My Namesake

[Professor S]

Ed "The Strangler" Lewis

"The 'Strangler' term stuck to me, because early in my wrestling career, I originated a headlock, being convinced that the human brain would yield to pressure, and that if such pressure was consistently applied, it would constitute a knockout just as sure as a solid punch to the jaw by a hard-hitting boxer. I devised a wooden facsimile of a human head. It was split down the center, the two halves connected by powerful steel springs. To increase the power of my grip, I carried this gadget with me, and worked on it for hours, until I had developed a grip that could crack a skull, and would certainly stun the recipient. But it was not a stranglehold. Never in the course of my long career was I disqualified for seeking to strangle an opponent, by putting pressure on the throat. The pressure was on the head, through the jaw. It took a bit longer than a hard-hitting boxer's blow to the jaw, to effect a knockout, but it had the same result. Pressure cut off the blood supply to the brain.

Truly a God among men...