In the arm wrestling world these are usually called Table Curls. I believe they had the same name in body building, and were popular for a time, but got supplanted by the preacher curl.
They start them at the top like that to mimic fighting the hook and dead weight hang that a lot of wrestlers use to start (you hook, lean in, and pull close and down). The upward/concentric part is simiply to mimic fighting against it the other way. There is a lot of belief in tendon training in arm wrestling, so you see a lot of overloads, static holds, etc....