A Youtube History of the NWA World Heavyweight Title - Lou Thesz vs Wild Bill Longson (6-17-1952)

It's Friday afternoon, and that means it's time for more NWA world title action. We move on to Texas, and 1952 - 

 

 

The Fall Is The Law - The Meaning of FALL Wrestling

"Why FALL Wrestling?" is a question exactly no one has asked me, but I'm going to answer it anyway. This could have had any of a number of subtitles. Like "Why Folkstyle Is Better Than Freestyle". Or "What Akira Maeda Got Wrong".

Click the link, buy the book

Years back, I got Zolan Zavoral's A Season on the Mat: Dan Gable and the Pursuit of Perfection. It chronicles Gable's '96-'97 season, his last as head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes. One line stuck in my head. At the NCAA tournament, Minnesota's Jason Davids contrasts the very conservative Kasey Gilliss he wrestled with Gilliss's more aggressive (and more successful) teammates. "Watch, when [Mark] Ironside and [Lincoln] McIlravy go, there's a big contrast. With those guys, the fall's the law."

The fall is the law.

The fall is the law.

The fall is the law.

You can throw an opponent. Take them down. Ride. Control. You can break someone down and tire them out. Put a hurting on them and rack up points. But if you don't seal the deal, all of that can be for nothing. In a heartbeat, a tough and skilled or just lucky opponent can reverse things and stick you.

The fall is the law.

A Youtube History of the NWA World Heavyweight Title - Lou Thesz vs Walter Palmer (10-?-1951)

Welcome back, gentle reader.  We're back in Chicago, and back to 1951. (I wish someone could find a date on this, but Wrestling Titles can't get me a day and Wrestlingdata doesn't have the match at all.) I don't know Walter Palmer, but he's both a local guy and 20lbs smaller than Thesz, so I assume he'll be taking the babyface role and letting Thesz heel a little. This very much plays to Lou's strengths, so I'm feeling good about this one going in.

RIP, Masa Saito (1942-2018)

Please, Masa, don't hurt 'em

Masanori Saito, aka "Mr. Saito," or "Mr. Torture," recently passed. It's the sort of death that's surprising because Saito was the sort of man who made observers doubt, just a little, that anything could kill him. All men are mortal, but some seem a little less so than others.

As a young man, Masanori Saito won multiple Japanese national titles in both freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling as an amateur before qualifying for the Olympic games in 1964, which were being held in Tokyo. He was eliminated from the tournament when he was pinned by British wrestler Denis McNamara (1:23) in the third round of competition, ultimately placing 7^th. Saito then trained to become a pro with Hiro Matsuda and Toyonobori and began his career with the JWA in 1965.

A Youtube History of the NWA World Heavyweight Title - Lou Thesz vs The Mighty Atlas (3-30-1951)

As we wait for the World Catch Wrestling Tournament to shake out (there are twitter polls! You should vote in them!), it's time for new projects. One of my favorite things is pretending that the NWA world title and its history are really important. Therefore I will endeavor to bring to you, through the magic of youtube (and perhaps other video services), an achronological history of every NWA title defense I can find, and maybe some analysis on the evolution of style and angle and so forth. This will be an ongoing series of no set schedule, so feel free to leave comments or hit me up on twitter (@FALLWrestling) with suggestions for anything in particular you're interested in seeing. 

First match in, and it's 1951. The NWA proper is just three years old. By this time, there was a national broadcast out of Chicago, and you'd get some quality matches involving (and making) top stars and top titles. Multiple time world champ Lou Thesz, in a clipped down title defense against The Mighty Atlas.

Small Sample Size Theater - Catch Scouting Reports on Jon Zang, Erik Hammer, and Pat Stano

Jon Zang is a NAGA competitor and amateur wrestler with over 25 years of experience. Doesn't appear to have competed beyond the high school level in folkstyle or freestyle, but was fairly successful at that level in a tough region of the country. Trains under Joel Bane of Snake Pit USA.

From limited footage - and I have literally one match, so take this with as much salt as your doctor allows - Zang likes two on one and collar ties. He doesn't change levels well, and isn't really mobile compared to most of the field. You can get to his hips standing and his legs on the mat. Gave up a ton of submission opportunities to a smaller man. I have to think Brandon Ruiz will finish those kinds of chances if he gets them. Zang looks like a serious underdog.

Buck Nasty - The Catch Scouting Report on Johnny Buck

(A playlist of the matches used for this scouting report can be found here.)

Johnny Buck is the second half of what looks like the most competitive and potentially exciting first round matchup at the 2018 World Catch Wrestling Tournament. Sharing a bracket with Curran Jacobs, Buck is a similarly sized and similarly experienced competitor who, on paper, looks like a great foil for the CWA champ.

Buck wrestled for The Citadel in college at multiple weights - 174lbs, 184lbs, 197lbs, and heavyweight (285lbs). His official collegiate record, excluding tournaments where he competed unaffiliated, was 44-45. In addition to folkstyle, he competed at the national level in freestyle, Greco-Roman, and Sambo. After college, he tried his hand at mixed martial arts, accumulating a 13-10 professional record, including three submission victories, and two appearances for Bellator. Buck received his initial catch training from the legendary Billy Wicks and Johnny Huskey, and is currently coached by Joel Bane of Snake Pit USA.

This is Awkward - The Catch Scouting Report on Nicholas Caggia

(A playlist of the matches used for this scouting report can be found here.)


While he never wrestled at a level higher than high school, Nicholas Caggia has been a fixture of the East Coast grappling scene for most of the last decade. He's competed for ADCC, NAGA, Grappler's Quest, the Pro Grappling League, the 2014 Catch Wrestling tournament at the MMA World Expo, and the Frank Gotch 2016 and 2017 tournaments.

