Catch Wrestling
British catch-as-catch-can wrestling from Lancashire traditions, won by pin (fall) or submission. Through Wigan and Karl Gotch it influenced Japanese shoot wrestling.
Quick Facts
United KingdomCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
Comparisons
Catalogs & Databases for Catch Wrestling
About Catch Wrestling
Catch wrestling, in full catch-as-catch-can (“catch hold where you can”), is wrestling that developed in Britain mainly from Lancashire wrestling, with the influence of the Cumberland, Westmorland, Cornish and Devon styles and of Irish collar-and-elbow. It has no single founder or year of origin. It spread through wrestlers from traveling fairs, who added their own submission holds called hooks, and in America through the carnival “athletic show”, where wrestlers challenged spectators. Lancashire miners, according to sources, wrestled after their shifts.
Read more
Matches were won by pin (fall) or submission. Falls were the main way to win, submission holds served mainly to control and to force a fall, and chokes were often forbidden. The first world champion in catch-as-catch-can became Joe Acton on December 12, 1881. Frank Gotch defeated George Hackenschmidt in 1908 and 1911 and the second match ended with a toe hold. At the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis wrestling was held without submission holds and freestyle later arose from the modified rules. In the twenties of the 20th century professional wrestling moved toward arranged matches, from which today’s professional wrestling grew. Competitive catch survived in Wigan, where Billy Riley opened in 1948 a gym called the Snake Pit. His student Karl Gotch taught in Japan from the sixties and his students stood behind UWF, Shooto and Pancrase. In MMA, Kazushi Sakuraba and Josh Barnett, for example, profess catch wrestling. The Snake Pit Wigan rules permit locks on all the main joints including the knee, ankle and spine and forbid punches, chokes and grabbing clothing. The Catch Wrestling World Championships have been held every year since 2018.
History
Catch-as-catch-can (“catch hold where you can”) developed in Britain mainly from Lancashire wrestling, with the influence of the Cumberland, Westmorland, Cornish and Devon styles and of Irish collar-and-elbow. It has no single founder or year of origin. In America the name was in use already around 1840. Wrestlers from traveling fairs added their own submission holds called hooks and stretches, in American carnivals they challenged spectators in the athletic show, and betting matches in mines and lumber camps favored submission. The first world champion in catch-as-catch-can became Joe Acton on December 12, 1881, after defeating Tom Cannon. Frank Gotch defeated George Hackenschmidt on April 3, 1908 in Chicago and again on September 4, 1911 at Comiskey Park, where the match ended with a toe hold.
How it differs
Britannica describes catch-as-catch-can as a style in which almost all holds are permitted both standing and on the ground, and the aim is to press both of the opponent's shoulder blades to the mat. With minor modifications, it says, Olympic and international competition adopted it as freestyle. The difference lies mainly in submission holds. United World Wrestling freestyle rules forbid strangling and throat holds, twisting the arm by more than 90 degrees, the forearm lever and scissors with the legs on the head, neck or trunk. A senior freestyle match has two three-minute periods and technical superiority is given by a 10-point difference, while in catch wrestling a fall or submission decides.
Read more
Greco-Roman wrestling, which according to Britannica originated in France in the early 19th century after depictions of ancient wrestling, forbids holds below the waist and active use of the legs, and awards technical superiority already at an 8-point difference. Catch wrestling allowed holds below the waist. According to the analyst Jack Slack (Fightland), the fall remained the main goal and submission holds served as so-called punishment holds. Strangling was considered dishonourable in historical catch, twisting the neck was often permissible, which according to Slack is the opposite of how most grappling clubs treat it today. We have not found a comparison with Brazilian jiu-jitsu from a federation or an encyclopedia.
Technique
A hook is a hold that stretches, spreads, twists or compresses a joint or limb. The wrestler is called a hooker, a very experienced hooker a shooter. Named holds include, among others, the hammerlock, knee bar, ankle lock, heel hook and toe hold. The double wrist lock is called the kimura in MMA and the coil lock corresponds to the omoplata. Historically the main way to win was a pin (fall), and submission holds served mainly to control and to force a fall. Tommy Heyes states that no victory by submission is recorded for any classic catch wrestler. Chokes were often forbidden. The Snake Pit Wigan rules permit locks of the ankle, knee, hip, spine, neck, shoulder, elbow and wrist and forbid punches, kicks, chokes and pressure on the throat, the full nelson and grabbing clothing. A fall occurs when both shoulders touch the mat at the same time, so the wrestler must not stay on his back even when attempting a submission.
Training
We have not been able to document in the sources the structure of an ordinary class or the ratio of technique, sparring and conditioning. In Wigan Billy Riley demanded that every opponent be treated as world-class, and the motto of the Snake Pit was “you can never train too hard”. Professionals trained in the morning and performed in the evening, and informal rules forbade breaking limbs, eye gouging and hair pulling. Under the influence of pehlwani, Karl Gotch put together exercises with bodyweight, bridges, hindu squats and hindu push-ups, and his training with playing cards, called the Gotch Bible, is still used today. The Snake Pit U.S.A. program teaches takedowns, throws, rides, breakdowns, transitions, escapes and reversals, and submissions from any position.
