The Scorpion Crosshold (apparently also known as the Queen Angelito Stretch) is a female wrestling submission hold most often used by the Mexican ladies. Some Japanese girls are known to have used it too (Bull Nakano if I’m not mistaking) but for some reason, it never really got popular with the wrestling ladies in the US. The hold, which I have never tried myself, looks positively vicious and really painful for the victim.

The move starts out with the victim on her back and the attacker standing in front up her, holding her legs up and apart. The attacker then ties the victim’s legs up the same way she would in preparation for a sharp-shooter or for a scorpion leglock. She even turns the victim into the hold (onto her stomach) but then, instead of securing the legs with both her hands and leaning back, she only secures the leglock with one hand, and with the other, she grabs hold of one of her victim’s arms and lifts her off the mat/ring-floor completely. She leans back slightly to reposition her center of gravity to compensate for her opponent’s weight and the hold is locked in.

Truly skilled lady wrestlers can keep the hold locked in with only one arm, freeing up the other to gesture and victory-pose with.

Possible escape: on my part I have only ever seen the victim escape a Scorpion Crosshold when her tormentor got tired to keep the hold locked in. The Queen Angelito Stretch does indeed take up a lot of energy from the attacker, so in that respect, the victim has a chance of riding out the hold if she can hold on without submitting for while. Other than that, the Scorpion Crosshold pretty much does its job: it makes the victim cry Uncle.

Rating: the Scorpion Crosshold looks like one mean women’s wrestling hold and it does indeed yield a submission pretty much every time it’s applied. It is a very efficient submission hold indeed.