Aleksandr Karelin was an absolute monster. He won Gold at three different Olympics in Greco Roman wrestling and generally struck fear into the hearts of men. His name is synonymous with the Karelin lift. That's what we're looking at today.
In combat wrestling we can score points for turn overs on a downed opponent as long as we lift them over the height of our hip and return them to the mat in a valid scoring position. This is different then slamming, which is lifting an opponent and returning them to the mat with force in the same position. The Karelin lift takes an opponent from their belly or knees and puts them to their back. We start by finding a reverse gut wrench, ie facing their feet, then dead lifting them off the ground and over our hips. The goal is to keep them horizontal, not to allow them to turn head down, we don't want to spike them on their head. Once elevated, we begin a back arch motion turning at the last moment toward their head to ensure they land on their upper back. There will always be potential for their head to contact the mat and to a certain extent it is on them to take the fall well.
One reason the Kerelin lift worked so well as that in Greco Roman wrestling one cannot grab the legs to defend. In combat wrestling we can. That can make the lift hard to score with but offers us an opportunity to gain a crucifix. When we begin our lift, if they grab it leg, they will be placing an arm between our knees. We return to the mat and pinch our knees to secure the arm. Reach for the far side underhook and roll over the top to finish in the bottom, dominant crucifix position
Another option from the topside crucifix, should we be able, is to switch the trapped arm and apply a yadviga or inverted omoplata. The key is to ensure the trapped arm is pointed down to their feet rather than up to their head. I do this by passing my head side leg behind my hip side leg to switch the grip. From here we abandon the far side underhook and instead reach down between us to grab the near leg. From here we shoulder roll over the inside shoulder and cone up on top. Switch to holding the leg with the outside arm and block the chest from sitting up with the inside arm. Keeping their wrist trapped in the knee we do a technical stand up motion to drag back the hand for the shoulder lock.
If we choose instead to roll to the bottom crucifix position we can still go back to the yadviga. This time from our back we abandon the underhook and push their head up and away allowing us to sit up and again block their chest with our arm. We finish the lock as before.
