10 British Wrestlers Who Had Profound Impact In America

3. Billy Robinson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmovwWxMX0Y Initially an accomplished amateur wrestler, winning both British and European championships, Billy Robinson attended the infamous €˜Snake Pit€™ training school in Wigan. The Snake Pit is renowned globally for producing €˜shooters€™ €“ men who could take you down and hurt you for real if they needed to. Robinson won the British Heavyweight title in 1967, beating fellow Snake Pit attendee, Billy Joyce. In the following two years, Robinson won heavyweight titles in Japan and Canada. It was this international reputation that took him across the Atlantic to the AWA (American Wrestling Association), whose owner Verne Gagne liked shooters to maintain the reputation of the wrestling business. Before long, Robinson was a top contender for Gagne€™s AWA World Heavyweight title, and their feud is still remembered to this day. Although Robinson had his greatest fame and influence in Japan, as his British style based around technical mat wrestling and legitimate submission holds was lapped up by the Japanese audience, he was revered by modern day students of submission wrestling. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a more legitimate looking style of wrestling, based around €˜shoot style€™ matches, began to emerge in Japan, with Robinson being viewed by many as a godfather of this style. At the turn of the century, MMA started to grow in popularity, and Robinson again found himself in demand as a trainer to many MMA stars, such as Josh Barnett and current UFC rising star, Rolando Delgado. The legitimate holds that Robinson had learned as a way of defending himself and preserving the integrity of the wrestling business in one generation were now being valued by MMA fighters of a new generation. Even while needing a stick to walk, Robinson would still get down on the mat and demonstrate holds to students. The MMA influence on professional wrestling in the United States can be witnessed through watching classic matches of the past decade such as Samoa Joe v Kurt Angle in TNA and either of the two Brock Lesnar v John Cena PPV main events. Billy Robinson was the very first Brit to make an impact in the United States, and he paved the way for future generations, as the British style of wrestling became a true global export. Robinson was truly an all-time great. He passed away at the age of 75 this past March. While he may no longer be with us, Billy Robinson€™s work lives on in a huge number of wrestlers and fighters across the globe.