“Wheel of Fortune” viewers were trying to solve a puzzling move by host Pat Sajak on Tuesday.
Sajak, 76, the host of the nighttime game show since 1981, put a contestant in a hammerlock and partial headlock that would have made 1970s pro wrestling bad guy The Crusher proud.
It was all in fun, of course.
Fred Fletcher-Jackson, a teacher, “bar quiz host” and former professional wrestler, swept through the show with a perfect score, winning $75,800, E! Online reported. He solved every puzzle and then guessed the bonus round in three guesses, “Today” reported.
At one point during the show, Sajak asked one of Fletcher-Jackson’s competitors if he should “body slam” the former grappler, USA Today reported.
And when Fletcher-Jackson completed his clean sweep, Sajak did not offer the traditional handshake to congratulate him, according to the newspaper.
“(It) very rarely happens that we get someone who just swept everything,” Sajak said about Jackson’s performance.
While Sajak will never be confused with The Undertaker, Roman Reigns or other WWE stars, Fletcher-Jackson told Maggie Sajak in a post-match that he was impressed with the host’s moves.
“He got me genuinely,” Jackson said. “I was trying to counter his hammerlock that he had me in. I was trying to get behind him, and I wasn’t going anywhere.”
But winning the episode was the real thrill for Fletcher-Jackson.
“My mom says that my first words ever were, ‘Buy a vowel,’” Fletcher-Jackson said. “True story. Completely true story. ‘Wheel’ was at the top of my list of dream-come-true scenarios in my life, and it’s happening.”
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