse the move looked.
@@Jestylor6"if you've got an ass, I'll kick it!"
-Wimp Lo
Rocky should give you 10 trucks for saying his was better than Sting’s. That is a wild take.
The Rock did the Worst Sharpshooter ever...
HBKs was so good that it rang the bell BEFORE Bret tapped. That’s technique.
(Sorry Bret, bad joke)
Gunther should use this joke next time he sees Bret😂
We definetly needed to see the Scorpion Deathlock for more comparison.
Came here to say the same.
there's no difference
Always hilarious when he starts folding up the legs and then has to stop and start over xD
So now he's stealing Disco Inferno's moves! Disco did a match with a gimmick where he was trying a sharpshooter to prove something to the crowd; he's facing away, fumbles the legs trying to figure it out, until the guy on the mat shoves him off with a kick in the butt.
I think James nailed it: Bret is doing a proper cloverleaf where he hooks the opponent's shin/ankle under the back of their knee, then cranks it back to put pressure. Rocky is just crossing his opponent's ankles under his arm and squatting.
i like how bret crosses the leg similar to a cloverleaf, always enjoyed that detail
Yep, you tuck the foot into the back of the leg, and it's held there by the force on the other leg.
Yes and doesn't have his hand out like Owen Hart sharpshooter was (with all due respect R.I.P) or have his hand on his knee
According to Bret, there's a very specific reason why he crosses the legs the way he does: it's supposed to resemble a shooter's crosshair, hence the name "Sharpshooter," hence the "Hitman" moniker.
By that logic, it makes little sense for either Owen or Rock to call their crossed-leg bostom crabs "Sharpshooters" except for heat (or conversely, they intentionally make it look different out of respect), and Sting doesn't even call it a Sharpshooter: it's a Scorpion Deathlock.
@@Tenchigumi maybe call it the "Rock Lock"
It's madness. I was doing a better sharpshooter on the playground.
How many millions of dollars did you draw on the playground with your killer sharpshooter?
@@SeanEShayrock didnt draw with the sharpshooter goofy
He drew with litterlly everything else
@@SeanEShay Bragging rights in class
Another Bad Creation
@@SeanEShaycope
I always hated it when the rock did the sharpshooter. No polish and it just overall felt weird seeing him do it.
His sharpshooter at WrestleMania this year was actually good I thought.
Hated hated hated it
@@donypaddy6859The only good Sharpshooter coming from the Rock was at 50 years old lmao
He really isn't a locks and wrestling moves guy, he's a great puncher and seller tho, it feels weird
I hate when anyone but Bret Hart does it
Sting's was far better than Dwayne's by a mile.
Sting started the move
Sting did it first!!
Stings was better by 2 miles
Sting’s was better but the first in America is debatable. Shawn Royal? Davey Boy? Ronnie Garvin? Steve Williams?
@@insomniacbritgaming1632I don’t think it matters who did it first.
But still, Sting did it better. He has nothing on how Bret does it, but he is leagues better than Rock
The sharpshooter is supposed to be the opponents shins crushing their calf. Rock is just holding the opponents ankles together under his arm pit.
If Brian Knobbs did the Rock's sharpshooter he would be taking his opponent's ankles to Pity City.
"The Miz is a champ for taking it from both guys" ~Stevie Richards
Bret’s looked like he was shouldering a rifle with his arm/hand placement, even if not intended. Thats what made it the best imo
Every time i watch one of these videos,i think stevies co-host is really the voice of the nerds. Man does he nail it here
There’s a huge difference between the way Rock did his sharpshooter during his Attitude Era run and post Attitude Era. He got increasingly sloppier as time went on. During his Cena run he was just too big to do it like he used to. I think age, size, and risk of injury limits his ability to do it like Bret.
Also, Rocky puts the wrong leg under his armpit which compromises his ability to cinch it in.
In the initial side by side, it also looks like Rocky crosses them in reverse. Like in Bret's left side version, the opponent''s left leg is on top and the right is crossed under. In Rocky's right leg version, it SHOULD be right leg on top, but instead it's left leg on top.
exactly, the leg on Bret's out leg should be crossed underneath, which essentially makes it a figure four lock with your arms, and then flips over into a boston crab. That's the whole point of the move. Rocky doesn't even understand what the hold is.
I already said the same but was initially looking for someone who said this already
Natalya Neidhart also does this.
