Wrestling fans tuning into ESPN’s coverage of the NCAA quarterfinals Friday were treated (if that’s the right word) to something some mix of fun, awkward, impressive and weird. That came as Ohio State’s Jesse Mendez hit a rare move known as the spladle against his opponent, Nebraska’s Brock Hardy.
The extremely rarely attempted or seen move closed out the final minute of the match and locked Mendez’s victory up while also locking Hardy into just a very uncomfortable and exposed position. Once the shock of the move was processed and explained, announcers Shawn Kenney and Tim Johnson, more or less had to laugh as the match was going to end with forty seconds of two men stuck in a crazy pretzel position and Hardy getting the worst of it in terms of being taken down but also just the general aesthetic of his butt stuck up in the air and being completely locked up with nothing he can do but just look at the ceiling in defeat.
https://twitter.com/awfulannouncing/status/1771256427719409793
Here are a couple other of angles of the move.
SPLADLE 😱
📺 ESPNU#NCAAWrestling x @wrestlingbucks pic.twitter.com/rMwlDDfMWc
— NCAA Wrestling (@NCAAWrestling) March 22, 2024
SPLADLE TO LOCK UP ALL-AMERICAN STATUS?? JESSE MENDEZ IS A DOG. #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/H5QP6sPsUF
— Ohio State Wrestling (@wrestlingbucks) March 22, 2024
Mendez would later explain that he has actually never practiced the move. And yet, somehow, here we are.
"I've never drilled a spladle in my life, but when you see it, you gotta rip it." – @PhenoMendez #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/5yPL41ovEb
— Ohio State Wrestling (@wrestlingbucks) March 22, 2024
Those watching certainly had fun with the move.
Me trying to help in the delivery room https://t.co/bRdp4M6ygg
— Berto (@RobMcGrath28) March 22, 2024
Future Christmas Card pic.twitter.com/BS2wJNvlOk
— Trevor (@TR3V0R3530) March 22, 2024
https://twitter.com/jtp2106/status/1771230867462979875
Wrestling your whole life, making it to the quarters at the national tournament, just to get spladled on national television. Brutal. https://t.co/tbn0hZ9UX5
— John Simpson II (@jsimp96) March 22, 2024
The NCAA Wrestling National Championships continue Friday night with the semifinals. The finals air Saturday. Though, if you’re tuning in to look for another spadle, it’s very, very unlikely.