Catch wrestling

Catch wrestling is a classical hybrid grappling style that

was developed in Britain circa 1870 by J. G. Chambers,[1]
then later rened and popularised by the wrestlers of
travelling funfairs who developed their own submission
holds, or hooks, into their wrestling to increase their
eectiveness against their opponents. Catch wrestling derives from a number of dierent styles, the English styles
of Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling,[1] Cornwall
and Devon wrestling,[1] Lancashire wrestling,[2] Irish
collar-and-elbow wrestling, Greco-Roman, Jujutsu, styles
of the Indian subcontinent such as Pehlwani and Iranian styles such as Varzesh-e Pahlavani.[3] The training of some modern submission wrestlers, professional
wrestlers and mixed martial artists is founded in catch
wrestling.

Various promoters of the exercise, notably J. Wannop,

of New Cross, attempted to bring the new system prominently before the public, with the view of amalgamating
the three English styles viz. the Cumberland and Westmorland, Cornwall and Devon, and Lancashire.[1] Then
the sudden development of the Cumberland and Westmorland Amateur Wrestling Society, brought the new
style prominently to the front, and special prizes were
given for competition in that class at the societys rst annual midsummer gathering at the Paddington Recreation
Ground, which was attended by Lord Mayor Whitehead
and sheris in state.
Wrestling on the catch-as-catch-can principle was new
to many spectators, but it was generally approved of as a
great step in advance of the loose-hold system, which includes struggling on the ground and sundry objectionable
tactics, such as catching hold of the legs, twisting arms,
dislocating ngers, and other items of attack and defense
peculiar to Lancashire wrestling.[1]

History

When catch wrestling reached the United States in the

late 19th and early 20th century it became extremely
popular with the wrestlers of the carnivals. The carnivals wrestlers challenged the locals as part of the carnivals athletic show and the locals had their chance
to win a cash reward if they could defeat the carnivals
strongman by a pin or a submission. Eventually, the carnivals wrestlers began preparing for the worst kind of unarmed assault and aiming to end the wrestling match with
any tough local quickly and decisively via submission. A
hook was a technical submission which could end a match
within seconds. As carnival wrestlers travelled, they met
with a variety of people, learning and using techniques
from various other folk wrestling disciplines, especially
Irish Collar & Elbow, many of which were accessible due
to a huge inux of immigrants in the United States during
A hammerlock as demonstrated in Farmer Burns correspon- this era.
dence course, 1913

Catch wrestling contests also became immensely popular in Europe involving the likes of the Indian national
wrestling champion Great Gama, Imam Baksh Pahalwan, Gulam, Bulgarian world heavyweight champion Dan
Kolov, Swiss champion John Lemm, Americans Frank
Gotch, Ralph Parcaut, Ad Santel, Ed Lewis, Lou Thesz
and Benjamin Roller, Mitsuyo Maeda from Japan, and
Georg Hackenschmidt. Travelling wrestlers brought together a variety of folk wrestling disciplines including
the Indian variety of Pehlwani, Jujutsu/Judo, and others.
Each of these disciplines contributed to the development
of catch wrestling in their own way.[4]

In 1871, J. G. Chambers, of aquatic and pedestrian

celebrity, and sometime editor of Land and Water,
endeavored to introduce and promote a new system
of wrestling at Little Bridge Grounds, West Brompton, which he denominated, The Catch-as-catch-can
Style.[1] Unfortunately, the new idea met with little support at the time, and a few years afterwards Chambers
was induced to adopt the objectionable fashion of allowing the competitors to wrestle on all-fours on the ground.
This new departure was the forerunner of the total abolition of the sport at that athletic, and within a short period
the wrestling, as an item in the program.
1

