Combat Sports - Japanese Shoot Wrestling

Shoot wrestling is a relatively new Japanese combat sport that began in the 1970s and had its origins in Japan's Pro Wrestling circuit. This sport employed more full contact moves at the time since they wanted to add more excitement to this sport. The term "Shoot Wrestling" is derived from the term Shoot which means any unrehearsed occurence that happens within any rehearsed wrestling match. This term was widely used in the United Kingdom however they called it Catch Wrestling. Catch Wrestling was common at the end of the 19th Century.

Shoot Wrestling is a broad term and can be used to describe a myriad of Hybrid Fighting Systems like Shoot Boxing as well as Shoot Fighting. There were also several Martial Arts Styles that had great influence on this Combat Sport. Greco-Roman Wrestling, Muay Thai and Judo were just a few of them. One of the most highly touted figures in this sport was a man named Karl Gotch. He was able to find some success in American Wrestling. However it wasn't until he visited Japan that the beginning of this sport sprang to life.

Billy Riley was a very well known Catch Wrestler who was the owner of the Snake Pit Gym where Karl was a student. Karl Gotch mastered Catch Wrestling here. He also went to India to learn Pehlwani. The status that Karl received in Japan was legendary and took on the name of Kamisama which means the God of Wrestling. In 1984, a lot more wrestlers wanted to get involved in a more competitive style of this sport. This is how and why the Universal Wrestling Federation or UWF was formed.

The UWF played a major role in promoting Shoot Style Wrestling. What this Self Defense discipline is based on is applying certain Martial Arts Movements with lots of force. The UWF also coordinated and promoted some MMA Matches. This allowed Combat Sport Athletes to test their styles and compare them with opponents with other Martial Arts Backgrounds. The UWF eventually broke up. After it did, variations of Shoot Wrestling were broken off and amalgamated with several other Self Defense disciplines.

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