Draft:The Snake Pit

The Snake Pit is a wrestling gym and organisation in Aspull, Borough of Wigan, England. It also hosts the Aspull Wrestling Club. Founded in 1948 by Billy Riley in the town of Wigan, it was originally known as Riley's Gym. He was succeeded by Roy Wood, one of Riley's last living students.

The gym has had national and international impact on the development of catch-as-catch-can (CACC), freestyle, and professional wrestling, as well as mixed martial arts (MMA). In December 2023, after coaching for almost 50 years, Wood was recognised on the 2024 New Year Honours and awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) "for services to wrestling and young people."

The Snake Pit has held the Catch Wrestling World Championships since 2018. And the British Championships since 2023.

Riley's Gym
Billy Riley was a skilled professional wrestler in an era where bouts were still legitimate. Riley trained in pubs like the Crispin Arms or at his home before he and a handful of other wrestlers, who were also tradesmen, combined their resources to purchase a plot of land and build a dedicated gym. The gym opened in 1948 to teach catch-as-catch-can wrestling (CACC) and pro wrestling (termed "show wrestling") in the Lancashire style.

The original building was described as a shed or shack with a tin roof, a horse-hair stuffed canvas, a coal stove for heat, no toilet, rusting weights, and a shower in the corner that only had cold water. Riley was an active coach, known for hard training and demanding every opponent be approached as world-class, even if they were just a novice. As a coach, his favourite phrases were, “Billy is always right”, “you can never train too hard”, and "do it again." Riley wanted to be confident in his students' skills. He also kept a room of books and reference materials for wrestling. Veteran wrestlers would regularly coach alongside Riley. Many of the trainees were miners and hoped to boost their incomes with wrestling. There was a common saying that someone reaching into a local mine would grab either a wrestler or rugby player. Since there had been legitimate wrestlers in every family, it became impossible to hold theatrical-style pro wrestling shows in Wigan. The professionals usually trained in the morning and did shows in the evening, then the wrestlers with day jobs trained after work. The member fees at Riley's were modest. In 1964, they were only two shillings and six pence (2s. 6., a half crown, ), despite a wrestler like Karl Gotch reportedly earning £30,000 annually. Although the training was tough and many visitors were one-time-only, the gym had unwritten rules against breaking limbs, eye-poking, hair-pulling, and similar behaviour. Women and children were also disallowed in those days.

The hard-nosed environment produced some of the most popular and skilled wrestlers of their time, such as Karl Gotch, Billy Robinson, Bert Assirati, Jack Dempsey, Les Thornton, and (Bob Robinson). Other wrestlers from the gym included Ernie Riley (Billy Riley's son), Joe Robinson (Billy Joyce's brother), Melvyn Riss (Harold Winstanley), John Foley, Alan Latham (Francis Sullivan), Mick and Seamus Dunleavy, Billy Chambers, Len Wetherby, Jackie Cheers, Frank Riley, Jimmy Hart, Alan Hartwood, Harry Duvall, Ken Baldwin, John Naylor, Brian Burke, and Roy Wood. As well as Bob Sherry (Jimmy Niblett) El Diablo (Tony Francis), George Gregory, Count Bartelli (Geoff Condliffe), Jack Mountford, and Tommy Heyes.

The gym became well-known internationally and hosted wrestlers from countries such as France, Belgium, Italy, Finland, Spain, India, Pakistan, Turkey, the United States, and Canada. Riley also encouraged his wrestlers to bring knowledge back from other gyms and styles. During Billy Robinson's eight years at Riley's, he was sent to Hungary to learn Greco-Roman wrestling, as well as Sweden and Germany. Gotch, Robinson, Joyce, and other Riley's wrestlers toured Japan regularly, where the wrestlers and their style developed an enduring popularity. Rumours of the gym's reputation inspired the "Tiger's Den" in Tiger Mask, a manga and anime series about pro wrestling, and Robinson inspired the manga/anime character Robin Mask.

