Karl "The God of Wrestling" Gotch
1924 - 2007
Born Charles Istaz in Antwerp, Belgium (on August 3rd, 1924), Karl Gotch, as he would later dub himself, would go on to be recognized by Japanese wrestling fans as one of the greatest wrestlers, and toughest men, in professional wrestling history.
While unknown to most American wrestling fans, Karl Gotch is a significant figure in both Japanese pro wrestling, and, for that matter, modern MMA. During his career he was considered a legitimate "shooter," or real submission wrestler, and would go on to train the original stars of Japanese MMA: Ken Shamrock, Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. All learned there base submission knowledge from Gotch, and, using that knowledge, would go on to form Pancrase, a precursor to the UFC. The early years of Pancrase was based on testing the original fighting and submission techniques taught by Gotch.
I could ramble on and on, but will spare you. Additional information of Gotch can be found here and here
Below is a Antonio Inoki/Karl Gotch match from 1972 in 3 parts. If you have the patience, check it out.
1924 - 2007
Born Charles Istaz in Antwerp, Belgium (on August 3rd, 1924), Karl Gotch, as he would later dub himself, would go on to be recognized by Japanese wrestling fans as one of the greatest wrestlers, and toughest men, in professional wrestling history.
While unknown to most American wrestling fans, Karl Gotch is a significant figure in both Japanese pro wrestling, and, for that matter, modern MMA. During his career he was considered a legitimate "shooter," or real submission wrestler, and would go on to train the original stars of Japanese MMA: Ken Shamrock, Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. All learned there base submission knowledge from Gotch, and, using that knowledge, would go on to form Pancrase, a precursor to the UFC. The early years of Pancrase was based on testing the original fighting and submission techniques taught by Gotch.
I could ramble on and on, but will spare you. Additional information of Gotch can be found here and here
Below is a Antonio Inoki/Karl Gotch match from 1972 in 3 parts. If you have the patience, check it out.
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