Description

The Snake Pit, originally Riley's Gym, is a historic catch wrestling gym in Aspull, Wigan, England. Founded in 1948 by Billy Riley, it produced legendary wrestlers including Karl Gotch and Billy Robinson, and is regarded as the spiritual home of catch wrestling. It was revived under Roy Wood and continues to host the Catch Wrestling World Championships.

Also known as

Riley's Gym · Riley's

Locations (1)

• location_onAspull

  The Fields, Wigan Road, Aspull, Wigan, WN2 1QX, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom

  warning No sources cited

Founder

Instructors (1)

• 
  Billy Riley

  1955 – 1960

Trained here (1)

• 
  Karl Gotch

  sports_martial_artsCatch Wrestling Probable

  Probable

  Gotch trained at Billy Riley's Snake Pit in Wigan, acknowledged as the center of catch wrestling; well-documented in wrestling history

  The evidence favours the claim and nothing credible contradicts it, but it falls short of establishing it.

  under Billy Riley (1955 – 1960)

  fact_checkassessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  1 source expand_more

  fact_check

  Gotch trained at Billy Riley's Snake Pit in Wigan, acknowledged as the center of catch wrestling; well-documented in wrestling history

  “He learned catch-as-catch-can and professional wrestling at the Snake Pit under Billy Riley and Billy Joyce”

  — Karl Gotch (Wikipedia EN)link history info

Styles founded here (1)

Catch Wrestling

founded c. 1870, Aspull

Tags

catch-wrestling · wigan · gym · historic

Sources

Identifiers