I grew up studying the sharpshooter and learning how to put my friends in it. I can watch this all day. Subbed ❤
Rock’s Sharpshooter has ALWAYS been trash. It’s a joke. Bret did show plenty of emotion and facials when he’d lock that thing on.
I honestly don't think that the mouth wide open thing that Rock or Cena do is pretty ridiculous, it looks more like they are in pain, not their opponents.
Dwayne looks like he's taking a 💩 when he does the Squatshooter. 🙇🚽💦
"I must aplogize for Wimp Lo. He is an idiot. We purposely trained him wrong... As a joke."
“Face to foot style, how’d you like it?”
“I’m bleeding….making me the victor”
Wait. Stevie needed to be convinced that Rock has a bad Sharpshooter? It's not just blatantly self-evident? Uhhh... okay. Really makes me question his judgement.
Are you questioning Steven's logic? How do you know he is just now finding out the Rock couldn't perform a sharpshooter properly? How do you know he hasn't been aware for a while and is now choosing to make an analysis on how bad the move looks?
@@sheepdavis Because I listened to what he said in the video.
I love how confused the Rock looks in that thumbnail! 😆
Bret's version looks like it would tear your quad off the knee.
Rocks sharpshooter doesn't look half as dangerous but he allowed himself to sell the strain and dismay of the move
Bret steps through with his left leg, then crosses the leg in HIS left hand first. The Rock, if he’s stepping through with his right, should cross the opponent’s foot in his right hand over. Bret crosses it horizontally, then the other hand vertically.
Bret stepped out further and has 2 steps in his pivot. And being 5’11”-6’0” he sits down lower. His legs are shorter than Rock’s so he can sit in a little more.
With all that being said, shout out to Konnan for teaching Bret the proper technique.
One of them is treating the move like an actual catch wrestling hold... almost like Bret actually was a wrestler.
Also his belly to belly was bad. His float over DDT was 👍
The float over ddt could have been a great finisher for him.
I always hated that he stopped doing it or just did it way less
He actually did the best one in his career during this years wrestlemania lol
Yea lmao
Rock should've named his version the Scorpion King Lock.
People would still be calling it is and thats a sharp shooter.
@@thelastquincy1457 Bret even said that Sting's Scorpion Deathlock inspired him to begin doing the Sharpshooter.
@@thelastquincy1457 Sting did it first. That's why. Just ask Bret.
This kind of deep dive is what fans have pondered, been looking for from a pro’s perspective for years. Great stuff!!
Bret had great emotion when he used the sharpshooter. I've heard Dutch and Al Snow also comment on Bret's lack of selling with his face. I have no idea what Bret Hart matches they were watching lol. He was great at that. Rock's sharpshooter looked completely ridiculous and unserious. His facial expressions and intensity just made a sloppy looking hold look even worse.
As nobody's mentioned it; I'm going to throw credit to Natalyas version. Nobody sits back as far as she does (she did one on Melina where she actually ended up with her back on the mat!)
almost everyone who does the Sharpshooter/Scorpion Death Lock makes it look like they're at least trying to do something with it, Bret, Owen, Sting
Then we have the rocks version which just looks lazy
16:30 The "almost tapping" is actually a real thing, you can see it in grappling and MMA matches. It's either when you feel the submission is sitched in properly but you don't yet feel the familiar pain, or you feel that you can whithstand it a bit, so you think you might have a chance of still escaping but are not quite sure. It might also be an instinct from training where you don't mind tapping out quicker even if there's a small chance to escape.
Was just about to comment this. See it all the time in MMA
isn’t it so cool how such lil details make all the difference. It’s the same move, but it looks drastically different between the two. Bret was truly a pro and my fav of all time for sure
I remember when Ken Shamrock hot dogged Kurt Angle doing the ankle lock, it’s like “if you wanna take my move, you better do it right”
I just watched the 60 min Iron Match from WM12. Bret had the most emotion on his face I've ever seen from him when he finally got that sharpshooter on Shawn.
he also crosses the legs over the wrong way for the direction he turns them over
bret mentioned that it should look like a bullseye with the opponent's legs when turned over
Stevie don't give a F and I'm here for it! 🤣
THANK YOU! I've been screaming this for years!
Man i like your choices of topics. All the little things others don’t talk about and you are not afraid to say it like it is. No agenda only pure truth. You have a new subscriber here beother
Bret Hart's on HBK at the end of their Iron Man Match is the perfect application of the hold. I absolutely loved it.