The first thing that strikes you about Caggia is that he is enormous. Listed at 6'3" and over three hundred pounds, he routinely dwarfs his competition. The second thing is that he does not look even a little bit comfortable moving around. He reminds me a little of Tim Sylvia - I watch him move and I cannot believe this man is a professional (or semi-professional, in Caggia's case) athlete.

Master of the Form - The Catch Scouting Report on Curran Jacobs

(A playlist of the matches used for this scouting report can be found here.)

I have a little bit of a soft spot for Curran Jacobs as the most active pure catch wrestler in the tournament, and therefore the easiest to scout. The other tournament favorites, while accomplished wrestlers, have spent most or all of their competitive careers under different rulesets, which requires a certain amount of guesswork as to how their skills will transfer to a new format. It's similar to working out how a tournament karate fighter will transition to kickboxing, or a kickboxer to Muay Thai. Curran, though, is as much a catch native as anyone competing, which makes my (and probably his) job a little easier.

Curran's catch resume includes winning both of the Frank Gotch tournaments held in Humboldt, Iowa, in 2016 and 2017, most notably defeating MMA vet Travis Wuiff (twice) and Travis "Newaza" Warner, as well as a win over World tournament participant Christopher Crossan (Crossan's profile is coming Thursday) in a 2014 USA vs The World tournament. He's by far the most experienced and accomplished folkstyle wrestler in the field, as well, amassing a 76-39 record over his college career with Michigan State and twice qualifying for the NCAA tournament. Jacobs also holds a 3-0 amateur MMA record, with one knockout and one submission.

Roadblock - The Catch Scouting Report on Kenny Lester

(A playlist of the matches used for this scouting report can be found here.)

Much like Brandon Ruiz, Kenny Lester is a decorated but largely anonymous wrestler, and one who represents the largest potential block on Ruiz's run to the tournament finals.

First the resume. Lester was a Florida state high school champion and 2006 Junior National Champion in Greco-Roman at 275 lbs, and graduated high school holding the state record for pins (114). He redshirted his freshman year for Arizona State, but was the University National Greco-Roman champion, took 2nd at the Junior World Team Trials and 5th at the Senior Team Trials. He also found the time to attempt the Junior World Team Trials in freestyle and took 3rd in the US National Sombo Championhips. Had a 6-8 record in his sophomore year, the only year he was active for ASU. Did not compete his junior year, but stayed active in Greco-Roman competition and made a successful foray into FILA Grappling, winning the US Team Trials in the 120kg and Absolute gi divisions, and placing 3rd in 120kg no-gi. He would take a Bronze in no-gi at Worlds (Ft Lauderdale edition - this is the year there were two tournaments, and I'd still like an explanation of that) but did not place in the gi division..

Anonymous Champion - The Catch Scouting Report on Brandon Ruiz

(A playlist of the matches used for this article can be found here.)

Brandon Ruiz is the single most decorated grappler in the field, and you’ve probably never heard of him. A partial list of his accolades includes a silver medal in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2004 Pan American Games and six medals in the FILA/United World Wrestling Grappling World Championships from 2009-2017, including a gold medal in 2011 and two silvers in 2009. (There are two World Championships listed for the year, one in Ft Lauderdale, Florida and another a week later in Lucerne, Switzerland, and if someone could explain this to me I would really appreciate it because I have no clue.) He was a resident athlete at the US Olympic Training Center for four years and was a varsity wrestler for Brigham Young University, and has numerous other medals in submission grappling and Brazilian Jujitsu. Simply put, Brandon Ruiz can wrestle his ass off.

Opening Salvo - The Catch Scouting Report on Josh Barnett

The UFC, Pride, Strikeforce, Pancrase, Affliction, Dream, Sengoku, K-1, New Japan Pro Wrestling, SuperBrawl, ADCC, Metamoris… if you run an MMA or submission grappling promotion and you haven’t employed Josh Barnett sometime in the last twenty one (21!) years, you’ve probably been doing it wrong. By all outside appearances, Snake Pit USA and Legit Pro Wrestling are doing the 2018 Catch Wrestling World Championship tournament right. They brought in the Warmaster, the highest profile proponent of catch as catch can in the world of professional combat. He is unquestionably the most famous participant in this tournament.

But can he win it? I watched the last five years of Barnett’s career – five MMA fights (Frank Mir, Travis Browne, Roy Nelson, Ben Rothwell, Andrei Arlovski) and two professional submission grappling matches ( Dean Lister, Ryron Gracie) – to try to answer that question.

Barnett is a massive human being, listed at 6’ 3” and 250lbs. Despite that size, his age (40), and his considerable ring time, he remains an incredibly fluid athlete. People that big just don’t move the way Josh Barnett does… unless they’re Josh Barnett.

Welcome!

Welcome to Fall Wrestling. I’m Lee Casebolt. You may know me from twitter or Hybrid Shoot. If you’ve been around a bit longer, maybe from Total MMA or even Deathvalleydriver. Or possibly you wandered in some other way. However you got here, I hope you’ll find something that holds your interest. This place is dedicated to the study and promotion of catch as catch can wrestling, but it’s best to think of that as a trunk with many branches and almost as many roots. I’ll be spending time on amateur and pro wrestling, grappling martial arts and MMA. There’ll be mini-bios and profiles, product and match reviews, some technical and historical study… basically anything that lodges itself in my brain and won’t leave until I write it down. I hope to get up a post every day, on average. (Some days will definitely be more productive than others.) There may be a podcast or youtube channel in the future, but I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. I hope to introduce you, the fan, to some people and things you weren’t familiar with. The topic is broad enough that I’ll be a little shocked if anyone other than me is actually interested in all of it, but if you got here in the first place there should be plenty for you to like.