Brawler Lock

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Two characters are fighting, and during the course of the battle, they clasped their hands together and push against each other in a test of strength. This can happen when one of them throws a punch or any kind of strike and the other catches it. They can stay like this for a while, with one trying to overpower the other and bring him to his knees.....

A Groin Attack is possible. Also, the combatants need not lock fingers. Grabbing each-other's wrists is also an option.

A combat trope, see Blade Lock for this with swords.

Examples of Brawler Lock include:


Anime and Manga

Comic Books

Film

  • Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker do this during Revenge of the Sith, only using Force powers instead of actually clenching hands.

Literature

  • Someone tries to do this to Bork in The Albino Knife. He lets the guy struggle for a bit, then picks him up and tosses him across the room.
    • Later, in Brother Death, Bork finds himself in a similar lock with someone even stronger than him. After several seconds of complete angst, he remembers he's also trained in the universe's most deadly martial art and proceeds to break his opponent's spine.
  • In an early Discworld novel, the aged Cohen the Barbarian grapples the Luggage (a sapient wooden chest that eats people) to a standstill. Eventually a third party has to separate them.

Live Action TV

  • In episode 2 of Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Spartacus tries this on Crixus, but Crixus easily sends him flying. Doctore mocks Spartacus' blunder and explains, "Become entangled with a more powerful opponent and you are dead!"

Pro Wrestling

  • This has existed in professional wrestling for years as the Collar and Elbow tie up, and has been traditionally the way two wrestlers will start a match.
    • Besides the Collar & Elbow, this exists in pro wrestling (and many a schoolyard) as the fingerlock, where the opponents lock hands with each other and try to make the other go to their knees.

Video Games

Web Comics

Western Animation

  • An episode of Superman: The Animated Series had Supes doing this with John Corben, aka Metallo. Supes didn't know Corben had been changed into a cyborg with his Kryptonite Factor as the power source, and he paid for it.
  • In Jackie Chan Adventures, Tohru and El Toro do this in El Toro's introductory episode. What with them both being wrestlers (sumo and lucha libre, at least), it was probably inevitable.