The sport of Catch Wrestling continues to make small steps towards legitimisation as a competitive grappling art, as recently the Snake Pit USA association were able to put on a handful of matches at the recent World MMA Expo in New York City, thought to be the first of their kind in 93 years since the art devolved into the pre-determined performance art commonly known today as Pro Wrestling.
Snake Pit USA was co-founded by Coach John Potenza and Coach Joel Bane, an assistant coach and level 3 wrestler in Catch Wrestling under the great Billy Robinson, respectively, and a CSW Representative Instructor and Certified CSW Coach under Erik Paulson, respectively.
The rules for Catch Wrestling matches include finishes by both Pin and Submission, and in these particular matches chokes are allowed and pins appear to only be one count, with the outcome being finish only, based on the action in the highlight video above.
It’s early days yet, but these sorts of grass roots events may lead to an eventual universal ruleset put out by an organisational body akin to the IBJJF or IJF, for amateur Catch Wrestling in the future.
For more information on the efforts of Snake Pit USA for Catch As Catch Can Wrestling please visit SnakepitUSA.com