If you’re younger than, say, 35, it’s doubtful you remember the finishing move of professional wrestler Ken Patera, active in the 1970s, ’80s, and into the ’90s. Suffice it to say that Missouri-based Ochs Trucking driver Jason Poirrier is at least old enough to deploy Patera’s signature full nelson, minus the pro’s classic swing, as the Southeast Missourian newspaper recently reported. On layover in Oregon, Poirrier “noticed police officers separating a child from a middle-aged man,” reporter Brian Blackwell wrote. When the middle-aged man (who had a warrant out on him for taking the child, his son, without express permission) then broke away from police, Poirrier was there to catch him.
“I got the guy in a full nelson arm lock,” he told Blackwell, which he was familiar with from years of watching pro wrestling. (He later added that experience apprehending shoplifters at a St. Louis grocery in the 1990s helped a little, too.)
For the full story, follow this link. For more on Ken Patera and his version of the full nelson and notable feuds with Dusty Rhodes, Andre the Giant and others, check out this page.