The first time the Rock did the sharpshooter was mocking the Montreal incident to get heat. I am not sure he meant for it to look good, but he shouldn't of kept doing it. I still think his Sharpshooter is why Canada booed him versus Hogan.
Didn't he say that he kept doing it as a tribue to Owen?
The Rock pushes the outside leg down second, instead of first, this is the inherent flaw in his technique.
The outside leg must go down first, Sharpshooter (left) or Scorpion/Rocky (right)
Sting and Bret push the outside leg down first.
Oh my God thank you, I thought I was the only one seeing it....
Interesting. Let's see Paul Allen's sharpshooter.
😆😆
Bret’s Sharpshooter was more effective cause he locks it in completely to make the submission more painful
So glad to see people finally calling out Rock's sharpshooter. Like he had to know how crappy it was right
As an American trained wrestler who doesn’t know Lucha Libre but you’re in a Lucha Libre show wrestling Luchador’s, USE the sharpshooter (candado del escorpion) in the match and you’ll impress the boys in the ring.
I think everyone's missing the point of why it's called the "Sharpshooter" in the first place, and the signature move of a man known as the "Hitman"; Bret crosses the legs in a manner that resembles a crosshair. You can clearly see it here: 10:36
My man Brets Sharpshooter is perfect! One thing no one ever mentions is how he can also pull it out from different positions like versus Mr Perfect! When Mr Perfect went for the leg drop to the nuts and Bret caught it while laying on the mat then proceeded to lock in the Sharpshooter while they were both laying down, so slick! The Rocks Sharpshooter is so ugly! Sonia Danny Garcias, IDC how much he tries to act like he's wrenching it in it's horrible!😂 KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK YOU GUYS LOVE Y'ALL BOTH! 🤘🏽✊🏾
If you watch Rock workout videos- he never goes all the way down on his squats. He seems to have some undisclosed knee issue that may be keeping him from doing a proper sharpshooter
My takeaway from this video was really how Brett Hart truly was the excellence of execution- all the details he uses applying that sharpshooter and really locking it in… incredible
Rock had the wrong leg on top! This is a huge problem! The top leg is the one under the armpit, but if you have the wrong leg, you can’t do that! Sting at least had the correct leg on top.
Bret also basically had his opponent’s legs in a figure-4, which allowed him to really get it tight.
It's amazing we can still watch a Bret Hart match and admire just how he did everything well. The excellence of execution was so fitting for the way Bret worked.
Thank you so much for calling out how bad his sharpshooter is
I used to hate when the rock do this move. I felt like this wasn’t naturally a part of his catalog.
Agreed. It just never felt right. I'm trying to think of a good submission that would work for the Rock character and I'm drawing a blank.
@@mattm7798arm drag into an arm twist maybe? Rock loves doing arm drags
Ok, i want a Stevie video of wrestling tropes in real world situations. Have a camera follow him through a normal day and then a wrestler's day!
Brets was a work of art. It always pisses me off how in videogames Bret puts it on by keading with the right leg though, he did it in reality with the left leg, which is opposite to everyone else, despite (to my knowledge) him been right handed. The way Bret synched in the opponents legs and made it look like there was no spaces ANYWHERE. It was so tightly locked in it subconsciously makes it look like there is no way the opponent can escape. GOAT.
Stevie just uploaded a video about Rock's Sharpshooter?? Okay this is a must see xD
I was always under the impression that the Rock was trying to apply pressure to the ankles, while Bret was applying pressure to the knees. The Rock always used to catch both legs under one arm while Bret only would caught one leg.
The main problem with the Sharpshooter he did on the Miz is that he crossed the Miz's legs the wrong way. Not having the legs in a figure 4-esque position made things worse, because he didn't use one of the opponent's legs to trap the other, which is the whole point of crossing the opponent's legs. He could have compensated by switching which ankle he held under his armpit (this is what Shawn Spears does - technically incorrect, but it looks good enough I guess), but he...didn't. Instead, he awkwardly tried to hold both ankles under one armpit, so one leg was always in danger of slipping out.
One of the Young Bucks, I think it's Nick, is almost as bad as the Rock.
I never saw Rock's sharpshooter as good, but i also didn't expect it to end a match.
Love this! I agree, I grew up despising The Rock doing the sharpshooter. We used to use it as evidence of him being bad in the ring lol
This is a great video. Comparing the two wrestlers, I want to tap when I just see Brett do the sharp shooter lol. Speaking of tropes, I often didn't like when the Rock would yell while performing the move as if he's in pain too lol.
