Nickal/Gravina

[csiebott]

I hope there's not a post about this yet. But the move Nickal used from down position to reverse and then pin Gravina (no slouch, in fact tough as . . . well, north Jersey), never seen it. What is it?

 

[purescurve]

I hope there's not a post about this yet. But the move Nickal used from down position to reverse and then pin Gravina (no slouch, in fact tough as . . . well, north Jersey), never seen it. What is it?

The Spyker

 

[diggerpup]

In the post-match presser, Bo called it the "Secret Move" ....
Seriously. And he said he & Zain were fooling around with it over the past year or so.

 

[Dogwelder]

I hope there's not a post about this yet. But the move Nickal used from down position to reverse and then pin Gravina (no slouch, in fact tough as . . . well, north Jersey), never seen it. What is it?

The secret move is an insane alternate finish to the high-crotch crackdown to a cradle. Compare Nickal's match (start 1:38) (via tikk) with the crackdown instructional video (start 1:18) below.

 

[Dogwelder]

It seems like the same move as the high-crotch crackdown to a cradle in the instructional video, except instead of bringing the guy's head down and working the cradle right away, you let the guy's head stay high, and you let him start to build a base, and his height lets you rhino under him for the insane finish.

 

[Dogwelder]

So this move is even more interesting than I thought at first. It now seems like something that can be done from neutral, instead of only when a top man makes a merkley mistake or something.

 

[PSU22]

 

[El-Jefe]

So this move is even more interesting than I thought at first. It now seems like something that can be done from neutral, instead of only when a top man makes a merkley mistake or something.

If by "can be done" you mean "has been done in the NCAA Finals," you're right.

 

[Dogwelder]

If by "can be done" you mean "has been done in the NCAA Finals," you're right.

View embedded media

Good find!

Yes and no. Scott did the standard move, as shown in the instructional video. He worked the cradle right away. Nickal did the different, audacious thing of not tightening his hold on a guy, to trick him, and then flipping the guy lengthwise with amplitude. Nickal's move seems rISKY with a capital R.

 

[Dogwelder]

I am officially naming Bo's move "the Rhino" or "the Nickal Rhino". (Zain gets left out because Bo did the move first in competition.)