The Cradle is one of the most basic not to mention efficient women-wrestling holds. Used in professional wrestling as well as in freestyle, the cradle immobilizes the victim in a rather humiliating way, allowing the attacker to pin her victim relatively unopposed. The cradle looks a bit like a leghook pin, as the attacker hooks the leg of her victim. The difference is that while in a leghook pin the attacker will push down on her victim’s head/neck, in a Cradle, she gets her other arm around her neck, then grabs her own hand, effectively creating a noose around the victim’s neck and knee. She can then tighten that noose, pulling her opponent’s knee towards her face, curling her up in the fetal position. Once the cradle is locked in, the attacker rolls the victim onto her shoulders for the pin. There isn’t a lot the victim can do at this stage to get her shoulders off the mat.

The cradle is mostly used in freestyle women’s wrestling, but one can see it applied in professional wrestling bouts too. The advantage of the cradle is that the victim doesn’t have to be dazed to be pinned through this hold.

Efficiency: The cradle is extremely efficient. Applied with enough force it pretty much spells game over for the victim. It’s a visually appealing hold as well: the attacker has the victim completely at her mercy in it, without any sort of physical impact ever being involved.

Possible escape: Some girl wrestlers can power their way out of sloppily applied Cradles, but provided the attacker knows what she’s doing and provided she has enough strength in her arms, the hold is quite inescapable.