Stalemates with Cross Body

I was sent this video of a match, 3rd period, with the offensive wrestler winning 1-0. There is a lot going on, stalemates, cautions, stalling ect..

Putting this out there for comments.

It seems pretty apparent that the offensive wrestler is not trying to turn the bottom wrestler, he applies a half nelson and barely puts any pressure before he switches sides and then repeats without requiring the bottom wrestler to resist.  I think the ref realizes this by the way he stalemates it, but he should have been hit for stalling on all occasions.

It's stalling in my book. I would give him the first stalemate for free, but after that he's getting a stalling call each time. I think it's obvious that he is trying to ride him out. If he was honestly trying to turn him he would've put more pressure on those force halves and/or come out to the side with it. I was surprised he took so long to call it. I watched it without volume, so I couldn't tell what the cautions were for. Was the top wrestler getting set before he was told to?

I can live with those stalemates.  I think the official was being generous because he could have hit the top wrestler for stalling after the first or second stalemate but waited until after the third.

A lot of folks like to argue that the top wrestler was working.  I think the standard is a bit different with legs in.  The top position is also called the offensive or advantage position for a reason.  The top wrestler has a bunch of choices to go to to try to turn his opponent.  In this case, it is difficult to turn anyone with double legs in immobilizing the bottom wrestler's hips.  Unless the top wrestler creates a gap or something, all he is really doing is just cranking.  If the top wrestler can't turn, he can easily go and try a different combination.  In my opinion, he was merely trying to look busy with a half-hearted power half.  In this case, the stalemates were giving him some benefit of doubt so the official didn't have to call stalling.  At the end of the day, this match ended up with one stall warning.  The wrestler lost this match because he could not maintain a legal starting position or remain set.

I'm not really sure what the big deal is on this clip. The offensive wrestler was trying to use legs and it was going nowhere so the official stalemated it. I agree with others that this wrestler got way too many chances (stalemates) to improve or switch to something else. He got warned for stalling after the 3rd stalemate. He could have easily been warned after the 2nd or 3rd.

Very few wrestlers are going to turn an opponent with legs and a power half while riding parallel with the defensive wrestler's hips pinned down. If he would have attempted to create a gap, some space or an angle, I would have considered him more favorably for working to turn his opponent. In this clip, it seems that he was content to ride his opponent.

The truth is these situations are not really stalemates as defined by the book. The reason, the top wrestler can improve his position. Coaches have to be smart enough to know that after a single wrestler is called for a stalemate once or twice, a stalling call should be coming soon. The coaches need to instruct the wrestler to attempt something else to score. Multiple stalemates = stalling.