Although Riley's was the most well-known gym, it had several rival clubs such as the Belshaws, who were a family of undertakers that specialised in takedowns. They had been trained by Billy Riley's trainer Willie "Pop" Charnock.

The gym was featured in "The Wrestlers", a documentary by ITV Granada, which premiered on September 5, 1967. The documentary focused on the lives and personalities of popular pro wrestlers outside the ring, featuring Billy Robinson, Les Kellett, Johnny Eagles, Vic Faulkner, Abe Ginsberg, Jim Hussey, Alan Dennison, and Roy "Bull" Davis, along with Billy Riley and the gym. It was directed by Michael Elster, filmed by David Wood, produced by Denis Mitchell, edited by Leonard Trumm, with sound recording by John Muxworthy.

Revival
By the 1970s, the theatrical elements of pro wrestling had completely overtaken legitimate wrestling ability and Riley closed his famous gym. However, the gym was revived when Roy Wood's son Darren wanted to wrestle, but it needed to be repaired first. Using materials donated by Bill Swiers, a group of locals rebuilt the gym to twice the original size. Wood then became the head coach and Riley returned to mentor from his chair, along with Tommy Heyes. Riley's converted to freestyle wrestling because there were no opportunities for catch wrestlers in Britain coupled with safety concerns for training youth. Riley's grandsons Mark and Paul, and nephew Patrick Burns also trained at the revived gym. After a lifetime in wrestling, Billy Riley died on September 15, 1977.

In 1986, Darren Wood won gold at the European Cadets Championship followed by gold at the 1987 Cadet World Championship and the 1987 British Senior Championships.

On February 7, 1989, the documentary series First Tuesday premiered "The Wigan Hold", produced by Roger Finnegan, focusing on Riley's gym. The piece focused on the lives of Ernie Riley and Tommy Moore; Riley, Moore, and Roy Wood coaching classes; retrospectives on the history of wrestling in Wigan, Billy Riley, the gym, and theatrical pro wrestling. It also included archival footage from "The Wrestlers" documentary of Riley teaching a young Wood. The deteriorating state of the facility and lack of resources shown on the programme prompted a government offer to renovate the gym. Instead, the decision was made to relocate to Aspull, establishing the Aspull Olympic Wrestling Club. The original gym was eventually demolished after a fire and houses were built on the land.

The Aspull Wrestling Club
In 1990, Kazuo Sakurada and KY Wakamatsu approached Billy Joyce, who directed them to Wood, with an offer to coach in Japan for Super World of Sports (SWS). After a training session, Wood and Joyce took them to the ruins of Riley's, where the visitors looked noticeably upset by the famed gym's condition and offered financial assistance to rebuild it. Wood then travelled to Japan and coached the SWS roster in Lancashire-style catch wrestling. He ended his tour with an exhibition match in front of 17,000 spectators at Yokohama Arena. During this trip, Wood broke the leg of a Japanese wrestler who challenged him, which convinced the others of his ability.

In 1993, the gym had another visitor from Japan, Osamu Matsunami. An 18-year-old Matsunami had learned about the gym from an article about Dynamite Kid in Weekly Gong magazine (No. 257, May 25, 1989). A quote by Joyce in the article inspired Matsunami's interest in Lancashire wrestling, which grew when Wood coached for SWS in 1990. In May 1993, Matsunami made his first trip to the gym, despite knowing little English or the location. After an extended journey and the assistance of several people, Matsunami met Wood, who introduced Matsunami to his family and the community. Matsunami accompanied Wood for several days, including wrestling practices, meeting Riley's wrestlers, and visiting the ruins of Riley's. Matsunami's visit was covered by the Wigan Post. Matsunami made several more journeys to Wigan, staying for several months at a time. He trained with Wood, Ernie Riley, and several other wrestlers, and helped Wood teach kids classes. Matsunami also competed, including a trip to France early-on and placing fifth at the 1995 British freestyle wrestling championships.

