Billy Robinson never achieved tremendous success working for the WWF in any shape, form, or fashion. Not directly, anyway. Robinson's success comes with the people he trained, the people they trained, and the style that he brought to pro wrestling, both in North America, as well as in Japan. Robinson trained under legendary catch wrestling trainer, Billy Riley, at Riley's Snake Pit gym. Others who trained under Riley were Karl Gotch, Jack Dempsey, and Yoshiaki Fujiwara (innovator of the Fujiwara Armbar). Robinson would then go on to train men like MMA megastars Kazushi Sakuraba and Josh Barnett, as well as British wrestling legends Marty Jones (who trained William Regal) and Johnny Saint, and even Little Guido/Nunzio. He also trained El Signo, who was one of the men that popularized the trios matches that have become the go-to match in today's Lucha Libre scene. To have trained legends in the world of MMA, British wrestling, and Lucha Libre is almost unheard of, with many of the trainers these days focusing on one style or one type of trainee. Daniel Bryan, a notorious student of the game, has gone on-record saying that Robinson is the most underrated wrestler of all-time, both for his training and for what he could do in the ring himself, saying that there has been "nobody better" than Robinson when it comes to "legitimate stuff on the mat", which is very high praise. The shoot-style of wrestling continues to thrive to this day, with the North American independent scene seeing an especially big spike in the style, and many of that wouldn't be possible without Robinson's contributions to the sport, even though you rarely hear his name discussed anywhere.
Columnist/Podcaster/Director at LordsOfPain.net for nearly seven years, with nearly 2000 total columns written. Interviewed and/or involved in interviewing the likes of Tyler Black/Seth Rollins (twice), Diamond Dallas Page, Jimmy Jacobs, Christopher Daniels, Uhaa Nation and more.
