Gut Wrench

[arm-spin]

Anybody know when- or how- the gut wrench was invented as a wrestling move? I was watching matches from the 70's and they don't really gut wrench at all... then in the 80's they seem to be gut wrenching all over the place. Any wrestling historians care to explain?

Dziedzich vs Barzegar, 1977 world. The guys here use the waist lock to set up leg rides and throws, but not as modern gut wrench.


Tediashvilli vs Stottmeister. Teddy never even tries to gut wrench even though his opponent is way up off the ground. Also, Tediashvilli seems like an absolute killer.


And the 80's:

Schultz vs Nagashima

Lewis vs Akaishi- one of my favorite matches of all time.

[akzent]

Possibly in the mid-70s when Ercegan, the new Fila president initiated a big reform of the rules.
In Fila multilingual basic terms of wrestling, published 1979, there is an entry "gut wrench".

I don't see it mentioned or illustrated in books/manuals from the 60s and early 70s.

[Snackem]

Mr. Spin that is a GREAT match.

[arm-spin]

Thanks Akzent. Could you explain what the rule changes were and how they made they encouraged gut wrenching?

[akzent]

No, I can't. I am not an expert in this field. Milan Ercegan (elected 1971) is known for many innovations he suggested or introduced.
Replacing the square mat with round mat in 1974.
Well keywords in his program were atractiveness, aesthetics..... Consequence: moves got evalueted in a more differentiated way; introduction of the 5-points value. Giving points for gut-wrenching may have been a result of the new system of moves' rating.