In 1995, Wood was recruited by Tatsumi Fujinami, a popular Japanese pro wrestler and then-president of New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), to train NJPW's roster. In Japan, Wigan and Riley's were regarded as the spiritual home of wrestling. Fujinami viewed CACC as the foundation of pro wrestling and wanted it to be preserved. Wood was accompanied by five wrestlers including Shane Rigby, a three-time Commonwealth silver medallist from Bolton Olympic Wrestling Club, who also trained in catch wrestling with Wood. After the success of the first tour, Wood coached in Japan several more times and NJPW held several Lancashire wrestling-style shows featuring Wood's trainees under the brand "Muga."

During this time, the gym received several more visitors from Japan such as Shigeo Miyato, Yoji Anjo, and UWF booker Shinji Sasazaki. In 1999, Miyato founded a gym based on Riley's, the UWF Snake Pit Japan (now ), with Billy Robinson and Lou Thesz as the first head coaches.

In 2000, Roy Wood and his daughter Andrea helped establish freestyle wrestling programs at several schools in Greater Manchester, one of which quickly won back-to-back British championships for boys and girls. Wood had pushed for more female participation in wrestling since the Aspull Olympic Wrestling Club's opening. He also worked with the St Helens and Wigan Warriors rugby clubs to introduce wrestling into professional rugby, with St Helens going on to win the Challenge Cup soon after. Paul Stridgeon, a student of Wood and a British freestyle champion, transitioned to professional rugby, coaching for clubs including the England national team, and Wales national team.

In 2008, Wood coached the British wrestling team for the Commonwealth Youth Games in India.

In April 2009, Wood was voted as the England-Northern representative for British Wrestling's then-newly established Nations & Regions Committee.

In May 2010, Aspull WC was among the first clubs to receive British Wrestling's Clubmark certification.

Wood coached Maria Dunn, a freestyle wrestler from Guam, for the 2012 Olympics. Wood and Ben Johnson also served as torchbearers for the Olympic flame. Dunn later married Bolton wrestling coach Nathan Tully and the pair founded the Snakepit Wrestling Academy in Guam. Tully died in 2020 after a battle with cancer. The Nathan Tully award "for dedication to grassroots/paying it forward" is presented in his memory at the Catch Wrestling World Championships.

The club hosted the Aspull Freestyle Wrestling International for 35 years as of 2012.

Recognitions
In February 2009, Wood was named "Coach of the Year" at the ninth annual Wigan and Leigh Borough Sports Awards for mentoring coaches, coaching British wrestlers at the Commonwealth Youth Games, and preparing 2012 Olympic hopefuls. Nicky Slack, also from Aspull WC, was named "Volunteer of the Year."

In 2011, Wood was the North West regional winner of the BBC Sports Unsung Hero Award, recognising "outstanding contribution by individuals at the grassroots level of sport." In November 2012, Wood received the "Coach of the Year" and the "Be Inspired" awards at the Greater Manchester Sports Awards, and Aspull WC was named "Club of the Year" at the Borough Sports Awards.

In December 2023, after almost 50 years of coaching, Wood was recognised on the 2024 New Year Honours and awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) "for services to wrestling and young people."

The Snake Pit
The often-anachronistic "Snake Pit" was popularised as a nickname in Japan. In Britain, the gym was known as "Riley's."

The Snake Pit took its current form around 2011. Due to prior frustrations, Wood maintained his focus on freestyle wrestling until his daughter, Andrea, convinced her father to help preserve the sport of catch wrestling by coaching again. Alongside the 35th Aspull Freestyle Wrestling International in November 2012, The Snake Pit held the first catch wrestling matches to take place in Wigan in fifty years, with participants from Britain, Europe, the United States, Canada, and Japan. The Snake Pit held its first certification that month. Osamu Matsunami and Ian Bromley became the first certified coaches and Riley's Gym Kyoto became the first certified affiliate gym. Since then, the Snake Pit has also held interclub competitions.

