Who Billy was

Billy Robinson was a catch wrestler from Manchester, England. He was born there on 18 September 1938, to a family of boxers. An eye injury as a boy ended his boxing. He started amateur wrestling at fourteen. His father took him to Billy Riley, who ran the famous catch wrestling gym in Wigan. Billy trained there under Riley, and also under Billy Joyce. In 1957 he won the British Senior Championships, freestyle wrestling, light heavyweight. He turned professional in 1958, and wrestled in Britain, North America, and Japan, until his last match on 8 May 1992. He moved to Little Rock, Arkansas in 2001, and kept coaching catch wrestling until he died on 27 February 2014. His book, Physical Chess, came out in June 2012.

He taught Catch As Catch Can

That is the full name of the art. It means catch a hold when you can, and hold on to it. Billy did not teach tricks. He taught real wrestling. Pin your man. Or make him quit.

Do It Again

Billy said, Do It Again. You do the move. Then you do it again. Then you do it again. You do not move on until you can do it right. That is how catch is learned. That is how we still teach it.

Billy and John

John Potenza learned from Billy Robinson, on the mat, in person. John was Billy’s Assistant Coach, one of only seven in the world. Billy was John’s coach. He is the man John learned from, and the man we honor. That is the line. Billy taught John. John teaches us.

The lineage tree, from Billy Riley down to John Potenza. The names are: Billy Riley, Billy Joyce, Karl Gotch, Satoru Sayama, Yorinaga Nakamura, Erik Paulson, Billy Robinson, Kazushi Sakuraba, Josh Barnett, John Potenza.