Since the dawn of time men have argued over the one thing that cannot be simply determined as either right or wrong….. and that is the Kings Move! To this day when any Armwrestler lowers his shoulder close to the table gasps are heard from around the room. Fingers are pointed and brows are furrowed. “That is cheating!” They say. “That is not Armwrestling”. Well we could go on back and forth all day about who is right and wrong. If it is within the rules is it “morally correct”? I would have to side with the rules. If an MMA fighter takes someone down and lays on them for 3 rounds they win. It is boring as all hell and in my opinion not true MMA but that boring strategy may make that athlete a champion. Who am I to say they should not do what gave them so much success simply because I do not like their strategy?

We have seen everyone in Armwrestling argue over this topic and while the facts remain about the rules it seems the argument will always exist. We recently got to see just how heated an argument on the topic can be on facebook where two legends in the sport supposedly ended over the disagreement. Devon Larratt and Engin Terzi had numerous debates on the topic. The phrase “desperation move” coined by Engin, was pointed out as something Devon has done in the past. Engin himself shows the particular angles that support the claim that he does not break the rules by going into the “Desperation” or “kings move” like Devon or Michael Todd does for example. Check out a couple videos from the two legends as they go back and forth below.

So as you can see the beef got real. Hopefully they find a way to mend this relationship as it would be a shame for these two legends in the sport not be on positive terms.

I have seen many pullers over the years attempt the Kings Move. Some with great results but very few that can make it sustainable. There is “Crazy” George Iszakouits who has probably the best application I have ever seen of the Kings move and would be pound for pound the best to ever do it. He is a fraction of the size of the monsters that he holds up with his “Crazy” application of the Kings move. The most famous Armwrestler that we all know of that is successful with the Kings Move is the “Monster” Michael Todd. He has remained at the top of the totem pole in the Armwrestling rankings around the world and continues to bleed armwrestlers out with a relentless armlocking Kings Move.

The best application of the Kings Move that I have seen and possibly the cleanest would have to be by none other than the legend himself, Bob Brown. I had the chance to see it first hand at the Natfit Midwest Open in Kansas city a few weeks back and it was textbook. During the filming I was like wow. That is a clean ass Kings Move. After watching it back I had to add Bobs breakdown of the kings move to it for perfect transparency of the rules and the proper application. Check out the video below!

Very great perspective from the man Bob Brown who was personally involved with the actual preparation of the rules that we all follow. It will likely not end the debate as the rules are bound to shift along with the opinions of Armwrestlers to come.