In November 2018, The Snake Pit marked its 70th anniversary with the first annual Catch Wrestling World Championships. The event was held at the University of Bolton Stadium and featured competitors from the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, South Africa, Sweden, Lithuania and New Zealand.

After the death of coach Ian Bromley in February 2019, The Snake Pit partnered with the charity Andy's Man Club (AMC) to raise awareness and combat stigma around mental health. The 2019 Catch Wrestling World Championships in November were held in tribute to Bromley. A message from the charity's founder and footage of Bromley's final interview were played between matches. A voluntary group was also set up, promoting the hashtag #17:17. AMC donated wristbands, flyers and other items to be given out at the event. The award for best/outstanding wrestler at the World Championships was named in Bromley's honour. The number of entrants for the event doubled from the previous year, including accomplished grapplers and mixed martial artists such as Olga McGlinchey (2012 world championships bronze medallist and Olympian), UFC fighters John Hathaway and Tom Watson, and Nathaniel Brown, a 2019 British freestyle silver medallist.

After a two-year postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Catch Wrestling World Championships took place on June 4, 2022 at the University of Bolton Stadium. The event featured 33 competitors wrestling in a total of 29 matches.

The Snake Pit held its first British Championships on August 5, 2023 at Robin Park Leisure Centre in Wigan, England.

The 2023 Catch Wrestling World Championships took place on October 28 at the University of Bolton Stadium. There were 23 bouts including a main event between previous champions Josh Barnett and Owen Livesey. This event had the most international competitors to date, including an American team assembled by Barnett - the ACWA Warbringers, all of whom reached the finals in their divisions.

Head coaches

 * Billy Riley (1948–1970s) - wrestler, coach, and promoter
 * Roy Wood (1970s–present) - born in 1943 to a family of boxers, Wood joined Riley's when he was fifteen; he was a molder by trade and began "show" wrestling after Riley told him "you can't eat medals, turn professional and earn some money", and boxing for Matt Moran's fairgrounds boxing booth.   In December 2023, after coaching for almost 50 years, Wood was recognised on the 2024 New Year Honours and awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) "for services to wrestling and young people"

Original gym
Under head coach Billy Riley:
 * Karl Gotch - 1948 Olympic wrestler, pro wrestler, coach, nicknamed "God of Wrestling" in Japan, major influence on development of MMA
 * Billy Robinson - 1957 British freestyle wrestling champion, pro wrestler, coach, influenced development of MMA
 * - pro wrestler, regarded as Riley's most skilled legitimate wrestler
 * Bert Assirati - pro wrestler and strongman
 * Jack Dempsey - pro wrestler
 * Les Thornton - pro wrestler

Revived gym
Under head coach Roy Wood:


 * Dynamite Kid - pro wrestler, known for his rivalry with MMA pioneer Satoru Sayama (the original Tiger Mask)


 * Darren Wood - Roy's son, won gold at the 1986 European and 1987 World Championships for cadets, and 1987 British Senior Championships
 * Kazuo Sakurada and KY Wakamatsu - pro wrestlers
 * Tatsumi Fujinami - pro wrestler, hall of famer; Fujinami's son also trained under Wood
 * Shane Rigby - Commonwealth Games and Championships silver medallist from Bolton WC, trained in CACC by Roy Wood
 * Paul Stridgeon - British freestyle wrestling champion (1998, 1999), competed at the international level; professional rugby coach
 * Maria Dunn - freestyle wrestler from Guam, coached by Roy Wood for the 2012 Olympics
 * Davey Richards - pro wrestler
 * Jack Gallagher - pro wrestler and MMA fighter

Certified affiliates and coaches
At present, Riley's Gym Kyoto is the only Snake Pit certified affiliate club in the world. Wood named the gym in Riley's honour. Its head coach, Osamu Matsunami, made several extended trips to Wigan to train with Wood and other Riley's wrestlers, and trained in Japan with Billy Robinson and Shigeo Miyato. Matsunami and Ian Bromley were the first two coaches to be certified. The Snake Pit's certified coaches are Greg Crompton and Chris Lomas, along with level 2 coaches Kevin Lloyd, Wei Tran, Mark Ganaden, Rikk Georgiades, and level 1 coach Jimmy Kelly.

