The Boston crab is a move I would consider to be the opposite of the camel clutch. Unlike its cousin, I can't seem to find any history associated with how its name came to be. My best guess is that someone from Boston, MA (or one of the 16 other Bostons in the USA, or perhaps Kyrgyzstan?) wanted to combine their love of crabs and pro wrestling. Supposedly the Boston crab was initially called the backbreaker until the name became used for the move we recognize as the backbreaker today.
Without further ado, here are some sexy Boston crabs.
A very fine post! I like that you mention the close relation between the Boston Crab and the Camel Clutch - many people seem to miss that fact.
Don't know whether the crab is really related to the city of Boston - I'm somewhat skeptical about it, but for a long time I also thought that "Indian Deathlock" was just a fancy made-up name, until I learned that this lock indeed has its roots in traditional Indian wrestling.
In any case the move was not invented in Boston only and it is not strictly a pro-wrestling hold: the crab can also be found in the syllabus of classical Japanese jiu-jitsu, there under the name of ryo-ashi-hishigi (Afaik this translates roughly as "double-leg-break")
However, the move is really fun to watch - and also to experiment with (but carefully please!). Perhaps its variants (Sharpshooter, Texas Clover Leaf, the half crab etc.) could also become the "Featured Move" some day? That would be great!
Thanks very much for your comment! Glad you liked the post and I very much appreciate your insight. I'm not very familiar with Japanese jiu-jitsu, so that's something for me to look up. The Featured Move posts are user voted, but I can definitely work on something a little different featuring some of the Boston crab's variants. :)
A very fine post! I like that you mention the close relation between the Boston Crab and the Camel Clutch - many people seem to miss that fact.
ReplyDeleteDon't know whether the crab is really related to the city of Boston - I'm somewhat skeptical about it, but for a long time I also thought that "Indian Deathlock" was just a fancy made-up name, until I learned that this lock indeed has its roots in traditional Indian wrestling.
In any case the move was not invented in Boston only and it is not strictly a pro-wrestling hold: the crab can also be found in the syllabus of classical Japanese jiu-jitsu, there under the name of ryo-ashi-hishigi (Afaik this translates roughly as "double-leg-break")
However, the move is really fun to watch - and also to experiment with (but carefully please!). Perhaps its variants (Sharpshooter, Texas Clover Leaf, the half crab etc.) could also become the "Featured Move" some day? That would be great!
Thanks very much for your comment! Glad you liked the post and I very much appreciate your insight. I'm not very familiar with Japanese jiu-jitsu, so that's something for me to look up.
DeleteThe Featured Move posts are user voted, but I can definitely work on something a little different featuring some of the Boston crab's variants. :)