History Wrestling / KarlGotch

* AFatherToHisMen: He was very close to his trainees, especially Osamu Kido and Masami Soranaka, who was also his son-in-law. Ironically enough, his most famous apprentices are precisely the ones he ended looking down by a number of reasons, namely Inoki, Sayama and Maeda, as well as the Pancrase staff.

* AnythingYouCanDoICanDoBetter: He once met an Indian wrestler who claimed the he once did 9000 Hindu squats. Gotch decided one day to beat that, and he did, though he said it almost killed him and took over four hours. Working out was SeriousBusiness for him indeed.
* ArchEnemy: Wrestling/LouThesz was considered Gotch's biggest enemy. They tended to badmouth each other, had different philosophies about pro wrestling and often clashed for them, and supposedly featured a legit shoot during a match. However, their relationship seemed to be more akin to VitriolicBestBuds, as despite all the hate they deep down respected each other and stayed in contact and good terms (excepting the occasional public verbal brawl) until their deaths.

* DoWrongRight: After his apprentice Minoru Suzuki had his infamous match with Apollo Sugawara, where Sugawara started hitting him for real and Suzuki responded by beating Sugawara up until making him flee, Suzuki broke down backstage believing he would be blacklisted for having caused a match to be cancelled. Then Gotch came to him... to berate him for not having wrecked Sugawara enough.

* CombatPragmatist: Was described as a ripper, a wrestler who knew how to brutalize people if he wanted to. Wrestling/YoshiakiFujiwara said that techniques like fish hooks and eye gouges was part of what Gotch taught him in case of a real fight, while Wrestling/MinoruSuzuki remembers Gotch told him to elbow his opponent in the nose whenever he had the chance even if it was supposed to be a wrestling match.

** He was so strong that American wrestling promoters seldom booked him because he was difficult to control on the ring, and few could aspire to handle him if he felt like shooting on his opponent. However, despite what rumors try to make you believe, Karl is regarded as a fine worker and never went out of his way to crash a match.

* ForceAndFinesse: According to UWFI wrestlers like Wrestling/YojiAnjo and Yuko Miyato, who had experience training under both Gotch and Wrestling/BillyRobinson, they compare as such. Gotch was the force as he focused more on conditioning and a more strength based approach to grappling (and according to Hidetaka Aso, focused more on upper body submissions), while Robinson’s teachings were the more technical and all rounded of the two.

* [[IKnowKarate I Know]] UsefulNotes/CatchWrestling: Learned at the Snakepit at Wigan, England. Also, not only he was skilled Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestler (and was a Belgian representative in the 1948 Olympics. He had competed in both the freestyle and Greco Roman styles in the light heavyweight division, eliminated in the third round of both competitions), in India he learned pehlwani, in Japan he studied judo and sumo, and it is also said he learned a bit of boxing, UsefulNotes/{{Sambo}}, savate and purring (a British sport of shin-kicking). Wrestling/GeneLeBell has said that Karl even went to China, though to study what is anyone's guess.
* InstantExpert: When Gotch was invited to Wrestling/MasahikoKimura's judo school, he cleaned house and made many judoka cry for mercy, so Masahiko gave him a honorary black belt.

* NoodleIncident: The backstage incident with Wrestling/BuddyRogers on August 31, 1962 is a highly debated matter, and its details remain unknown. The known facts are that Rogers refused to have a title match against Gotch or Bill Miller, as Buddy was not a legitimate wrestler like them and feared they would attempt to shoot on him, and instead [[TooDumbToLive insulted them]] and attempted to leave. Gotch and Miller weren't amused, so they cornered and attacked him, resulting in police charges for them. There are several versions about the fight itself: Rogers claimed they punched him and broke his arm by [[TheDoorSlamsYou slamming a door on it]]; Miller and Gotch said they only slapped him around a bit and that the whole injury was a lie; and a much more dramatic telling by Ed Garea claims that Miller blocked the locker's door while Gotch savagely hit [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown ground and pound]] on Rogers on the floor for minutes. [[OverlyLongGag And even then]], Johnny Barend's version says that the scuffle was actually three on one as Art Neilson [[EveryoneJoinTheParty joined the party]] because he hated Rogers as well, but that Rogers miraculously escaped more or less unscathed because he knew when to run.
* NoSocialSkills: According to Carl Malenko, Gotch was simply not good with people. He would rather stretch them.

** Very much like Kimura, Gotch disliked Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and the passive nature of its strategy, comparing its practitioners to "[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything old whores waiting for a customer]]." He believed if a jiu-jitsu guy had you in his guard and you didn't break his leg with a leglock, you should quit catch wrestling forever.

