RIP Karl Gotch

[sek69]

from WO.com:

 

Karl Charles Istaz, known internationally as Karl Gotch, passed away at 9:45 p.m. Eastern time tonight. He was a few days shy of 83 years old.

 

A former place-winner in the 1948 Olympics in London, Istaz went to the famed Wigan school where he learned submission wrestling. He migrated to the U.S. where he had a reputation in some circles as the toughest man alive.

 

He ended up becoming a legend in Japan, where he was eventually nicknamed "The God of Professional Wrestling." He was the trainer for New Japan Pro Wrestling and later the original UWF, and his influence in students like Akira Maeda and Nobuhiko Takada led to the rise of shootfighting and eventually MMA in that country.

[Guest KCook]

Meltzer's Gotch issue is pretty great, partly because Gotch's "crusty old guy" gimmick lends itself to colorful quotes and anecdotes, but also because there's the piece is really about setting Gotch and Thesz in opposition. Meltzer really seems to have come to the conclusion that show wrestling can be traced directly back to Thesz and MMA can be traced directly back to Gotch, and sees UFC surpassing WWE as the vindication Gotch could never get by having the chance to tear Thesz up in a shootfight. I've found wrestling completely unwatchable in all forms since the Benoit murders and watching the business react to them, but this sort of utterly insane history keeps me interested.

[tomk]

The Karl Gotch issue is really really great.

 

Filled with so much stuff, that I've found myself enjoying rereading it a couple times on subway and pickng up on new stuff.

 

-What it takes to create status of "God" in Japan---worth also reading Wall Street Journal article from yesterday http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1187042176...=hpp_us_pageone

 

-Really both the history of Japanese wrestling and US wrestling. The Vince Sr. stuff, the team with Goulet, etc all fascinating. Rikidozan's approach to booking foreign talent. The formation of New Japan and AJ. I need to see full match lists from early New Japan filled with Gulas undercarders.

 

-Holy shit Abe Jacobs has been wrestling forever. I think he was feuding with George South two years ago.

 

-And I guess on some level the most interesting thing to me is Meltzer really doing nice job explaining the difference between Japanese culture and American culture in terms of relationship between pro-wrestling and MMA. You read that issue and Meltzer actually seems to understand that while their is a link between pro-wrestling and MMA in Japan that the same link is non-existant in the U.S. If you've read the history of Meltzer defending/arguing that UFC is pro-wrestling he always talks about how MMA is covered as prowrestling in GONG polls etc. Reading article it's clear that Meltzer knows that pro-wrestling linked with MMA is a Japan only phenomena. Meltzer can write very clearly about UFC not coming out of the same tradition. And yet he won't ever act on that knowledge.