I have some questions regarding Folkstyle, Freestyle, Greco-Roman, and catch-as-catch-can wrestling. 1) what is the difference between these three styles? I know Greco-Roman doesn't allow lower body grabs, but that's about it. 2) What are the histories of these styles? More specifically, 3) are there pins/groundwork in GR? 4) Is Folkstyle related to Catch-as-Catch Can? Similarly... 5) what ever happened to catch wrestling? I've heard that it's mainly around in Japan (ironically) nowadays. Thanks.
search man... i listed a list of rules and websites a while back.... in feb i think many others have addressed it here
Some things of note: Greco-Roman wrestling, despite the name, actually modernized in France. Greco does have ground work (par terre), but to a much lesser extent than freestyle or folkstyle. Many moves consist of gripping the opponent around the waist and lifting them up (gutwrench, body lift, reverse body lift). The name Catch as Catch Can basically meant that, unlike most European and N. American wrestling styles, there were no basic grips assumed before action began. For example, Collar and Elbow wrestling began with the opponents gripping each other in the collar-and-elbow possition. The expression for CACC basically meant that you'd have to take what you were given, you'd have to "catch" a part of your opponent's body before you could truly engage. It's my impression, and I could be wrong, that some of the hold of Catch were designed to put someone on their back and shoulders through pain-pressure. In other works, a top wrist lock (aka Keylock, aka Americana) would cause someone to arch their shoulders to the mat to prevent shoulder damage. It wasn't necessarily a deliberate attempt to get the guy to say uncle, just cause enough pain to pin himself. Again, that's my impression, I've got no real evidence to back it up. One last link on Catch: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_as_catch_can
Minor corrections to the above: It was actually Karl Gotch, ne: Karl Istaz, who trained the Japanese wrestlers. Yoshiaki Fujiwara was one of his most notable students, as well as Antonio Inoki. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Gotch Frank Gotch died in 1917, long before modern pro wrestling had come to Japan. As well, Bart Vale made more of a name for himself in karate and kickboxing before going to Japan, where he learned that style of wrestling from Japanese students of Karl Gotch. His own website notes he was the first American certified to teach Shootfighting in 1988, and this interview with Paladin Press states that he was primarily a striker until he went to Japan: http://www.paladin-press.com/authormo_0601.aspx He worked a lot of "worked shoots", which looked alot like MMA but with predetermined outcomes. I think his "victory" over Fujiwara was probably a work. His official MMA record from Sherdog has him as 1-2. Come to think of it, I think I've got one of his worked shoots on tape... And yeah, he's got the term Shootfighting TM'd.
I'm not terribly familliar with catch-as-catch-can, but as far as I can tell, it is very distinct from folkstyle. The most glaring difference that I can see is that folkstyle does not include submissions, whereas catch wrestling does. This confusion may possibly be due to the wikipedia's use of the term "folk wrestling," which is distinct from folkstyle. As far as I can tell, folk wrestling is just a generic term used for many local variants of wrestling. Folkstyle, on the other hand, is a specific type of wrestling which is very popular in the United States. While there is some variation on the rules depending on where you are competing, kmguy8's earlier post does an excellent job of summing it up. By the way, collegiate wrestling is another commonly used name for folkstyle.
Just beacuse im bored - Folkstyle - Folkstyle is a staple high school sport and the only form of wrestling that is done at the High School level. However if a high school student wants to participate in free/greco they can go to summer camps or tournaments. The main idea behind folkstyle is to be as quick and efficient as possible. All takedowns are worth two points so there's really no reason to use alot of moves, especially throws, beacuse there what we call "low precentage" moves. Basically, moves that are flashy and "cool" tend to have a greater chance of failure and leave you in a bad position. Matches are composed of three rounds of two minutes each and after each round a coin/card is flipped to determine who picks position. The person who picks the starting position has a choice between Top, Bottom, Neutral (standing) or defer. By defering you let your oponent pick the position in the second round so that you have the option of picking position in the third. At the end of the match the person with more points wins. Another way to win is by a pin or by holding both shoulders of an oponent down for one to two seconds. Freestyle - The biggest difference between freestyle and folkstyle is that freestyle is all about risk. There are a lot less rules in freestyle resulting in moves that are not possible in folkstyle. For example you can only lock you own hands in certain position in folkstyle but can lock hands in any position during freestyle. Also whereas in folkstyle every takedown is worth two points, in freestyle points are awarded for how the takedown is made. A 1 point move for example would be a takedown where the opponent lands on his stomach. A five point takedown would be something like the german suplex which takes the opositions hips over your head and leads him on his back. Greco-Roman - Greco shares almost everything in common with freestyle with the exception that you cannot attack the opponents legs nor use your own legs to "ride" or hold your opponent. All styles force the participates to be very aggressive. Nobody can score points or take control by only playing a strong defense and if a person stalls the match in any way such as holding their opponent in such a way that neither person can do anything to improve their position, the ref will call stalling on that person. -LT
