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UK Wrestling Legend Billy Robinson Passes Away At 74

Posted: Mar 3rd 2014 By: CMBurnham

Jake Shannon of Scientific Wrestling reported on Facebook today that his good friend Billy Robinson passed away in his sleep.

Robinson was 74.

Robinson was the most successful wrestler to come from the United Kingdom on an international basis. A former amateur wrestling champion who was an expert in submissions as the star of the Wigan school in the early 60s, he became a big star in Japan after winning a tournament for the IWE world championship.

Later, he became a champion in places like Australia, Hawaii and Western Canada, before his best known U.S. run in the 70s working for the AWA, where many considered him at the time as the best technical wrestler in North America. While a lot of people didn't enjoy working with him, and he had a headstrong attitude and was a tough guy, adept at wrestling, submissions and boxing and liked to fight, even his detractors wouldn't deny his immense talent as a performer, that he was a top-tier Hall of Famer, nor that he would be on any kind of a list of the all-time greatest in pro wrestling history.

Verne Gagne for years booked Robinson as the top contender for the AWA title, and his 1975 match with Antonio Inoki was considered as the classic match of that time period in Japan. Robinson also helped train many of the biggest names in wrestling including Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Sgt. Slaughter and The Iron Sheik.

In recent years, Robinson's name was well known in MMA, as the surviving expert of the old Wigan catch wrestling submission system, and his proteges included Kazushi Sakurba, Josh Barnett, Harry Smith and Shayna Baszler.

Shannon wrote:

"I am unbelievably sad to report that my very good friend Billy Robinson passed away today. I hadn't heard from him in days so I contacted his apartment complex to check in on him. When I called back for a progress report, the apartment manager put the police on the phone. It seems he passed away peacefully in his sleep. He was a lion of a man, bigger than life in so many ways. My wife and I named our youngest son Lliam in his honor. You will be sorely missed, my friend. Thank you so much for living the life you did."