Chris Masters Discusses Origins Of His Masterlock Challenge

Over the years the Full Nelson has been applied by many wrestlers, with Bobby Lashley currently using it as his finisher. However, few have made it more memorable than Chris Masters, and he told "NBC Sports Boston" that "it was a combination of people" who helped come up with him using the MasterLock as a finisher. 

"We tried various things, we even tried like the Torture Rack into the Neckbreaker, we tried [the] Piledriver ... but nothing was clicking in terms of that's it," he said. "I believe it was either Arn Anderson or Triple H that had pitched the idea for a hold, and the only reason they even brought up the Full Nelson is because ... wrestling had pushed the envelope so much from jumping off ladders to doing just crazy stunts that they wanted to kind of recondition the fans a little bit." Even though Masters admitted that he questioned using the move when it was presented to him because "it was just so basic," it ended up being a great decision, as the overall presentation of it at that time with his weekly challenges that people couldn't get out of meant that fans were conditioned to care about it.

"I was like, 'Oh my gosh if I was a fan, would I like this?' In my head, I think, 'I'm probably going to think this is completely lame because it's just a Full Nelson, it's not even a bump.' But we stuck with it, we did the challenges ... there's no reason that any move that is legit shouldn't mean something out there," he said. "Especially when it's a move like the Full Nelson, and you've got a guy like me, especially at that time is 275 pounds, physical behemoth, and just get people to buy it."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "NBC Sports Boston," with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.