THE ORIGINAL CODE RED: Sgt. Craig Pittman's Juji-gatime Armbar

In professional wrestling, when you hear the term “Code Red”, you instantly think of the revolutionary maneuver created by former TNA X-Division Champion Amazing Red, a quick rotating sunset powerbomb. It seems like there are a plethora of talents who use this hold nowadays.

However, to die-hard World Championship Wrestling fans, we all know who had the original Code Red.

It was Sgt. Craig “Pitbull” Pittman’s juji-gatime armbar.

Born in Brooklyn, Sgt. Pittman was a state champion amateur wrestling champion out of Freeport, NY. After going to the University of Kentucky for a year before the wrestling program shut down, Pittman came home and made it to the National Championships via his performance at Nassau Community College.

Already gruff and tough, Pittman signed up for the US Marine Corps and, in both 1989 and 1991, won the USA Senior Greco-Roman Championships as a Heavyweight. Defending his country and going toe-to-toe with some of the toughest men in the world? What an absolute badass. 

In 1993, Sarge left the Marines and joined the WCW Power Plant under the tutelage of “the Assassin” Jody Hamilton and Terry Taylor. After a few months of training, Pittman made his debut in February 1994 and the amateur great became a legitimate professional.

Almost immediately, you got a glimpse of the legitimate nature of what “the Pitbull” did in the ring. Far from the best catch-as-catch-can performer, Pittman was relentless. Strike after strike and takedowns galore, he didn’t let a prospective opponent breathe. It was practically a smothering style.

As the match was coming to a close, Sgt. Pittman would look at his prone opponent’s carcass on the canvas and just locked on a vicious cross armbreaker. It looked vicious as anything.

To hardcore wrestling fans, it was a juji-gatame, an armbar used in judo. For modern day mixed martial arts, this hold is a death knell, leaving yourself prone to torn tendons and broken bones.

In WCW, it was the Code Red.

The term code-red in the military means critical danger requiring immediate response. That term is perfect for Sgt. Pittman’s armbreaker. It just looked unbreakable.

For the mid-1990s, prior to the New World Order, Sgt. Pittman was a pretty solid performer. His rivalry with Cobra, a man Sarge left behind during one of his missions, was a lot of fun. He had his own WCW action figure in 1995. “The Pitbull” received his one and only shot at the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in 1996 against “the Nature Boy” Ric Flair.