LOL I totally forgot about this...

[KingofOldSchool]

I was watching the 1990 Royal Rumble and the submission match between Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin.

Garvin won the match with The Sharpshooter which was over a year before Bret started using it.

[Theo Dious]

I remember being 11 and not giving a damn about submission matches. What a taint I was.

[Stickman]

What was it called?

[KingofOldSchool]

A reverse figure four.

[Stickman]

video?

[Avenger]

Didn't Bret develop the sharpshooter in Stampede? I don't think his gimmick allowed him to immediately use it in the WWE.

[redoneja]

I thought Riki Choshu was the first guy to develop the hold in Japan, while Sting was the guy who popularized it in America. I think Hart said on his DVD that he asked Konnan to show him how to perform the move.

[Jura]

This hold was first popularized by New Japan Pro Wrestling star Riki Chōshū, who called it the Sasori-gatame (Scorpion hold), so named because the move bends the wrestler's legs over his back in a shape that resembles a scorpion's tail.

In North America, it was first popularized by Sting in the National Wrestling Alliance and later World Championship Wrestling, under the name Scorpion Deathlock.

The move's most popular name in North America, Sharpshooter, was made popular by the World Wrestling Federation star Bret "The Hitman" Hart. On the DVD "The Best There Is...The Best There Was...The Best That There Ever Will Be", Bret Hart states that Konnan originally taught him the Sharpshooter.