Bakery Boys Martial Arts Gym

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Catch wrestling is a style of folk wrestling that was developed and popularised in the late 19th century by the wrestlers of traveling carnivals who incorporated submission holds, or "hooks", into their wrestling to increase their effectiveness against their opponents. Catch wrestling derives from a number different styles, the English style of Lancashire Catch-as-Catch-Can Wrestling, Irish Collar-and-elbow, Greco Roman Wrestling, styles of the Indian subcontinent such as Pehlwani and Iranian styles such as Varzesh-e Pahlavani. The training of some modern submission wrestlers, professional wrestlers and Mixed martial arts fighters is founded in Catch wrestling.

The Lancashire phrase "catch as catch can" is generally understood to mean "catch (a hold) anywhere you can". As this implies, the rules of catch wrestling were more open than its Greco-Roman counterpart which did not allow holds below the waist. Catch wrestlers can win a match by either submission or pin, and most matches are contested as the best two of three falls. Often, but not always, the chokehold was barred. Just as today "tapping out" signifies a concession, back in the heyday of catch wrestling rolling to one's back could also signify defeat. Frank Gotch won many matches by forcing his opponent to roll over onto their back with the threat of his toe-hold.

However, in traditional catch wrestling, hooks are used rather than submissions. Hooks are a brutal form of submission, which executes the submission so fast that does not allow them to tap out. In the old days, people have known to die of neck breaks, broken arms etc while competing in catch wrestling. Henceforth, another name for a catch wrestler is also called a hooker.

Many of such novel techniques arose out of cross cultural exchanges with Jiu Jitsu proponents.

The rules of catch wrestling would change from venue to venue. Matches contested with side-bets at the coal mines or logging camps favored submission wins (where there was absolutely no doubt as to who the winner was) while professionally booked matches and amateur contests favored pins (catering to the broader and more genteel paying fan-base).

The impact of Catch Wrestling on modern day amateur wrestling is also well established. In the film Catch: the hold not taken, US Olympic Gold Medallist Dan Gable talks of how when he learned to wrestle as an amateur the style was known locally, in Waterloo Iowa, as Catch as Catch Can. The wrestling tradition of Iowa is rooted in catch wrestling as Farmer Burns and his student Frank Gotch are known as the grandfathers of wrestling in Iowa. Catch wrestling evolved into American folkstyle and international freestyle wrestling.

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