** According to Wrestling/BillyRobinson, both they and other old shooters disagreed with the decision to take pinfalls out of shoot style wrestling as they believe that pins make up about 50 percent (at the least) of wrestling.

* ShoutOut: His ring name Gotch is seen as a tribute to another catch wrestling legend Frank Gotch. Karl himself however claims he took it from a someone on his mother’s side of the family.

** Innovated the cradle piledriver, both the standard and tombstone variants. Contrary to popular belief, although the former is the one who has become truly associated to Gotch (to the point every comedy wrestler parodying strong-style will inevitably try it), he actually preferred the latter.

* ThreeAmigos: During a certain tour in Japan in 1971, he was once travel companions with Wrestling/BillyRobinson and Wrestling/AndreTheGiant.
-->"Wrestling/AndreTheGiant has a posse, you're screwed they're catch wrestlers."

* DarkAndTroubledPast: According to his daughter Janine Soranaka, Karl was imprisoned in concentration camps twice with his father in 1943 and 1944. His father, Edward, was anti-Nazi and each time they were caught, they were made to work on the railway was done in the camp and given very little food.

** More of an odd [[MasterApprenticeChain Master-Apprentice relationship]], he had this with Masanobu Fuchi, a firm long time Wrestling/AllJapanProWrestling wrestler.

* ArchEnemy: Wrestling/LouThesz was considered Gotch's biggest enemy. They tended to badmouth each other, had different philosophies about pro wrestling and often clashed for them, and supposedly featured a legit shoot during a match. However, their relationship seemed to be more akin to VitriolicBestBuds, as despite all the hate they deep down respected each other and stayed in good terms (excepting the occasional public verbal brawl) until their deaths.

** When his apprentice Minoru Suzuki had his infamous match with Apollo Sugawara, which turned into a real fight and got ultimately cancelled, Gotch came to Suzuki backstage and berated him for not having completely wrecked Sugawara.

* BodyguardingABadass: He cornered Wrestling/AntonioInoki along with Fujiwara in his legendary fight against UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli.

** Gotch supposedly had a reverse one in a match against Wrestling/LouThesz, in which he blocked a suplex by Thesz and broke several of his ribs, making Thesz go ballistic with him until tapping him out with a wrist lock. WordOfGod has been inconsistent through the years about whether it was a true shoot or not; Gotch denied the claims of shoot, and while Thesz did believe that Gotch went momentarily off-script, he seemed to think it had been just a botched attempt to show off rather than an attack. Considering that they later worked together a lot (and [[LikeAnOldMarriedCouple badmouthed each other a lot]]), whatever it was, they did not care.

** His defeat to Bert Assareti led to their friendship. Bert was also the one who told him about the Snakepit in Wigan.

** He was so strong that American wrestling promoters seldom booked him because he was difficult to control on the ring, and few could aspire to handle him if he felt like shooting on his opponent. However, despite what rumors try to make you believe, Karl is regarded as a fine worker and wasn't prone to such things.

* ForceAndFinesse: According to UWFI wrestlers like Wrestling/YojiAnjo and Yuko Miyato, who had experience training under Gotch and Wrestling/BillyRobinson, compares them as such. Gotch was the force as he focused more on conditioning and a more strength based approach to grappling (and according to Hidetaka Aso, focused more on upper body submissions), while Robinson’s teachings were the more technical and all rounded of the two.

* [[IKnowKarate I Know Catch Wrestling]]: Learned at the Snakepit at Wigan, England. Also, not only he was skilled Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestler (and was a Belgian representative in the 1948 Olympics. He had competed in both the freestyle and Greco Roman styles in the light heavyweight division, eliminated in the third round of both competitions), in India he learned pehlwani, in Japan he studied judo and sumo, and it is also said he learned a bit of boxing, UsefulNotes/{{Sambo}}, savate and purring (a British sport of shin-kicking). Wrestling/GeneLeBell has said that Karl even went to China, though to study what is anyone's guess.

* NoodleIncident: The backstage incident with Wrestling/BuddyRogers on August 31, 1962 is a highly debated matter, and its details remain unknown. The known facts are that the arrogant Rogers refused to have a title match against Gotch or Bill Miller, as Buddy was not a legitimate wrestler like them and feared they would attempt to shoot on him, and instead [[TooDumbToLive insulted them]] and attempted to leave. Gotch and Miller weren't amused, so they cornered and attacked him, resulting in police charges for them. There are several versions about the fight itself: Rogers claimed they punched him and broke his arm by [[TheDoorSlamsYou slamming a door on it]],; Miller and Gotch said they only slapped him around a bit and that the whole injury was a lie; and a much more dramatic telling by Ed Garea claims that Miller blocked the locker's door while Gotch savagely hit [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown ground and pound]] on Rogers on the floor for minutes. [[OverlyLongGag And even then]], Johnny Barend's version says that the scuffle was actually three on one as Art Neilson [[EveryoneJoinTheParty joined the party]] because he hated Rogers as well, but that Rogers miraculously escaped more or less unscathed when he saw the menace on him.

