No such thing as a “sleeper hold” (and yes, I’m a former wrestler). It’s still a form of choke hold, and cutting off blood flow to the brain will make one first pass out, and if held longer, can result in brain damage and then death.
By the way, we’re talking mere seconds here....it takes far less to kill with that hold, if done properly, than most would ever believe.
I think there was some hubbub years ago after a number of black men died because of police choke holds, and there was a suggestion that black people may have a unique vulnerability to such holds. I never saw any clinical rationale, though.
Of course, we know nothing about the guy. but the “ wrestler either “overestimated the strength of the would- be robber, or underestimated his own, or just got too excited. Moral of the story: be careful who you mess with. I know of a case where a big-guy picked on a former professional featherweight fighter and ended up in the hospital.