Legacy and influence
The gym has been well-known in Britain  and internationally for decades,  being regarded as a home and mecca  for wrestling due to its influence on catch-as-catch-can, professional, and freestyle wrestling, as well as mixed martial arts (MMA). The gym's Lancashire catch wrestling style produced some of the most popular and skilled professionals of their time (see above) before transitioning to freestyle wrestling and consistently developing top wrestlers and British champions, with pro wrestlers occasionally training there as well. It has been one of the most essential sources to preserve catch wrestling while the style was struggling to survive.

Outside of Britain, the gym's influence has been felt most in Japan, where Riley's wrestlers including Karl Gotch, Billy Robinson, Billy Joyce, Les Thornton, Dynamite Kid, and others regularly toured, with Gotch and Robinson in particular becoming very popular in the country. The gym's reputation was an inspiration for the "Tiger's Den" in Tiger Mask, a manga and anime series about pro wrestling, and Robinson inspired the character Robin Mask in the Kinnikuman manga/anime.

Along with their in-ring careers, Gotch and Robinson became prolific coaches and trained students in the Riley's style for decades. Gotch was a trainer at the JWA and NJPW dojos, and a booker for NJPW. His students included Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Satoru Sayama (the first Tiger Mask), Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Akira Maeda, Nobuhiko Takada, Minoru Suzuki, and Masakatsu Funaki. Robinson's students included Kazushi Sakuraba, Kiyoshi Tamura, Shigeo Miyato, and Hideki Suzuki. Gotch, Robinson, and their students innovated a realistic wrestling style, leading to Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki, the UWF and Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi, and setting a foundation for modern MMA. Sayama founded followed by Shooto in 1985, to combine catch wrestling with striking for legitimate competition. Shooto held its first professional event in 1989, several years before the UFC was established. Suzuki and Funaki started their MMA careers by co-founding Pancrase in 1993, a shootfighting promotion which held its first event a month before UFC 1. Gotch suggested the name as a reference to the ancient Olympic sport of pankration. Maeda founded RINGS, a shoot-style pro wrestling promotion that transitioned to MMA. And Takada co-founded PRIDE, one of the most popular MMA promotions in history. These promotions and their associated training facilities produced many of the top Japanese and international MMA fighters of their time. Among them were Sakuraba and Tamura. Sakuraba utilised catch wrestling to defeat several of the best fighters of his time and was nicknamed "The Gracie Hunter" for his victories over four members of the Gracie jiu-jitsu family including Royce. Tamura performed well at the top levels of MMA, later founding the gym and the U-STYLE promotion. Other notable gyms include, founded by Sayama's associate Noriaki Kiguchi, who also founded ; , founded by Sayama's student Yuki Nakai; and , founded by Miyato as UWF Snake Pit Japan, with Robinson and Lou Thesz as the first head coaches.

