The Elbow drop is another element from the basic set of moves that every female wrestler has to know and master in order to be able to carry a match through. Despite being such a basic maneuver, the elbow drop can be executed in several extremely spectacular and high-impact ways too. The basic idea behind the hold is that the attacker jumps up, bringing down her entire bodyweight onto her opponent, only connecting through her extended elbow, thus delivering a blow of pulverizing strength.

The victim of the move is on the mat/ring floor, either on her back or on her stomach. The attacker jumps upward into the air, extends her elbow then comes crashing down, hitting her opponent with her elbow, on the neck, across the upper chest, or in the back (depending on the victim’s position). Make sure you learn to execute the move properly, or you may end up injuring your opponent. All high-impact women’s wrestling moves carry this risk. The elbow drop can be executed from the top rope too, for added effect.

Possible escape: The elbow drop is extremely easy to escape. All the victim needs to do is to roll to the side, leaving “nobody home”, and the attacker will land on her bottom/elbow hurting herself rather than her opponent.

Rating: a well executed elbow drop can be an extremely spectacular hold (especially if done off the top rope), and as such, it can theoretically be used as a finisher. I think I have seen women’s wrestling matches end with an elbow drop, although such bouts are few and far between (and that’s not necessarily a bad thing). The elbow drop is generally used as a softening move, to set the victim up for a different hold/possible finisher.