Ranks and progression
Snake Pit Wigan has no belts or technical grades, it accredits coaches and affiliated clubs. Snake Pit U.S.A. uses its own levels Journeyman, Ripper, Shooter and Hooker, each in grade 1 and 2, and awards coaching certifications only to its representatives and affiliated coaches. It is the system of one association, not a common grading system of catch wrestling. We have not found minimum times between levels or their transferability between organizations.
Who it suits
Only persons over 18 may compete under the Snake Pit Wigan rules, the weight categories run from 55 kg to super heavy with an upper limit of 125 kg. Snake Pit U.S.A. has three weights for adult men and an open category for women. In 2024 a children’s competition, Catch For Kids, was added to the world championships, we have not found its age limits and rules. We have not found an injury study in catch wrestling. The Snake Pit Wigan rules require a medical check before a match, short nails, reporting of skin diseases, moderate pressure when applying a submission and stopping of the match by the referee in case of injury. We have not found veterans’ categories.
Competition
Under the rules of Snake Pit Wigan, a match is won by a fall onto the shoulder blades or by submission, no points are awarded, and without a fall or submission the referee decides on who was more dominant. The organiser sets the time limit by the number of entrants, and there are no breaks. Snake Pit U.S.A. wrestles at most three five-minute rounds, a round is won only by submission or a three-count pin, and points count only in the event of a draw. The Catch Wrestling World Championships have been held every year since 2018, the Catch Wrestling British Championships took place in Wigan in 2023 and 2024, and the ACWA US Open in December 2023 is cited as the first modern American national championship. At the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis, according to United World Wrestling, only freestyle was wrestled, and only American wrestlers. The International Amateur Wrestling Federation (1921) created freestyle from the modified rules. Catch wrestling is non-Olympic.
Gear
The Snake Pit Wigan rules permit fitted shorts, fitted long trousers, fitted shirts, rash guards and spats. Sweatpants, hoodies and loose shorts are forbidden, because nothing on the clothing may be grabbed. Wrestlers compete in wrestling shoes or barefoot, in case of excessive sweating the referee may require a rash guard or spats, and he also checks head protection. The rules do not require protective gear, so the relative cost is low.
Today
Professional wrestling began as competitive catch, but from the twenties of the 20th century the Gold Dust Trio pushed it toward theatrical entertainment. Competitive catch survived in Wigan, where Billy Riley opened in 1948 a gym later called the Snake Pit. In the seventies it closed, catch wrestling was formally revived around 2011 to 2012, and today the club in Aspull is run by Roy Wood. Riley’s student Karl Gotch later taught in Japan. His students founded UWF in 1984, Satoru Sayama founded Shooto in 1985, and Gotch proposed the name Pancrase, founded in 1993. Hélio Gracie learned catch from Orlando “Dudú” da Silva and brought elements of catch into Gracie jiu-jitsu. Kazushi Sakuraba learned catch under Billy Robinson and Josh Barnett describes himself as a catch wrestler. Bas Rutten faced Osamu Nishimura in October 2002 under catch wrestling rules, the match ended in a draw on time.
Did you know
The phrase no holds barred, that is without forbidden holds, was used, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, in the late 19th century in advertisements for matches in which any grip was permitted. The Olympic wrestling in St. Louis took place on 14 and 15 October 1904 at Francis Field in seven freestyle divisions and was at the same time the US championship. A total of 42 wrestlers competed and all of them represented the USA. According to Britannica, Frank Gotch had 154 wins from 160 matches and held the world title until his retirement in 1913. His opponent George Hackenschmidt won the amateur world championship in Greco-Roman wrestling in Vienna in 1898 and late in life, as a mystic philosopher, published the book Man and Cosmic Antagonism to Mind and Spirit (1936). Billy Robinson, who spent more than ten years in the Wigan gym, called catch wrestling MMA without time limits. According to the Post and Courier, the nickname Snake Pit comes from the danger of training there.
Frequently asked questions
What is catch wrestling?
Catch wrestling (catch-as-catch-can) is a wrestling style in which, according to Britannica, almost all holds are allowed both standing and on the ground. Wins come by a pin or by submission after a joint lock, and strikes and kicks are forbidden.
Where does catch wrestling come from?
From England, where Britannica says it was formerly called the Lancashire style. It became the most popular form of wrestling in Great Britain and the United States, and traveling carnival wrestlers added their own submission holds to it.
What is the difference between catch wrestling and freestyle wrestling?
According to Britannica, freestyle wrestling arose by adopting catch-as-catch-can into Olympic competition with minor changes. The main difference is submission holds. United World Wrestling rules in freestyle ban choking, twisting the arm by more than 90 degrees, the forearm lock and the scissors hold with the legs, while catch wrestling allows joint locks.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.