Fujiwara and the DWL/TWL

I've only seen a little bit of Fujiwara instructional material, but when I've seen him demo the DWL and TWL it doesn't seem like he ever allows the hand on the arm he's attacking to touch the mat. nor does it seems like he allow the shoulder to be on the mat. in both, it seems like the hand/shoulder are always up off the ground. am I seeing this correctly? Does it take away the opponent's ability to resist when the hand/shoulder are up off the ground? Also on when he does the TWL, seemed like hand that's no grabbing the opponent's wrist doesn't go right on top of his own hand ala Tony C but instead it went about halfway between his own hand and his elbow. What are the merits of this way of gripping for the TWL?

Dan,

Fujiwara didn't demonstrate the TWL at all at the clinic, but rather the shoulder lock one can get from that position. I'll show it to you when we roll, bro.

In my humble opinion, the TWL is a dud hold that doesn't work on anyone who understands how to counter it. I understand this to be the opinion of Karl Gotch as well.
I have not tapped to a TWL since I learned how to counter it. I'll be more than happy to share what I know with you.

yeah the Fujiwara material I've seen was from a UWF rules tape where he shows a bunch of holds, and then on another tape of misc shoot-style pro-wrestling stuff I got a long time ago (UWF, PWFG, etc) there's a section of him showing stuff as well as Funaki and Suzuki. at least so far in my training, TWL has been a bread-and-butter hold for me. but keep in mind this has been against primarily BJJ-based guys. I don't see a reason to completely abandon the hold especially if it's been working for me. guess I just need to be selective on when I pull it out of my shallow bag of tricks

Oh, believe me, if the TWL presents itself, go after it, and find out if he can counter it. Unless you get bridged over, you've lost nothing in the atempt.

Hi Johnny 005,
Hope you still plan on coming to the Hatmaker clinic in July.

"In my humble opinion, the TWL is a dud hold that doesn't work on anyone who understands how to counter it."

The TWL by itself may not be all that effective for some, but neither is any other submission when done in isolation. The real key to a successful TWL is using it as a set up to another hook, but when they block that second hook they will almost always leave themselves open for you to switch back to the TWL and get the tap. Work three or four techniques deep and switch back to the TWL and you will tap them with the TWL (unless they know your game plan ahead of time).

Chad

if it presents itself by all means use it....however have something else in mind should it fail or be countered...i've had little success with it against skilled guys, so I learned long ago to go for the double wristlock instead.

well hopefully Johnny I'll at least be able to give you a teeny bit of a hard time =)

I think that if you get a good TWL that is set up correctly, you can submit anyone. This has been my experience even with really good submission guys. It's the one submission that always presents itself. In order to pull it off right though, it's gotta be air tight.

However, Drew is correct that you always have to be ready to chain to something else. That's what real Catch is all about.

If you've got the TWL tight like it should be, as soon as you pinch your elbows together; the lock should already be going on.

I personally don't use the twist, but I've found it doesn't matter.

As far as chaining goes, if you're not chaining, you're not wrestling IMO.

Good posts psychoslasher!

Fujiwara et al call their TWL a telephone lock. It is a little different than
the BJJ kimura or the kimura with a "twist".

The twist is nice but if you have small hands, like myself, you can't hardly get the twist. However, you don't really need it IMO.

Billy Wicks showed me a variety where you grab the hand/fingers.
Awesome :)

Yeah, I like the finger grab!

Dan,

I'm sure you'll give me quite a hard time: you're 70 lbs heavier!

Chad,

I am still planning on coming down there, look forward to learning from you and Mark.

Viva la TWL. Barnett just caught one of the best: Alex Emelianenko. When done right...no can defense.

twl is just like anything else: it's all the setups.