** Very much like Kimura, Gotch disliked Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and the passive nature of its strategy, comparing its practitioners to, textually, [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything old whores waiting for a customer.]] He believed if a jiu-jitsu guy had you in his guard and you didn't break his leg with a leglock, you should quit catch wrestling forever.

* TakeThat: Gotch was friends with fellow gaijin legend Wrestling/BillyRobinson, but according to Wrestling/TatsumiFujinami, Karl used to make his apprentices work out the German suplex on heavy bags that had photos of Robinson glued in. Whether it was just Gotch's twisted sense of humor or there was a true enmity between them is debatable. Karl did mention once that he believed Billy was his own worst enemy, so make of that what you will.

** Innovated the bridging German suplex (not the German suplex itself, which was innovated by Finnish wrestlers and introduced to pro wrestling by Wrestling/LouThesz), with the bridge techniques he learned in India.
** Innovated the cradle piledriver, both the standard and tombstone variants. Contrary to popular belief, and although the former is the one who has become truly associated to Gotch, he preferred the latter.

** Some believe that it was Gotch who taught the double wrist lock to Kimura, who later popularized it as the famous Kimura hold. However, it is just a rumor, as the move already existed in judo under the name of gyaku-ude-garami, and in fact Kimura used it on Hélio Gracie before he met Karl.

** When his apprentice Minoru Suzuki had his infamous match with Apollo Sugawara, which turned into a real fight and got ultimately cancelled, Gotch came to Suzuki backstage and berated him for not having completely wrecked Sugawara. You can hardly get more [[Film/KarateKid John Kreese than that]].
* BadassTeacher: He trained Wrestling/AntonioInoki, Wrestling/YoshiakiFujiwara, Wrestling/SatoruSayama, Wrestling/TatsumiFujinami, Osamu Kido, Masami Soranaka, Wrestling/AkiraMaeda, Wrestling/NobuhikoTakada, Hidetaka Aso, Caesar Takeshi, Wrestling/MasakatsuFunaki, Wrestling/MinoruSuzuki, Wrestling/GeneLebell and many others. Basically anyone who has training in strong-style pro wrestling, UWF-style shoot wrestling, shootfighting, Shooto, Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling, Seikendo, Submission Arts Wrestling, shootboxing, Combat Wrestling Japan, Combat Submission Wrestling, Hayastan Grappling System, and Shinsenjutsu Japanese Fighting Arts comes from a lineage where someone has trained with Gotch. (Breathe now if you were reading it full stop.)

* BoringButPractical: The main reason he didn't succeed in US. He was against gimmicks and theatrical elements, and his simple submission style was seen as boring by the crowd.

** Gotch supposedly had a reverse one in a match against Wrestling/LouThesz, in which he blocked a suplex by Thesz and broke several of his ribs, making Thesz go ballistic with him until tapping him out with a wrist lock. WordOfGod has been inconsistent through the years about whether it was a true shoot or not; Gotch denied the claims of shoot, and while Thesz did believe that Gotch went momentarily offscript, he seemed to think it had been just a botched attempt to show off rather than an attack. Considering that they later worked together a lot (and [[LikeAnOldMarriedCouple badmouthed each other a lot]]), whatever it was, they did not care.

* LifeOrLimbDecision: A downplayed, but still quite brutal example. After he experimented a deep discomfort at training due to a bad toothache, he went to the dentist and made him pull ''all'' his teeth to avoid having toothaches in the future. Now that's living for the art.

* MixedAncestry: A few sources list his father as Hungarian and his mother as Dutch.

As usual, you can find the basics at [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Gotch The Other Wiki]].

* ForceAndFinesse: According to UWFI wrestlers like Wrestling/YojiAnjo and Yuko Miyato, who had experience trained under Gotch and Wrestling/BillyRobinson, compares them as such. Gotch was the force as he focused more on conditioning and a more strength based approach to grappling (and according to Hidetaka Aso, focused more on upper body submissions), while Robinson’s teachings were the more technical and all rounded of the two.

* ForceAndFinesse: According to several of the original UWF dojo graduates turned UWFI wrestlers, who all had experience trained under Gotch and Wrestling/BillyRobinson, compares them as such. Gotch was the force as he focused more on conditioning and a more strength based approach to grappling, while Robinson’s teachings were the more technical of the two.