All Rocks moves were loose goosy, clothes line, people elbow ,when jumps over opponent eta
Yeah, that’s how you make sure you aren’t injuring anyone, yourself included
The hand hovering and almost tapping out is just like... that's wrestling though, haha. I'm usually at nitpicky as they come but that's one area where suspension of disbelief is totally appropriate.
An example, after wrestling myself for years and being a fan for 20+ years at the time, when Daniel Bryan and Brock Lesnar faced each other, I was about as jaded as it gets. Love wrestling, but know all the ins and outs and view it more from the work aspect than the entertainment, which is fine but... that childhood wonder was just dead. So it goes. But when Bryan had Brock in the crossface, and then clobbered him across the forehead with a few stiff forearms, and cinched in the crossface even harder... I jumped to my feet. I believe Brock's hand was hovering at this point, though I may be remembering it wrong, but the point is I got totally worked. As if Daniel Bryan, especially under Vince's regime, would make BROCK LESNAR tap out clean. Would never happen in a million years, but those bastards made me BELIEVE for a glorious 1.8 seconds, where I felt like a kid again and somehow believed in the impossible. And I think it was that exaggeration of reality that wrestling is entirely based in to begin with, that made that banner moment for me as a fan, really work.
I learned to apply the Sharpshooter from watching Bret on VHS tapes, rewinding, putting it on slowmo, when I was a teenager in the 90’s, and I put it on A LOT better than the Rock. I’d apply it on friends and my little sister and they couldn’t get out of it. Then, I learned how to do it on the opposite side like Sting would.
I have never disagreed with what Stevie has ever said more than when he said “dare I say it I think Rocky’s is better than Sting’s” …. WHAT?!!!!!! Sting’s is the just the mirror version of Bret’s, literally! Bret steps in with his left foot, Sting (like the Rock) steps in with his right foot.
Oh, and Bret learned how to do the sharpshooter from Konnan (while Konnan was doing shots with WWE before given the gimmick of Max Moon, before he dipped).
I learned to do the figure-4 leglock the exact same way.
Mark
@@JimCornetta “mark”, yeah, even the guys who eventually put on the boots are “marks”, otherwise, we’d end up being “dumb marks”, like Goldberg.
@ shut up geek
Bret learned from Owen - who watched Sting do it when (Owen was) in WCW in 1991.
The Flair/Goldberg comparison around 10:45 shows it perfectly.
Rocky has the legs crossed at the ankles, Bret has a figure 4 secured across the shin. Even before they start to roll, it looks like Bret's would be more uncomfortable.
Once they roll, Bret looks completely in control. Balanced, with a snug grip and looking like he can put more pressure on to hurt you more if he wants. Whereas Rocky looks like he's just trying to stay upright and an opponent could just lie there being mildly inconvenienced.
The bow and arrow set-up comparison also highlighted the problem. The leg position problems makes it a different hold altogether.
Would LOVE to see SR compare Sting's and Bret's.
Haha, I’m glad Stevie pointed that out. I’ve always disliked the Rock’s version of the Sharpshooter. Bret Hart is the GOAT and perfected that move.
How dare you talk about The Rock’s sharpshooter Stevie!,Lol,Keep up the great videos.
In Bret's sharpshooter the opponent is already screwed before the twist, the ankle is already in a comprised situation. A simple lean back the ankle is going to hurt. Unlike Rock Bret puts it on as if it's a legit submission move.
Me and the crowd always used to POP when The Rock would put on the Sharpshooter but it always looked so loose and like it didn’t hurt 😂
No one ever notices but a big reason it doesn’t look right and it’s not cinched in properly is because The Rock crosses the wrong leg on his opponent. I’m not a wrestling expert, but I feel like I’m an expert in this hold because I’ve studied it extensively and applied it to a lot of people. The Rock uses his right leg, which is completely fine, but he doesn’t reverse the leg crossing sequence, which is why his had less stability. If you’re using your right leg, the opponents right leg goes on top of his left leg, and the opponents right ankle gets cinched under your right armpit. This allows a deeper squat, far more control, and more stability. If you wanna hurt someone, you can, but the illusion of causing pain is created but how much you’re able to bend your opponents knees.
