Please note that the following, admittedly blatant plug, is *totally * unsolicited and was posted purely on its author's own initiative.
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[b]


Wigan shoot-wrestling lives!!!

See:
http://www.aspullolympicwrestlingclub.co.uk

"they producted some of the greatest hookers of that time and today." - Lou Thesz, TWC Online 1998

"Three weeks there advanced my career by five years!" - George Kidd, TV Times 1977

"Looking back, these people were the best in the world at what they did." - Dynamite Kid, Pure Dynamite 1999

Probably the best shoot-wrestling school on the planet.

For anyone who's ever wanted to be a "Hooker" like Lou Thesz ...

... One of only three wrestling schools in the world where the art of "hooking" was taught ...

...As featured on ITV's First Tuesday documentary "The Wigan Hold" in the mid 1980s ...

... Probably the only wrestling school in the world to get a government subsidy from its country's Ministry Of Sport! ...

... A veritable SHRINE in the world of Puroresu ...

...Singlehandedly responsible for the "Shoot _style_" of the likes of UWFI ...

...Graduates include Karl Gotch, Billy Robinson, Bert Assirati, Billy Joyce, Rex Strong, Big Bruno Ellrington, George Kidd, Steve Wright, John Naylor, ...

...Oh yes, and Dynamite Kid trained there for a bit in 1971!

(He learned how to get out of a "grovit" front facelock - pull down on the elbow!)

Still going - these days it's gone upmarket, got a new building and become an Olympic Wrestling club, but you can still study Billy Riley's original course in Submission Wrestling (Catch-as-Catch Can) there.


Personally, I think EVERYONE on the UK wrestling scene, not just trainees but anyone (yes, even the old ex-WWFers) particularly anyone who came in via New School promotions, should go and do some training sessions at this place with Roy Wood (no relation to the Wizzard bloke).

It'll do them a helluva lot of good. Teach 'em respect in no time, not just for the wrestling business but indeed for the Sport of Professional Catch-Wrestling.

IMHO Shoot-wrestling skill is the motor which drives Old-school British Wrestling. And Riley's/the Snakepit in Wigan, was the batteries.

It's time to reconnect. [b][/size][size=5][/size][size=2][size=4][/size]