* HeroesLoveDogs: He owned a pitbull which he got after a suggestion from Wrestling/BillyRobinson. He also stated in his last will that all the money he had, with approval from his daughter, would go to pitbull rescue charities.

* [[IKnowKarate I Know Catch Wrestling]]: Learned at the Snakepit at Wigan, England. Also, not only he was skilled Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestler (and was a Belgian representative in the 1948 Olympics. He had competed in both the freestyle and Greco Roman styles in the light heavyweight division, eliminated in the third round of both competitions), in India he learned pehlwani, in Japan he studied judo and sumo, and it is also said he learned a bit of boxing, savate and purring (a British sport of shin-kicking). Wrestling/GeneLeBell has said that Karl even went to China, though to study what is anyone's guess.

Karl Gotch (1924-2007) was a German {{Professional Wrestl|ing}}er, known for his role in the development of UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts in Japan. He was a former Greco-Roman and freestyle champion in Germany before moving to England to train UsefulNotes/CatchWrestling in Billy Riley's Wigan Snakepit. Initially as Karl Krauser, he won several championships in Europe and toured in Canada and United States. His career was extensive in America, but he never got over due to his lack of showmanship, and ended leaving for Japan after an incident in which he and Bill Miller attacked Wrestling/BuddyRogers backstage. In the land of the rising sun, however, Gotch turned out very popular thanks to his amazing skills, and over time was nicknamed "The God of Pro Wrestling". He worked in Japan Pro Wrestling training wrestlers in the art of catch wrestling, and also helped to establish Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling and Wrestling/UniversalWrestlingFederation, tutoring names like Wrestling/AntonioInoki, Wrestling/YoshiakiFujiwara and Wrestling/SatoruSayama. Always a defender of realistic wrestling, he was very influential on the Japanese MMA, assisting to the creation of shootboxing, the Super Tiger Gym and Pancrase, as well as Muga Pro Wrestling. Gotch spent his last years in the "Gotch Dojo" in Tampa, Florida, where he passed away in 2007.

!!! "The Godly Tropes of Pro Wrestling":

** He was the kind of guy who did not care about brutalizing his opponent if he felt he had to do it, especially in order to prove who was the best or to shut up an impertinent mouth. Naturally, this did not help him to make friends.

* BoringButPractical: The main reason he didn't succeed in US. He was against gimmicks and show-offs, and his simple submission style was seen as boring by the crowds.

** Riki Choshu learned it the hard way when he went to United States to train with Gotch and tried to shoot on him. The German wrestler swiftly reversed the lock and held it in a neck crack until he heard his vertebrae crack. After that, it's said that Choshu [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere got the first plane to Japan and didn't return.]]
** Gotch supposedly had a reverse one in a match against Wrestling/LouThesz, in which he blocked a suplex by Thesz and broke several of his ribs, making Thesz go ballistic with him until tapping him out with a wrist lock. WordOfGod has been inconsistent through the years about whether it was a true shoot or not; Gotch denied the claims of shoot, and while Thesz did believe to have been double crossed, he seemed to think it had been more of a botched show-off attempt and less of an attack. Considering that they later worked together a lot (and [[LikeAnOldMarriedCouple badmouthed each other a lot]]), whatever it was, they did not care.

* CombatPragmatist: Was described as a ripper, a wrestler who knew how to brutalize people if he wanted to. Wrestling/YoshiakiFujiwara said that techniques like fish hooks and eye gouges was part of what Gotch taught him in case of a real fight, while Wrestling/MinoruSuzuki rememers Gotch told him to elbow his opponent in the nose whenever he gave him the chance even if it was supposed to be a wrestling match.

** He was so strong that American wrestling promoters seldom booked him because he was difficult to control on the ring, and few could handle him if he felt like shooting on his opponent. However, despite what rumors try to make you believe, Karl is regarded as a fine worker and wasn't prone to such things.

* HeroesLoveDogs / PetTheDog: He owned a pitbull which he got after a suggestion from Wrestling/BillyRobinson. He also stated in his last will that all the money he had, with approval from his daughter, would go to pitbull rescue charities.

