 Robinson in 1976 | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | William Alfred Robinson (1938-09-18)18 September 1938[4] Manchester, Lancashire, England[4] | |||||||||||
| Died | 27 February 2014(2014-02-27) (aged 75)[4] Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.[4] | |||||||||||
| Professional wrestling career | ||||||||||||
| Ring name | Billy Robinson[2] | |||||||||||
| Billed height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[2] | |||||||||||
| Billed weight | 240 lb (110 kg; 17 st)[2] | |||||||||||
| Trained by | Billy Riley[2] Billy Joyce[3] | |||||||||||
| Debut | 1958 | |||||||||||
| Retired | May 8, 1992 | |||||||||||
| Sports career | ||||||||||||
Medal record
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William Alfred Robinson (18 September 1938 – 27 February 2014)[4] was an Englishprofessional wrestler,amateur wrestler,catch wrestler, and wrestling coach. Having trained atBilly Riley's gym, better known as "The Snake Pit" inWigan, Robinson was one of the leading practitioners ofcatch wrestling, a British national champion infreestyle wrestling, and a professional wrestling world champion. He had a successful career in the UK and internationally, especially in Japan.
Robinson is known for training professional wrestlers andmixed martial artists in the catch wrestling style, includingJosh Barnett,Kazushi Sakuraba,Kiyoshi Tamura, andShayna Baszler. His favourite saying as a coach was "do it again", which came from his trainer Billy Riley. He acted in several movies, includingThe Wrestler, and inspired theKinnikuman characterRobin Mask.[4][5]
Robinson was born inManchester on September 18, 1938 to William James and Frances Hester (nee Exley).[4] The men in the family wereboxers and he started between four and five years of age. He also worked in his family's grocery store, where an eye injury between eleven and twelve years of age required hospitalization for five months and disqualified him from ever getting a boxing licence.[3][5]
Robinson beganamateur wrestling at fourteen. After a year, his father introduced him toBilly Riley, a reputedcatch wrestling trainer who ran a gym inWigan.Riley's Gym (later dubbed "The Snake Pit") was one of the most famed catch wrestling training schools in the world, had a rough training environment and produced wrestlers such asKarl Gotch,Bert Assirati,Jack Dempsey, and Billy Joyce.[5][3] At the 1957 British Senior Championships, he won thefreestyle wrestling light heavyweight title.[1]
It has often been repeated that Robinson was also a "European Open Champion in the light heavyweight class, beating anOlympic bronze medal winner in the finals" in 1958, without stating who the medallist was.[6][7][8][9] However,FILA did not hold theEuropean Wrestling Championships between1949 and1966, and despite records going back to the first "unofficial European Championships" in 1898, United World Wrestling (FILA's successor) has no records of a "European Open Championship" taking place or anyone with Robinson's name competing for Britain, England, or any other nation.[10]
As a professional wrestler, Robinson became a double-crown British and European Heavyweight Champion forJoint Promotions. In 1963, he wrestled in a match at theRoyal Albert Hall that was attended byPrince Philip.[11] He defeated fellow Riley's wrestler and mentor Billy Joyce for the European title on 12 June 1965[12] and then beat Joyce again forthe British title on 18 January 1967,[13] vacating both titles in 1970 when he went off to America.[12][13] He also had a high-profile feud with masked wrestlerKendo Nagasaki.[14]
In 1978, Robinson made a brief homecoming tour of the UK including a televised win over Lee Bronson.[15]
Robinson traveled to North America in 1969 forStu Hart'sStampede Wrestling where he defeatedArchie "The Stomper" Gouldie to earn a title shot atNWA World Heavyweight championDory Funk Jr. Soon afterwards, he began wrestling forVerne Gagne'sAmerican Wrestling Association. He was one of the most successful wrestlers of the American promotion known for hiring the "Real Deals" in wrestling. He was a three-time AWA British Empire Heavyweight Champion, reigning and defending in the United States and Canada. On 12 October 1974, his reputation as a legitimate wrestler landed him a role in the filmThe Wrestler alongside Verne Gagne andEd Asner. He wrestled inMontreal in 1982 and 1983 becoming the International Champion beatingDino Bravo and was also International Tag Team champions with Pierre Mad Dog Lefebvre. He wrestled to a 60-minutes time-limit draw against thenWWF ChampionBob Backlund in 1982 as well in Montreal.[citation needed] Robinson continued working for American Wrestling Association until retiring in 1988.
Robinson traveled to Japan where he became popular as a wrestler versed in submission holds. He had a series of matches with CanadianGeorge Gordienko. The pair had a notable match in 1968 as part of a "world championship tournament" where the pair wrestled to a draw inSapporo.[5] He participated in a professional wrestling match againstAntonio Inoki in 1975. The match was billed as "The Match Between the World's Top Two Technicians" by the Japanese press. Japanese professional wrestlers learned the art of "hooking" and "shooting" from other catch wrestling icons including Karl Gotch andLou Thesz. The new movement led to the formation of theUniversal Wrestling Federation. The UWF wrestlers likeYoshiaki Fujiwara had also been to the Snake Pit in Wigan. In his last match, he advanced theshoot-style movement when he worked for theUnion of Wrestling Forces International against fellow AWA championNick Bockwinkel on 8 May 1992.[citation needed]
Robinson, having previously trained wrestlers in England includingMarty Jones andJohnny Saint, began training wrestlers in catch wrestling at the UWF Snake Pit Japan, includingJames Maritato,Kazushi Sakuraba andEl Signo.[16] He also managed a convenience store and was a security guard at theGold Coast Hotel and Casino for a time.[5][3] He moved toLittle Rock, Arkansas in 2001 to be closer to his son's family.[4] His autobiography,Physical Chess: My Life in Catch-as-Catch-Can Wrestling, was published in June 2012.[17] He continued to coach catch wrestling into his final years, in his adopted home of Arkansas along with seminars in the United States, Japan, Britain, and Canada.[3][18]
Robinson died in his sleep on February 27, 2014, at the age of 75.[4]
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