You’re probably wondering why I put war in capital letters.
What does it have to do with Physical Culture? Believe it or not I'm not
talking about military combat or exercises that help you become a soldier but
it’s an actual name of a legendary wrestler that recently passed away; William
A. Robinson aka Catch Wrestler Billy Robinson. Born in 1939 in England , he
came from a family of boxers but as fate would have it, he became a wrestler.
A man named
Billy Riley opened a wrestling school in England
in a town called Wigan, he trained some of the toughest wrestlers not just in Europe but just about everywhere else. The two most
famous to come out of that gym were Karl Istaz aka Karl Gotch and Billy
Robinson. In the 1950’s when Billy was just starting out, he got tied up in
knots, worked his ass off, learned the secrets of Catch Wrestling and ventured
off into the world of Pro Wrestling. He won countless titles all over the world
but never forgot where he came from. Wigan Wrestling back then would be the equivalent
to Dan Gable’s Championship formula of the 1980’s at the University Of Iowa,
rough, tough and the most conditioned wrestlers of it’s time.
In the 1970’s,
Billy was considered one of the top if not the top most talented wrestler of
that era. He wrestled many top stars of the day. His style of wrestling was
unique in that it was scientific, he read other wrestlers like it was a chess
match. He had agility very few had and can lock you in a hold where he could
cripple you if he had the chance, he was that good. He trained countless
wrestlers over the years, some you may even heard of that are hall of famers in
pro wrestling such as 16-time World Champ Ric Flair and quite possibly the most
hated wrestler of his era The Iron Sheik. In Japan he coached many of the Japanese
wrestlers of the time including “Gracie Killer” Kazushi Sakuraba.
Billy
passed away earlier this week leaving a legacy that has long been forgotten but
has slowly risen with a new generation of Catch Wrestlers and to continue his
legacy before he died he put together a book called Physical Chess which told
his life story from his very own words. He was the last of the old-time catch
wrestlers of the old Wigan days. To even get a
glimpse of his legendary wisdom and training now is to go to Scientific Wrestling and get the DVD series W.A.R which shows his philosophy, training and
techniques in the art of Catch As Catch Can Wrestling. I never got the chance
to meet him but I've talked to those that have and they said he was the best
and was a great man. Maybe one day if I learned some catch I'll be hearing the
voice from above “Do it again.”
One of his
many facets on life and wrestling is what he referred to as “Learning how to
learn.” I've heard this phrase a few times and what I believe it to be is that
you don’t stop learning, if you think you know it all, you haven’t learned a
damn thing. He uses it for wrestling for what I use it as fitness, you can do
so many things but there’s always something that can be taught that keeps you
finding other ways to better yourself no matter how long it takes and mastering
it is part of the mystery. Even if you master something you’ll always be a
student because knowledge is what keeps us going and how it absorbs who you are
and what you want to do. RIP Billy and hope wherever you are, you're having fun
wrestling old comrades and crippling those who need to get their ass kicked.
