BILLY ROBINSON

Like Bert Assaratti before him, Billy Robinson was feared by his opponents and very few heavyweights in the UK - or America for that matter - wanted to be matched with him. He had a reputation of being one of the most highly skilled and toughest matmen around at that time. Billy was an exceptional amateur wrestler and trained at the infamous 'Snake Pit' wrestling school in Wigan which was run by Billy Riley.It was a school where submission wrestling was taught and only the toughest wrestlers survived.

There are many stories about heavyweights turning up at a hall to see a poster for the show and just turning round and heading home when they saw that they were on with Robinson. He won the British Heavyweight Championship in 1967 and held the title for the next 3 years.

He remained undefeated but the powers that be declared the title vacant when Billy left these shores to pursue a career in the United States. On the day that he left for America there was an almighty gale - mostly coming from the many wrestlers who were blowing a sigh of relief. He very quickly made a name for himself across the water and became one of the biggest draws in the AWA which was run by Verne Gagne. He was also extremely popular in Japan and wrestled many times in that country. These days he is training up and coming wrestlers and at 69 years of age he is still regarded as a hard man. He was inducted into the 'International Wrestling Hall Of Fame' in 1993

Credit: Peter McNolte

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