W.A.R. Catch Wrestling: Lessons in Catch-As-Catch-Can with Billy Robinson
Scientific Wrestling presents
W.A.R. Catch Wrestling: Lessons in Catch-As-Catch-Can with Billy Robinson.
In this very special deluxe 4-DVD course, you get to be a fly on the wall as Billy coaches eager students (MMA stars Josh Barnett and Erik Paulson included!) in the ways of Catch-As-Catch-Can Wrestling.
For those of you who are not familiar with Mr. Robinson's reputation, Dave Meltzer from The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has graciously allowed me to reprint portions from the April 25, 2005 edition where he discusses Mr. Robinson legacy in depth:
He's an easy Hall of Fame guy, who, in the early 70s, there were people who considered him the most talented wrestler in North America.
He had a major rep as a shooter because he came from The Wigan Snake Pit in England and trained under Billy Riley and Bert Assirati (who many claim to be the best British wrestler, and the toughest, that there ever was, but a totally uncontrollable character because he was noted for hurting people in the ring). Reputedly that was the best submission teaching in the world at the time. Robinson was the best guy to come out of the school of that generation, so he had the rep. Gagne used him as his head trainer and shooter when guys in Minnesota would want to be wrestlers. Robinson tortured the guys, and his rep in those camps was very different from the person he portrayed on television. Many call him a bully. But many of the great wrestlers of the era, like Ricky Steamboat, Ric Flair, Jim Brunzell, Curt Hennig, Iron Sheik, Sgt. Slaughter, Ken Patera, and Buddy Rose came out of those camps, all with stories of nightmarish things that they saw, and in some cases experienced. His reps was such that in the mid-80s, when Randy Savage, who was a wildman who was quick to fight and one of the biggest stars in the business, was confronted, playfully as it was, by a well past his prime Robinson, it was described that he froze in deathly fear and nearly soiled himself...
In Jack Brisco's book, he talked about his confrontation with Robinson, which would have been in the late 60s when both were touring Australia. Apparently the two, who had great respect for each other's abilities and were certainly among the toughest and most skilled guys in the business, and became good friends". Brisco noted as they travelled together in Australia, they would argue which style was better, the submission style Robinson learned in Wigan, or the style Brisco learned at Oklahoma State enroute to being an NCAA champion and only losing one collegiate match his entire career. "Hooking took a lot of skill in being able to maneuver an ipponent to get him into position to apply one of the submission holds," Brisco said in his autobiography. "I had yet to meet anyone who could set up to get me into position to apply their hold and make me submit.
One night, after both had been drinking and it was past 2a.m., they ended up in Brisco's hotel room. It actually started with each being friendly and demonstrating techniques and set-ups. At one point, it turned dangerously real.
"Man he was tough", said Brisco. "A lot of wrestlers I met through the years fancied themselves as shooters. They were adept at demonstrating holds. 'Let me show you this' or 'Let me show you that' but the real test was if they could get these devastation moves or submission holds on in an actual match. Most of these guys suffered from delusions of grandeur. They couldn't hit those moves if their lives depended on it. Billy was the exception by far. He not only could demonstrate the move, he could hit them from anywhere."
Robinson, when asked about the confrontation, just said, "He went to the hospital afterwards. I didn't." He repeated that line a second time when Brisco's name was brought up."
FREE BONUS 1: Conditioning as done the UWFi and the UWF-Snakepit: Billy runs the boys through a typical warm-up and workout and now you can integrate these ideas into your own conditioning routine!
FREE BONUS 2: Q & A with Erik Paulson. At the end of the clinic, the cameras rolled as legendary MMA trainer and Shooto Light Heavyweight champion Erik Paulson picked Billy's brain on a number of rides and submissions! PRICELESS MATERIAL!!!
W.A.R. Catch Wrestling showcases some of the holds and maneuvers you might recognize from MMA legends Josh Barnett, Kazushi Sakuraba, and the panoply of fighters in the UWFi. Billy also discusses the history and philosophy of Catch Wrestling as well as his family's involvement in pugilism and bare-knuckle boxing (Billy's grandfather was a bare-knuckle boxing champion too)!
Now you have the chance to learn a thing or two from this amazing grappler in the 4 plus hours of quality footage found on this exclusive 4-disc deluxe DVD course.