Believe it or not, catch wrestling legend billy wicks and I talked on the phone recently. One of his students visited my school and told me that billy was interested in talking to me, so I called him.
He told me that he read my book and thought that I was more of a catch wrestler than a jiu jitsu player because of my use of the abdominal stretch, aka the twister.
I told him, "even though I took that wrestling move and turned it out, I'm mostly known for fighting off my back with the rubber guard and half guard".
So then I asked him if there has been any catch wrestlers that were known for fighting off their backs. He couldn't think of any.
Billy also suggested that I wear black tights and call myself the 'little dinosaur" after him. Apparently his nick name is 'the dinosaur" and he's known for wearing black tights. I have no idea why he would want me to be his protege, I was speechless and thinking that he had to be pulling my leg. But anyways, he said the black tights make leglocks harder to slip out of.
I told him that I already wore pants for the same "sweaty" reason, "but I can't wear tights", I told him, "my legs are too skinny, so I'm forced to wear baggy gi pants so that girls don't laugh at my chicken legs".
Billy also told me that tony chechine is a "____" when it comes to catch wrestling. I wasn't shocked.
Apparently tony went to billy for some knowledge and after getting to know each other for some time, billy ended up thinking very "___" of tony. He got into some crazy stories about him but i'm not in the mood to get into them right now.
And ever since that surreal phone conversation he's been emailing me pictures of his school in north carolina including a few shots of his students and random crazy emails that he group emails to everyone. He's in his late 70's but he's still a wild and crazy dude who appreciates dirty humor, I love this guy :)
Billy also sent me the book "Catch Wrestling" A Wild And Wooly Look At The Early Days Of Pro Wrestling In America by Mark S. Hewitt.
After going through the book I can honestly say that I'm starting to appreciate a little more of what pro wrestling has done for the martial arts. It's quite fascinating really.
Maybe I'm more of a pro wrestler than a jiu jitsu player after all, hhhmmmm......