3 MARTIAL ARTS

Techniques

3 Martial arts
3.1 Judo

The British term catch as catch can is generally understood to mean catch (a hold) anywhere you can. As
this implies, the rules of catch wrestling were more open
than the earlier Folk styles it was based on and its French
Greco-Roman counterpart which did not allow holds below the waist. Catch wrestlers can win a match by either submission or pin, and most matches are contested
as the best two of three falls. Often, but not always,
the chokehold was barred. Also just as today tapping
out signies a concession as does shouting out Uncle!",
back in the heyday of catch wrestling rolling to ones back
could also signify defeat. Frank Gotch won many matches
by forcing his opponent to roll over onto their back with
the threat of his toe-hold.[5] Some matches however didn't
include pins as a way to win but they were used for control
and to get submissions
However, in traditional catch wrestling, hooks are used
rather than submissions. Hooks are a form of submission where the submission may be executed so fast that
the loser has no time to tap out & were probably derived
from the Rough & Tumble mindset. Therefore, another
name for a catch wrestler is a hooker. A hook can be
dened as an undened move that stretches, spreads or
compresses any joint or limb. Catch wrestling techniques
may include, but are not limited to: the arm bar, Japanese
arm bar, straight arm bar, hammerlock, bar hammerlock,
wrist lock, double wrist lock, key lock (shoulder), reverse key lock (this move is also known as the Kimura in
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, or the reverse Ude-Garami in judo),
head scissors, body scissors, chest lock, abdominal lock,
abdominal stretch, leg lock, knee bar, ankle lock, heel
hook, toe hold, half Nelson, full Nelson and almost innitely many others. Almost all moves have their own
variations and dierent predicaments they can be pulled
o in. Many of such novel techniques arose from crosscultural exchanges with Jujutsu proponents.[6]
The rules of catch wrestling would change from venue to
venue. Matches contested with side-bets at the coal mines
or logging camps favoured submission wins where there
was absolutely no doubt as to who the winner was. Meanwhile professionally booked matches and amateur contests favoured pins that catered to the broader and more
gentle paying fan-base. The impact of catch wrestling
on modern day amateur wrestling is also well established.
In the lm Catch: The Hold Not Taken, US Olympic
Gold Medalist Dan Gable talks of how when he learned
to wrestle as an amateur the style was known locally,
in Waterloo, Iowa, as catch-as-catch-can. The wrestling
tradition of Iowa is rooted in catch wrestling as Farmer
Burns and his student Frank Gotch are known as the
grandfathers of wrestling in Iowa. Modern international
freestyle wrestling and American folkstyle wrestling are
amateur catch wrestling without the submissions.

A notable match in 1914 was between two prime representatives of their respective crafts: the American catch
wrestler Ad Santel was the World Light Heavyweight
Champion in catch wrestling, while Tokugoro Ito, a 5th
degree black belt in judo, claimed to be the World Judo
Champion. Santel defeated Ito and proclaimed himself
World Judo Champion.
The response from Jigoro Kano's Kodokan was swift and
came in the form of another challenger, 4th degree black
belt Daisuke Sakai. Santel, however, still defeated the
Kodokan Judo representative. The Kodokan tried to stop
the hooker by sending men like 5th degree black belt Reijiro Nagata (who Santel defeated by TKO). Santel also
drew with 5th degree black belt Hikoo Shoji. The challenge matches stopped after Santel gave up on the claim
of being the World Judo Champion in 1921 in order to
pursue a career in full-time professional wrestling. Although Tokugoro Ito avenged his loss to Santel with a
choke,[7] ocial Kodokan representatives proved unable
to imitate Itos success. Just as Ito was the only Japanese
judoka to overcome Santel, Santel was ironically the only
Western catch-wrestler on record as having a win over Ito,
who also regularly challenged other grappling styles.

3.2 Mixed martial arts

Karl Gotch was a catch wrestler and a student of Billy
Riley's Snake Pit training school in the Whelley area
of Wigan in Greater Manchester. Gotch taught catch
wrestling to Japanese professional wrestlers in the 1970s
including Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Hiro Matsuda, Osamu Kido, Satoru Sayama (Tiger Mask) and
Yoshiaki Fujiwara. Starting from 1976, one of these
professional wrestlers, Inoki, hosted a series of mixed
martial arts bouts against the champions of other disciplines. This resulted in unprecedented popularity of the
clash-of-styles bouts in Japan. His matches showcased
catch wrestling moves like the sleeper hold, cross arm
breaker, seated armbar, Indian deathlock and keylock.
Gotchs students formed the original Universal Wrestling
Federation (Japan) in 1984 which gave rise to shootstyle matches. The UWF movement was led by catch
wrestlers and gave rise to the mixed martial arts boom in
Japan. Wigan stand-out Billy Robinson soon thereafter
began training MMA veteran Kazushi Sakuraba. Catch
wrestling forms the base of Japan's martial art of shoot
wrestling. Japanese professional wrestling and a majority of the Japanese ghters from Pancrase, Shooto and the
now defunct RINGS bear links to catch wrestling. Randy
Couture, Kazushi Sakuraba, Kamal Shalorus, Takanori
Gomi, and Josh Barnett, among other mixed martial
artists, study catch wrestling as their primary submission

3
style.[8]
The term no holds barred was used originally to describe
the wrestling method prevalent in catch wrestling tournaments during the late 19th century wherein no wrestling
holds were banned from the competition, regardless of
how dangerous they might be. The term was later applied
to mixed martial arts matches, especially at the advent of
the Ultimate Fighting Championship.[9]

See also

Catch: The Hold Not Taken - a 2005 documentary lm

investigating the roots of dierent styles of wrestling.
Snake Pit U.S.A - Catch Wrestling Association in the
U.S.A.

