The American Martial Art - Wrestling.....The Top Art in No Holds Barred Fighting and Mixed Martial A

So,
It seems that the American martial art of Catch-as-Catch-can, or submission wrestling, has finally come unto its own. Sakuraba, the defeator of the Gracies, claims Japanese Professional Wrestling as his style. And contrary to what most people think, Catch-as-Catch-can the American Submission wrestling art is what Japanese Pro Wrestling is a product of, not japanese jujitsu. Sak has mentioned in articles that his style is wrestling.....not jujitsu.
Another champion in the Pride No Holds Barred contests in Japan is Mark Coleman, the American Wrestler.
And in the U.S., we have Frank Shamrock, the undefeated UFC champion, who is an American Submission Wrestler.
True, American Wrestling owes alot to Brazilian Jujitsu for making grappling worldwide recognized as an effective martial art, and BJJ helped bring American submission wrestling out of the woodwork.
But it seems that now the proof is there that America has its very own martial art, and it has defeated every style that has stepped up to it.
-jojitsu27

yea,but is Coleman really a catch wrestler,or shamrock?I agree that the takedowns and ground positioning of American style wrestling are ideal for nhb,but Im not sure that any of the fighters you mentioned are actually catch wresters.My understanding is that catch as catch can is relatively rare these days,although there seems to be quite a resurgence of it occuring.
BTW Sak rules!

What the heck is catch-as-catch-can wrestling? What does that mean exactly?

I'm no expert but here goes...

Catch-as-catch-can is an old wrestling style practiced across Europe. It was submission wrestling and was popular until about the begining of this century. When PRO wrestling started in america it was mostly catch wrestling and it was REAL. Of couse pro-wrestling became totaly fake over time.

Freestlye wresting like in college or the olimpics is thought to be an offshoot of Catch wrestling (Without the submissions). Only a few people still teach ture catch wrestling (some say the style has died). There are some great books on the subject! You might want to do some internet searches. Also look up Carl Gotch.

Thats basicly what I know...