* NoodleIncident: The backstage incident with Wrestling/BuddyRogers on August 31, 1962 is a highly debated matter, and its details remain unknown. The known facts are that the arrogant Rogers refused to have a title match against Gotch or Bill Miller, as Buddy was not a legitimate wrestler like them and feared they would attempt to shoot on him, and instead [[TooDumbToLive insulted them]] and attempted to leave. Gotch and Miller weren't amused, so they cornered and attacked him, resulting in police charges for them. There are several versions about the fight itself: Rogers claimed they punched him and broke his arm by [[TheDoorSlamsYou slamming a door on it]], while Miller and Gotch said they only slapped him around a bit, and a much more dramatic telling by Ed Garea sees Miller blocking the locker's door and Gotch savagely hitting [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown ground and pound]] on Rogers on the floor for minutes. [[OverlyLongGag And even then]], Johnny Barend's version says that it was actually three on one as Art Neilson [[EveryoneJoinTheParty joined the party]] because he hated Rogers as well, but that Rogers escaped more or less unscathed.

* OddFriendship: Karl was [[http://www.scientificwrestling.com/public/images/gallery/Karl_&FAE5207B8E9766.jpg close friends]] with Wrestling/MasahikoKimura, and they used to train and spar together. The oddity of their friendship was merely stylistic, as they both shared a power-based approach to grappling and a love for brutal training regimes.

* OldMaster: Regarded as one by his students.

** Very much like Kimura, Gotch disliked Gracie Jiu Jitsu and the passive nature of its strategy, comparing its practitioners to, textually, [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything old whores waiting for a customer.]] He believed if a jiu-jitsu guy had you in his guard and you didn't break his leg with a leglock, you should quit catch wrestling forever.

* SadistTeacher: His training was wild, and many a Gotch apprentice recalls being taught 250 submissions in ten minutes or something in the lines.

* TakeThat: Gotch was friends with fellow gaijin legend Wrestling/BillyRobinson, but according to Wrestling/TatsumiFujinami, Karl used to make his apprentices work out the German suplex with punching bags which had photos of Robinson glued in. Whether it was just Gotch's twisted sense of humor or there was a true enmity between them is debatable. Karl did mention once that he believed Billy was his own worst enemy, make of that what you will.

** Innovated the cradle piledriver, both the standard and tombstone variants. Contrarily to popular belief, he preferred the latter.

* ArrogantKungFuGuy: He was the kind of guy who did not care about brutalizing his opponent if he felt he had to do it, especially in order to prove who was the best or to shut up an impertinent mouth. Naturally, this did not help him to make friends.

* CombatPragmatist: Was described as a ripper, a wrestler who knew how to brutalize people if he wanted to. Wrestling/YoshiakiFujiwara said that techniques like fish hooks and eye gouges was part of what Gotch taught him in case of a real fight.

* ShoutOut: His ring name Gotch is seen as a tribute to another catch wrestling legend Frank Gotch. Karl himself however claims he took it from a someone on his mother’s side of the family.

** He is also stated to have created the Sasori-gatame used by Wrestling/RikiChoshu, better known as the [[Wrestling/BretHart the Sharpshooter]] and/or [[Wrestling/{{Sting}} Scorpion Deathlock]].

** He also came up with the rules for Jake Shannon's Scientific Wrestling matches.

* [[IKnowKarate I Know Catch Wrestling]]: Learned at the Snakepit at Wigan, England. Also, not only he was skilled Greco-Roman and freestyle westler, in India he learned pehlwani, in Japan he studied judo and sumo, and it is also said he learned a bit of boxing, savate and purring (a British sport of shin-kicking). Wrestling/GeneLeBell has said that Karl even went to China, though to study what is anyone's guess.

** Though he knew both were necessary for a wrestler, Gotch preferred grappling over striking. He criticized his former apprentices Wrestling/AkiraMaeda and Wrestling/NobuhikoTakada for indulging too much in kicking during their matches, calling them "kick-boys".

* NoodleIncident: The backstage incident with Wrestling/BuddyRogers on August 31, 1962 is a highly debated matter, and its details remain unknown. The known facts are that the arrogant Rogers refused to have a title match against Gotch or Bill Miller, as Buddy was not a legitimate wrestler like them and feared they would attempt to shoot on him, and instead [[TooDumbToLive insulted them]] and attempted to leave. Gotch and Miller weren't amused, so they cornered and attacked him, resulting in police charges for them. There are several versions about the fight itself: Rogers claimed they punched him and broke his arm by [[TheDoorSlamsYou slamming a door on it]], while Miller and Gotch said they only slapped him around a bit, and a much more dramatic telling by Ed Garea sees Miller blocking the locker's door and Gotch savagely hitting [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown ground and pound]] on Rogers on the floor for minutes. [[OverlyLongGag And even then]], Johnny Barend's version says that it was actually three on one as Art Neilson [[EveryoneJoinTheParty joined the party]] because he hated Rogers as well, but that Rogers escaped more or less unscathed. Pick one.