References

[1] Armstrong, Walter, Wrestling

[2] http://web.archive.org/web/20050406222551/http:
//www.aspullolympicwrestlingclub.co.uk/international.
htm
[3] Catch Wrestling - A History and Style Guide of Catch
Wrestling. Martialarts.about.com. 2010-06-16. Retrieved 2010-09-03.
[4] Home Catch Wrestling | Franco Kickboxing / Pankration - Vancouver premiere martial arts dojo. Francokickboxing.com. Retrieved 2010-03-02.
[5] Frank Gotch: Worlds Greatest Wrestler, Publisher:
William s Hein & Co (January 1991), ISBN 0-89941751-5
[6] http://www.bartleby.com/53/59.html
[7] Ito threw Santell (sic) around the ring like a bag of sawdust When Ad gasped for air, the Japanese pounced
upon him like a leopard and applied the strangle hold.
Santell gave a couple of gurgles, turned black in the face
and thumped the oor, signifying he had enough. -Howard Angus, Los Angeles Times, 1 February 1917
[8] Randy Couture 'Moving Away From a Jiu Jitsu Mentality'". MMA Fighting. Retrieved 2010-03-02.
[9] http://www.riverhorse.tv/originalindex.php?page=22
Catch: the hold not taken documentary DVD 2005

6 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

6.1

Text

Catch wrestling Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_wrestling?oldid=720274377 Contributors: AxelBoldt, Peter Kaminski,

Dale Arnett, Naddy, Alpenlisi~enwiki, Dbenbenn, DocWatson42, Marcika, Edcolins, Paulley, Oknazevad, Quantum Jim, Dbachmann,
TMC1982, A2Kar, Geschichte, PatrickFisher, Fuzlogic, Ramsquire, Drbreznjev, Woohookitty, LOL, Commander Keane, ^demon,
Dangerous-Boy, Mandarax, Hack-Man, FlaBot, Bgwhite, Rxnd, WAvegetarian, Akamad, Austinmayor, Nahallac Silverwinds, Welsh,
ExRat, Kforcer, Nate1481, Halloween jack, Josh177, Nick123, Calaschysm, Wikiman86, Shawnc, PRehse, Innity0, Patiwat, Tom
Morris, That Guy, From That Show!, Dsreyn, SmackBot, Nickst, Bobzchemist, Ghosts&empties, GunFactor007, Bluebot, Kaiwanxiao,
Emufarmers, Thumperward, Snori, Rorybowman, Freedom skies, OrphanBot, D Brugge, Salsassin, Hateless, Kozushi, -Marcus-, Deiz,
Gobonobo, B7T, Tcwilliams, JoeBot, FairuseBot, Kaiser wolf, RookZERO, CmdrObot, Sangrito, Xxovercastxx, Halbared, Aaru Bui,
GeoMor, IgnacioMc, David from Downunder, Evolver73, Zickzack, Sprhodes, CharlotteWebb, KevinWho, Osubuckeyeguy, Endlessdan, Leolaursen, R'n'B, The Sanity Inspector, DandyDan2007, Dus101, Nemo bis, Mrceleb2007, Robertgreer, Blooddraken, Nikki311,
Dorftrottel, Deor, Robert1947, Zacariasd, Suriel1981, Jochim Schiller, FlowWTG, Laoris, Phe-bot, KoshVorlon, Kumioko, Bhcompy,
Sean1290, Hutcher, Ribbon Salminen, Ashashyou, MonkeySpoonWanderer, Mdb2812, DumZiBoT, XLinkBot, DevilDan1900, MystBot, Addbot, RandySavageFTW, ClaudioProductions, Adamizer1134, Happyymeal, Aktsu, Lightbot, Phantom in ca, Publicly Visible,
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Cadillac000, Xobes, Mjc999, Loraof, Eteethan, Splane750, Keyier II and Anonymous: 232

6.2

Images

File:Burns03-05-60hammerlock.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Burns03-05-60hammerlock.jpg

License: Public domain Contributors: Scans of the correspondence course Lessons in Wrestling & Physical Culture (1913) Lesson 6 Original
artist: Martin Burns and the Farmer Burns School of Wrestling; scans by Gordon Anderson
File:Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ae/Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg License: PD Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Portal-puzzle.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Portal-puzzle.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ?
Original artist: ?

6.3

Content license

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