After establishing itself in Japan, the style expanded abroad. In 1989, Shooto instructor Yorinaga Nakamura immigrated to the United States. He became training partners with Dan Inosanto and they established the first Shooto school outside of Japan. In 1993, Ken Shamrock brought the style from Pancrase to the UFC, became the inaugural Pancrase Champion and UFC Superfight Champion, and founded the first MMA team, the Lion's Den. Maurice Smith, Frank Shamrock,  and the Dutch Bas Rutten also trained in the catch-based Pancrase style and went on to become UFC champions. Erik Paulson trained under Nakamura and Inosanto, becoming a Shooto champion and coach. According to Paulson, the Shooto submission lock-flows are all based on the Riley's style. Paulson coached notable fighters including Brock Lesnar, Sean Sherk, Renato Sobral, Cub Swanson, and Lesnar's team on The Ultimate Fighter 13, which included winner Tony Ferguson. In 1994, Matt Hume began his MMA fighting career in Pancrase. Hume was a pioneer of American MMA, having co-founded the AMC Pankration gym several years prior to combine grappling and striking. He cited Suzuki, Funaki, and Shamrock as significant influences on his MMA career. Hume was a primary coach of world champions Josh Barnett, Demetrious Johnson, Jeff Monson, and Rich Franklin. Barnett became one of the most prominent modern catch wrestlers, trained under Robinson and Paulson, and coached Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke, Marina Shafir, and Victor Henry. He founded the American Catch Wrestling Association (ACWA), which assembled a dominant team for The Snake Pit's 2023 World Championships. The ACWA then held the first modern US National Championships for catch wrestling in December 2023, with over 90 wrestlers competing across 10 weight classes.

After Wood coached her for the 2012 Olympics, Maria Dunn and her husband, Bolton wrestling coach Nathan Tully, established the Snakepit Wrestling Academy in Guam.

Wood also worked with the St Helens and Wigan Warriors rugby clubs to introduce wrestling into professional rugby, with St Helens going on to win the Challenge Cup soon after. Paul Stridgeon, a student of Wood and a British freestyle champion, transitioned to professional rugby, coaching with the Wasps, Toulon, Broncos, England national team, and Wales national team.

2018 World Championships
The Snake Pit held its first Catch Wrestling World Championships on November 2, 2018 at the University of Bolton Stadium, featuring competitors from the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, South Africa, Sweden, Lithuania and New Zealand. Results: Additionally, super heavyweight champion Josh Barnett and heavyweight runner-up Ian Jones faced each-other in a challenge match that went to a draw. Heavyweight champion Wade Barrick was named "Best Wrestler" of the event, Ian Bromley, Ian Jones and Greg Crompton were recognised for coaching, and Roy Wood received a lifetime achievement award for sixty years of service.

2019 World Championships
The 2019 Catch Wrestling World Championships took place on November 1 at the University of Bolton Stadium. The event was held in honour of Ian Bromley. Results: Additionally, middleweight champion John Hathaway faced Nathaniel Brown in a challenge match, which Hathaway won. Hathaway also received the Ian Bromley trophy as "Best Male Wrestler of the Night" and Olga McGlinchey received the Arthur Silcock trophy as "Best Female Wrestler of the Night."

2022 World Championships
The 2022 Catch Wrestling World Championships took place on June 4 at the University of Bolton Stadium after a two-year postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event featured 33 competitors wrestling in a total of 29 matches. Results: Additionally, Tommy Hawthorn was awarded the Ian Bromley Cup as "Best Wrestler of the Night", Greg Crompton received the Nathan Tully Award for "dedication to grassroots/paying it forward", and John Hathaway received the Jack Carroll award for fastest win (pin or submission).

2023 British Championships
The Snake Pit held its first Catch Wrestling British Championships on August 5, 2023 at Robin Park Leisure Centre in Wigan, England. Results:

2023 World Championships
The 2023 Catch Wrestling World Championships took place on October 28 at the University of Bolton Stadium. There were 23 matches including a headline bout between previous champions Josh Barnett and Owen Livesey. Results: In the main event, Owen Livesey (2022 heavyweight champion) defeated Josh Barnett (2018 super heavyweight champion). Angel Verduzco was named the Ian Bromley Cup "Outstanding Wrestler", Brett Pfarr was named "Best Male Wrestler of the Night", Nikki Hilton was named "Best Female Wrestler of the Night", Jordan Stott received the Nathan Tully award for "dedication to grassroots/paying it forward", and Mike Clark received the Jack Carroll Award for fastest win (pin or submission).