Richard, I though Rford made some excellent posts. He hit on the realities of the situation. It also appears he has made an effort to educate himself. I guess next time he should run his thoughts through you first. No wonder most refs will not get on here and give us some insite to their thinking - too many who don't or can't do the job, telling them how to do it..... John
Also, just a question - when top man rides with a leg hooked, pretending to work on a cradel, and then complaining that the bottom man won't work. Who is stalling?/
Thank you for your support...I've been called worse. Like others on this forum, from time to time I'll throw out ideas as "food for thought" and I'm surprised sometimes that people go nuts.
Onto your stalling question, like so much in wrestling, you have to have a feel for the match to make the right call. Hooking the leg/ankle while riding always needs to be watched with suspicion as it might be used to stop the action. Context matters...is the rider ahead in the match and what period is it? Has he been the aggressor so far? "What's the bottom man doing" as they say. Is he sneaking looks at the clock? Does he put a hold on and release it as soon as the bottom man starts to work? How long has he been trying this same move with no success. How good are the wrestlers? How evenly matched? And so on. Bottom line, any hold or position can turn into a stalling situation.
I'll give you and example I witnessed that was similar to what you posted. A kid was in a state-qualifing match and it was late and the match was tied. He had the legs in but wasn't going to be able to score and he lifts his torso off the wrestler's back and gives the "what's up" sign with both arms...the bottom kid felt the pressure release but couldn't move in time and the top guy drops back onto him. And of course he couldn't see what the top guy was doing. After the second "what's up" gesture the ref hits the bottom kid for stalling, and then pointed him shortly thereafter. Top man wins by totally stalling and play acting. But it looked like the top kid was working hard while the bottom man was just based up. He couldn't move because of the leg ride. I'm not faulting the ref, this was a big match, the top man appeared to be working hard, but he was only working hard at making it look like the bottom guy was stalling.
