Stick your hand in a fire and let me know if you pull your hand out of the fire.
Hold your hand out on a table and tell someone to try to smash it. Let me know if you pull your hand away.
I guess he didn't pull his hand back fast enough.
Lets see how the rest of the world sees it? Yep same terminology
The thing that is being pulled is the hand. You don't have to have anything in your hand in order to pull your hand back. Again stop making things more difficult than they need to be.
If you are correct then pulling hand doesn't exist when both opponent don't have a shirt on. Stop making things more complicated than it needs to be. That's why things seem useless for you.