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Catch Wrestling

Catch wrestling
Burns03-05-70-sprawl.jpg
Also known as Catch-as-catch-can
Loose-Hold
Focus Grappling
Country of origin United Kingdom United Kingdom
Famous practitioners Dan Koloff
Evan Lewis
Farmer Burns
Frank Gotch
Ed "Strangler" Lewis
Ad Santel
Lee Hasdell
Joe Stecher
John Pesek
Karl Gotch
Billy Riley
Billy Robinson
Kazushi Sakuraba
Masakatsu Funaki
Minoru Suzuki
Gene Lebell
Frank Shamrock
Ken Shamrock
Randy Couture
Erik Paulson
Josh Barnett
Harry Smith
George Hackenschmidt
Shinya Aoki
Anthony Johnson
Parenthood Cumberland & Westmorland wrestling
Cornish & Devonshire wrestling
Lancashire wrestling
Irish Collar-and-elbow
Rough And Tumble
Jujutsu
Pehlwani
Malla-yuddha
Descendant arts Freestyle Wrestling
Collegiate Wrestling
Professional Wrestling
Shoot Wrestling
Sambo
Olympic sport Yes (as amateur freestyle wrestling)

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

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." 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.


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