Right in The Snake Pit was where I learned most of what I know today, from Billy Riley and his boys, and if I could take the time, I’d go back there right now, because there’s lots left to learn. (Words by Karl Gotch,The Quiet Man Speaks His Piece, 1968).

 

The Snake Pit,  in Wigan, United Kingdom, is without a doubt the original home for Catch Wrestling. The infamous gym, now run by Billy Riley’s student Roy Wood, has been the cradle for legends like Billy Robinson and Karl Gotch, who laid the grounds for modern Japanese submission wrestling.