To find out for ourselves whether such a style has the right to life, we will single out a few basic points on which we will draw conclusions.
Point one: the rules. According to the rules, the elbow can detach from the pillow if another part of the arm is on the pillow, and the elbow itself is in the projection of the pillow. The shoulder of the pulling hand must not fall below the parallel of the table. If we look at the struggle of Michael Monster Todd – the founding father of this movement, we note that on the PAL Vendettas he almost always is within the rules, and when he goes beyond them – he gets deserved fouls.
Point two: entertainment. Armwrestling fans divided into 2 camps. Some people think that the usage of technique is boring, uninteresting and, all the more, ugly. Others, on the contrary, consider it exciting and unpredictable. But no one will argue with the fact that all the Vendettas with Michael Todd's participation are very memorable, and almost never the outcome of the fight was predicted. As for beauty, this is a matter of taste, there are people who consider a hook to be tedious, especially if it is protracted, or the toproll is not a “man’s” way of fighting. And if the referee follows the rules and does not allow to lower a shoulder below the table, then the hand almost always remains, albeit in a wide angle, but still bent, which destroys the popular expression about tug-of-war.
Point three: advantage. One of the main issues to which the opponents of this movement appeal is: such a style gives an unlawful - dishonest - advantage. And here we can definitely say that, being within the rules, this movement does not give any advantage, which could be called cheating. Why?
Firstly, because both rivals can use the movement.
Secondly, as we have already said, while the referee keeps the fight within the rules, the athlete’s hand is in a bent state, therefore, he is also tired.
Thirdly, this movement has enough weaknesses that top athletes have already learned to use. And the movement itself is very much dependent on the power of the pronator brachioradialis, which must necessarily be stronger than the flexor of the opponent’s wrist, because as soon as they supinate the arm, there’s no opportunity to use King’s move, and all effort is translated into holding by the biceps, which at wide angles are very vulnerable to detachments of tendons. It should be noted that this is an exclusively protective technique, it does not give an advantage in the central position, and during the transition to the attack the athlete is very vulnerable to a counterattack.
The movement of King's move does not harm the entertainment, and does not give an advantage as long as the referee competently does his work. As for the movement itself, it requires extraordinary technical training and a very good understanding of the course of the fight. This is a very difficult movement to accomplish, not many people have been skillfully mastered over the past ten years, and only Michael Monster Todd continues to use it at the highest level.