Yall should really check out owen hart's sharpshooter. He really locked it in! Bret always used his left leg first. Owen used the right leg like most others. But Owens was different than all of them. It was quite nice. Occasionally he would raise one arm in the air to taunt while submitting his opponent
Stevie is all over the place point in fact Bret and Stings is number one best in the business.
In all fairness, the only reason Rock did this move, was as a tribute to Bret, for all the help he gave him in his younger years
I always saw Rock's version as him looking after his opponent as he doesn't put any pressure on their back.
Good job showing the same move on the same person by two different people. I was hoping you would do that for comparison.
The whole move is sloppy and not tight. It looks like a half ass sharpshooter. Like he's doing the move as a throwaway and not a real threat. With Brett, you always felt like he meant it and he was literally trying to break his opponent with the hold.
Also, if he's using the opposite leg, wouldn't that make it a Scorpion death lock and not the sharpshooter? That's the only real difference between Sting and Brett's finishers.
I vaguely remember either Brett or Sting saying that there is a slight and subtle difference between the two, but for the life of me, I can't remember what they said. It was something to do with opponent leg position as well as one move targeting the legs while the other targets the back.
I've put a lot of Sharpshooters on friends, cousins, and siblings over my life, and I can confirm that if you do it just like Bret does, you can hold someone in place, mostly helpless, with one hand. Hooking the lower (left, in Bret's case) leg over your thigh does 80% of the work. The other 20% is done by hooking the upper (right) foot in your armpit. The move can essentially be held hands-free once you roll them over.
Rocky's method of crossing the ankles and holding both between his arm and his obliques has looked awful since the very first time he did it, and he's only gotten worse at it with time.
I did like his dragon screw, sharpshooter era where he was a bit more technical but still sloppy and loose because at least he brought in some of that Muto influence we already knew was there
Dean Malenkos Texas Cloverleaf was always beautifully executed to me
It’s a shame that in the history of the sharpshooter that nobody has specifically stated/sold it to where it’s the femur that’s the most affected area of the leg that’s impacted by the sharpshooter as the femur is the worst place you could fracture as not only will it be the most painful experience you could have in a broken bone, but it could be fatal if not appropriately handled when it is fractured as it can lead to severe bleeding in the lower intestines and muscles that are blow the waist where the femur is near. I can tell you from experience that shattering your femur is a nightmare as even after 12 years after the fact I’m still dealing with femur issues as it hinders my ability to walk and most recently a piece of the rod that was put in it shot out of the bone and got nestled into my pelvis which caused severe internal bleeding and the wire that was from the rod that shot out protruding against the skin and nearly piercing through the skin of my lower back. If done correctly then wrestling could’ve made a lot of money off of selling specific body parts being affected like holds, which could’ve led to a safer environment in the ring where wrestlers would be in holds they could be protected in as opposed to doing stunts where there’s little to no protection in letting gravity take charge of the match.
Even though Rock’s version may look less believable in a lot of peoples’ eyes, you could also say that he is also protecting his opponent
I see that with a lot of Rock’s overall move set
- Rock Bottom
- People’s Elbow
- DDT
- Combination Rock punches
- Samoan drop
- Jumping lariat
You can tell Rock takes a very safe approach with just about all of the moves in his arsenal.
I’d say The Rock in 2002 was his best in-ring work
This demonstrates one really important thing about professional wrestling: At the end of the day 90 per cent of fans couldn't care less
I think we all ignored the "don't try this at home" warnings and took turns with brothers/friends to try out wresting moves. The sharpshooter can hurt, I've felt it just as I have the cross face or cloverleaf etc but just a glance at The Rocks you can tell it's not even a slightly bit uncomfotable. His opponents body is almost straight and their legs bent no more than they would be sitting at a chair. Obvioulsy not tryin to actually hurt your opponent but there is zero sell, Miz doing a great job to try and sell but he's being done dirty by Rocky
Now if we could get a comparison video of Bret giving the people's elbow as a follow up.
I've always called Rock's version the Squatshooter
Would you rather take the Rock's sharpshooter or Hogan's chairshots?
I know Stevie said he likes Rocky's facials better , but it was more over the top to me, Brets facials while doing would look more realistic, as if he was straining all he could to put that pressure on it and hold it. Bret is correct when he would call this an artform, and he was a master artist on that canvas.
It’s funny how before the video no one knew Rock had a bad sharpshooter. Now we have have sharp shooter experts in the comment section
The "Shitshooter"
The sharpshitter
All of Bret's moves looked like they could be real, from his punches to his finisher.