Billy Robinson
Billy Robinson | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Birth name | William Alfred Robinson | |||||||||||
Born | [1] Manchester, Lancashire, England[1] | 18 September 1938|||||||||||
Died | 27 February 2014[1] Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.[1] | (aged 75)|||||||||||
Professional wrestling career | ||||||||||||
Ring name(s) | 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)[1] was an English professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, and coach. Robinson was one of the leading practitioners of catch wrestling, a national champion in freestyle wrestling, and a professional wrestling world champion. As a wrestler, Robinson had a successful career in Britain and internationally, especially in Japan. He was known for training professional wrestlers and mixed martial artists in the catch wrestling style, including Josh Barnett, Kazushi Sakuraba, Kiyoshi Tamura, and Shayna Baszler. His favourite saying as a coach was "do it again", which came from his trainer Billy Riley. Robinson acted in several movies including The Wrestler and inspired the fictional manga/anime character Robin Mask.[1][5]
Early life
Robinson was born in Manchester on September 18, 1938 to William James Robinson and Frances Hester Exley Robinson.[1] The men in the Robinson family were boxers and Billy began boxing between four and five years of age. Robinson 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 began amateur wrestling at fourteen. After a year, Robinson's father introduced him to Billy Riley, a legendary catch wrestling trainer who ran a gym in Wigan. Riley's Gym (later dubbed "The Snake Pit") was one of the most respected catch wrestling training schools in the world. Riley's had a rough training environment and produced legends such as Karl Gotch, Bert Assirati, Jack Dempsey, and Billy Joyce.[5][3] At the 1957 British Senior Championships, Robinson became the freestyle wrestling light heavyweight champion.[4] It has often been repeated that Robinson was also a "European Open Champion in the light heavyweight class, beating an Olympic bronze medal winner in the finals" in 1958.[3][5][6][7] However, FILA did not hold the European Wrestling Championships between 1949 and 1966, 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.[8]
Professional wrestling career
Early days in Europe
As a professional wrestler, Robinson became a double-crown British and European Heavyweight Champion for
North America
Robinson traveled to North America in 1969 for
Japan
Robinson traveled to Japan where he became immensely popular as a legitimate wrestler versed in submission holds. Robinson had a series of matches with Canadian
Post-retirement
Robinson, having previously trained wrestlers in England including Marty Jones and Johnny Saint, began training wrestlers in catch wrestling at the UWF Snake Pit Japan, including James Maritato, Kazushi Sakuraba and El Signo.[14] He also managed a convenience store and was a security guard at the Gold Coast Hotel and Casino for a time.[5][3] Robinson moved to Little Rock, Arkansas in 2001 to be closer to his son's family.[1] Robinson's autobiography, Physical Chess: My Life in Catch-as-Catch-Can Wrestling, was published in June 2012.[15] Robinson 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][16]
Death
Robinson died peacefully in his sleep on February 27, 2014 at the age of 75.[1]
Notable students
Championships and accomplishments
Freestyle wrestling
- British Wrestling Association
- 1957 British Senior Championships - 1st place, light heavyweight[4]
Professional wrestling
- All Japan Pro Wrestling
- NWA United National Championship (1 time)[2]
- PWF World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[2]
- 2 January Korakuen Hall Heavyweight Battle Royal (1980)[17]
- World's Strongest Tag Determination League Technique Award (1978) - with Wild Angus[18]
- World's Strongest Tag Determination League Technique Award (1980) - with Les Thornton[19]
- American Wrestling Association
- Cauliflower Alley Club
- Other honoree (1994)
- Championship Wrestling from Florida
- Continental Wrestling Association
- 3 times)[2]
- George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
- Class of 2002
- International Wrestling Enterprise
- 2 times)[2]
- IWE World Series (1968)
- IWE World Series (1970)
- International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
- Joint Promotions
- Lutte Internationale
- Canadian International Heavyweight Championship (2 times)[2]
- Canadian International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Pierre Lefebvre[2]
- New Japan Pro-Wrestling
- Greatest 18 Club inductee
- Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
- Class of 2011[22]
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Stampede Wrestling
- Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame (Class of 1995)[25][26]
- Tokyo Sports
- Match of the Year Award (1975) vs. Antonio Inoki on 11 December
- World Championship Wrestling (Australia)
- 1 time)[2]
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "William A. "Billy" Robinson". www.arkansasonline.com. 9 March 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Online World of Wrestling". Onlineworldofwrestling.com. Retrieved 9 November 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f Haymes, Linda (10 December 2013). "Retired wrestling champ Robinson cultivates young talent in LR". www.arkansasonline.com. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
- ^ a b c "List of British Senior Champions from 1904 - 2001" (PDF). Britishwrestling.org. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f "Billy Robinson - obituary". The Telegraph. 7 May 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
- ^ "Billy Robinson". nwhof.org. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
- ^ Mooneyham, Mike (8 March 2014). "Robinson's passing marks end of an era". Post and Courier. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
- ^ "Historical Results". United World Wrestling. Retrieved 14 December 2023. Search "Robinson"
- ^ BjjTribes (9 April 2021). "The Story of Prince Philip and his love of Catch Wrestling". BjjTribes. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
- ^ a b c "European Heavyweight Title [Joint Promotions]". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
- ^ a b "British Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
- ^ "WRESTLING HERITAGE". WRESTLING HERITAGE. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
- ^ "Itvwrestling.co.uk - 1978". Archived from the original on 10 May 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
- ^ "Wrestlingdata.com - The World's Largest Wrestling Database". Wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
- ^ "Physical Chess: My Life in Catch-as-Catch-Can Wrestling". ECW Press. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
- ^ Oliver, Greg (3 March 2014). "Billy Robinson dead at 74". Slam Wrestling. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
- ^ "Misc. All Japan Events". Prowrestlinghistory.com. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
- ^ Real World Tag League 197 at purolove.com retrieved 7 October 2018
- ^ "PUROLOVE.com". Purolove.com. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
- ^ Johnson, Mike (13 March 2022). "Steve Austin & More: nternational Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2022 Announced". PWInsider.com. Archived from the original on 2 February 2023. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
- ^ Hoops, Brian (18 January 2019). "Pro wrestling history (01/18): Ivan Koloff defeats Bruno Sammartino for WWWF title". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
- ^ "Lawler, McMahon, Road Warriors among PWHF Class of 2011". Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum. 26 November 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2010.
- ^ "PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year". Archived from the original on 16 December 2008. Retrieved 9 November 2008.
- ^ "Strong Style Spirit". Puroresufan.com. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
- ^ Whalen, Ed (host) (15 December 1995). "Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame: 1948-1990". Showdown at the Corral: A Tribute to Stu Hart. Event occurs at 27:55. Shaw Cable. Calgary 7.
- ^ "Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame (1948-1990)". Puroresu Dojo. 2003.
- ^ "Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame". Pwi-online.org. Archived from the original on 14 July 2008. Retrieved 9 November 2008.
External links
- Billy Robinson's profile at Cagematch.net
- Media related to Billy Robinson at Wikimedia Commons