Tap or Snap: Daniel Bryan and Submitting

Tapping out? Not a big deal for AmDrag
Photo Credit: WWE.com

For two weeks in a row on Smackdown, Daniel Bryan wrestled Alberto del Rio. Both matches were hailed by fans as being free TV mat classics, and both ended similarly, with Bryan tapping to del Rio's cross armbreaker. I didn't see the match from last week's show, but the one from the most recent episode was tremendous. It was well-paced, had great limb psychology and ended logically, with Bryan submitting before del Rio did too much damage to his arm. For me, that was good enough. For some, well, I think some people still can't let go of the idea that tapping out is the coward's way out. Furthermore, I've heard some complaints that Bryan, whose gimmick is that he's a submissions expert, shouldn't be tapping out to submission holds.

With all due respect to those complaints, I think they're a bit misplaced for several reasons. Submitting isn't an option only reserved for the yellow-bellied heels anymore, and Bryan being a submissions expert means that he more than anyone should know why tapping out is more than a valid option.

First off, why would anyone submit? As wrestling fans, we've been trained to believe that you take the pain in a submission hold as long as you can until you pass out from the sheer torture if you're one of the good guys. The classic example of this is WrestleMania 13, when Steve Austin, bloodied and wrangled in the Sharpshooter by Bret Hart, passed out in an "I Quit" match, thus setting the bar for the ultra-popular. From a storytelling standpoint, it provided great theater. It would have provided a shining example of one guy's "never say die" attitude if it were the only example, but as always in wrestling (especially with WWF/E), overuse has diluted it.

I'm not sure if it was that WM13 moment that made it uncool for the good guy to tap out or whether it was just a reamplification of an old wrestling talking point where good guys fought on and bad guys surrendered, but for a period of almost a decade, heels as a rule didn't have effective submission holds. There were exceptions, but at the same time, tapping out was very much taboo. Hell, there are still more-than-vestigial signs in current wrestling companies as mainstream as Impact Wrestling that still see the tap out as something to look down on, or at least something that's not easily obtained. The Bound for Glory Series awards 10 points for a submission victory, the most on its slate.

The truth of the matter is that tapping out should be the easiest way to win a match. The amount of effort it takes to kick out of the average pin attempt is minimal, making it much harder for the victor to exert the damage needed to knock the victim out for three seconds. Think about it, all you have to do is get a shoulder up. Meanwhile, even the simplest looking submission hold can be a pain to get out of or to maneuver in if you're far enough from the ropes, even for someone who enters a match in good health and stamina. Furthermore, if you're in a submission hold for a prolonged time, realistically, you heighten your chances for getting severely injured.

So, shouldn't a submission master like Bryan know best how much damage a hold can do on his body? I've mentioned it a few times on here, but tapping out is smart in the long term, and really, Bryan is portrayed as a smart wrestler, be it positively through his in-ring exploits or pejoratively by Michael Cole continually calling him a NERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRD.

Then again, I guess it bears mentioning how much realism you want in your wrestling. Personally, I'm fine if they keep it heavily "unrealistic" for the sake of tradition and storytelling, because hey, if I wanted to watch real fighting, I'd watch MMA or boxing. Wrestlers can do things that these "legit" athletes can't do because of the scripted nature of it all, and I'll defend until I'm blue in the face the natural order of things. That being said, I do appreciate nods to realism and strategy. I also appreciate attempts to destigmatize various finishes in pro wrestling. When you make the number of finishes that are viable more open and broad, you open up matches for better storytelling.

So, don't lament that del Rio tapped Bryan two weeks in a row. I'd say be happy that Bryan is seemingly being groomed for the main event, tangling with the now-WWE Champion two weeks in a row, looking damn good doing it. That's the important thing to take from the last two Smackdowns.

The Best Moves Ever: Cattle Mutilation

If you don't know that I'm a huge fan of Bryan Danielson by now, then you'll never, never ever know me, NO YOU WON'T... err, I mean, well, I'm a huge Bryan Danielson fan. He's got a vast array of submission holds even now as a member of WWE, but there's one that he left behind in the indies for whatever reason. It's very much his signature hold, and even if it's not the most effective looking move of the lot, it's definitely the most impressive looking one. Its technical name may be the grounded bridging double chicken wing, but you and I both know it as Cattle Mutilation.

The Best Moves Ever: Koji Clutch

I swear, I had this move queued up before CM Punk busted the Summer of Punk 2: PUNK HARDER on us Monday night. I swear to God. This is just coincidence. But yeah, the Anaconda Vice isn't the only submission move Punk busts out from time to time. No Michael Cole, this isn't the Vice. It's the Koji Clutch. Christopher Daniels uses it too, but I already highlighted him doing it. This is Punk's world, we're all just a bunch of drunks trying to kick booze in it.



Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

Change I Can Get Behind, Fella

Photo Credit: Fox Wrestling News Tumblr

One of the bad things about watching RAW live is that I can't fast-forward through those dreadful Presidential "dream sequences". However, last night, they actually delivered on an entertaining edition of it... well, it was the second week in a row they did so, because last week, with R-Truth rambling about boats (but not hoes, sadly), but anyway, yeah, this week was really good too. While Khali's guttural closer elicited the biggest laugh from me, maybe the best total part of the segment was Sheamus.

So the folks over at Fox Wrestling News (something you should DEFINITELY be following if you like satire), took it upon themselves to make that poster and get behind Sheamus' 2012 campaign. There is the issue of Sheamus' birth certificate, but seriously, if you had that pale behemoth standing in front of you, would YOU question him? It'd be like if the Washington Monument grew orange hair and started kicking people in the face. You'd definitely pay attention.

Of course, before his "meeting" with Obama, Sheamus was already on the campaign trail, at least for us in-ring nerds who like submission holds. Look:

Photo Credit: WWE.com

HOLY SHIT IT'S AN IRISH CLOVERLEAF₁! I'm sold. Sheamus/Lobster Head 2012... Change You Can Believe in, Fella.

1 - In an unrelated note, what the fuck took them so long to give an Irish wrestler the Cloverleaf as a finisher? Clovers are about as Texan as liberalism and Vegan cuisine. Finally, Sheamus brings us some geographical sense to a wrestling hold.

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!