Karl Gotch
Charles Istaz, known by the ring name Karl Gotch, was a Belgian-born American professional wrestler and pro wrestling trainer, catch wrestler, and amateur wrestler. Considered one of the most influential wrestlers of his time period, he is best known for training several acclaimed and influential professional wrestlers in Japan, and for becoming a catalyst in the faculty development of strong style, alongside New Japan Pro-Wrestling founder Antonio Inoki and fellow trainer Billy Robinson.
Gotch represented Belgium at the 1948 Summer Olympics in both freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. He learned catch-as-catch-can and professional wrestling at the Snake Pit under Billy Riley and Billy Joyce. He was given the ring name "Gotch" by Ohio promoter Al Haft in honor of American wrestler Frank Gotch. In Japan, he became known as a "God of Wrestling" alongside Billy Robinson and Lou Thesz, due to their collective influence on Japanese professional wrestling.
Gotch had significantly influenced the development of modern mixed martial arts, especially in Japan. Several of Gotch's students, which included Satoru Sayama, Masakatsu Funaki, Minoru Suzuki, Akira Maeda, and Nobuhiko Takada, established pioneering MMA promotions and training schools to transmit Gotch's training. Examples included Sayama's Shooto and Funaki and Suzuki's Pancrase—both of which predate the UFC— along with Maeda's Fighting Network RINGS and Takada's Pride Fighting Championships, the latter being one of the most popular MMA promotions of all time.
Early life
Istaz was born in Antwerp, Belgium on August 3, 1924. His father, Edward, was a sailor of Hungarian ancestry who was employed to the Belgian Naval Component; his mother, Johanna, was an Imperial German citizen who had majority Dutch ancestry. At a young age and at the advice of his father, he became embroiled in competition at a tavern in Antwerp that was home to a collective of grapplers and boxers. At the same time, he had his left pinky finger amputated due to an accident at a port. The accident would result in Gotch adopting an unorthodox style of grappling for the rest of his life.In 1940, he and his family were transported by Nazi German forces from Antwerp to Hamburg, Germany after the German invasion of Belgium. He had been given the role of a railway worker near the Neuengamme concentration camp. According to his student Akira Maeda, Istaz was taught sambo from a Soviet prisoner of war also held in camp. He was let go in 1943, and took up a blacksmithing job. He and his family were transported yet again soon afterwards, now transported to the REIMAHG-A plant in Walpersberg, near Kahla. He was let go after the liberation of Belgium, and once again took up blacksmithing.
Amateur wrestling
Istaz took up Greco-Roman wrestling at the United Athletes of Antwerp, initially as a Light heavyweight. He won several national amateur titles, both as a light heavyweight and later a heavyweight, between 1946 and 1950. He competed at the 1946 European Wrestling Championships in Stockholm, Sweden as a light heavyweight, where he was defeated.As Karel Istaz, he represented Belgium at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London in both freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling once again as a Light heavyweight, notably losing to eventual silver medalists Fritz Stöckli and Kelpo Gröndahl in freestyle and Greco-Roman respectively. His only win at the Olympics via technical outcome was a decision win over Athanasios Kambaflis in freestyle. Notable people who attended those Olympics included Verne Gagne, Dick Hutton, and Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon.
Other parts of Istaz's life prior to the Olympics remain unclear, and has been subject to embellishment by pro wrestling magazines.
Professional wrestling career
Europe and the United States
Istaz was initially hesitant to becoming a professional wrestler, considering he wanted to advance his career in amateur wrestling and be "vengeful" for his losses in the European and Olympic championships. However, when Istaz realized of the financial capabilities of wrestling as a professional compared to being an amateur wrestler for his wife Ella and daughter Janine, he took it up. Istaz's professional wrestling career began after training at renowned catch wrestler Billy Riley's gym, which was later dubbed by Gotch as "The Snake Pit". Gotch met Alf Robinson around this time, Billy Robinson's uncle and a fellow wrestler, and told Gotch to come to Wigan. From 1951 to 1959, Karl lived in Wigan near the gym. He debuted before 1951, wrestling throughout Europe under his real name and under the ring name Karl Krauser, and winning titles including the German Heavyweight Championship and the European Championship. In 1959, Istaz moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in order to migrate over to the United States.When Istaz arrived in the United States, he began wrestling as Karl Gotch, named for Frank Gotch, by premier Ohio promoter-wrestler Al Haft. A friend of Frank Gotch, Haft was given the ring-name Young Gotch in some of his days as a wrestler, and Haft thought that Karl had intense similarities with Frank; thus, Karl was given the ring-name as tribute. In the United States, Gotch's wrestling style and lack of showmanship held him back, and he did not experience any great popularity at the time. In 1961, he won the American Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship. Gotch held the belt for two years before dropping the title in a title unification match to NWA World's Heavyweight Champion Lou Thesz, one of the few American wrestlers he respected because of the similarities of their styles. In 1962, Gotch was involved in a backstage altercation with the then-NWA World Champion "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, in which Rogers was injured. The incident alienated Gotch from American promoters, and he began looking for work in Japan with assistance from Dr. Bill Miller. Afterwards, he had continued to travel. He wrestled in Australia under the Karl Krauser persona, and in 1965 he defeated Spiros Arion to win the International Wrestling Alliance's Heavyweight Championship.
He returned to the United States for a stint in the 1970s, with a brief run in the World Wide Wrestling Federation from August 1971 to February 1972. On December 6, 1971, he teamed with Rene Goulet to win the WWWF World Tag Team Championship from the inaugural champions, Luke Graham and Tarzan Tyler, in two straight falls of a best-two-out-of-three-falls match in Madison Square Garden. They lost the championship on February 1, 1972, to Baron Mikel Scicluna and King Curtis Iaukea.
Japan
He had begun working in Japan by 1961, travelling with Don Leo Jonathan, where he became very popular due to his sport wrestling style. He represented Germany in the 1961 JWA World Big League; although he did speak German, he still retained his Belgian citizenship. While Rikidozan was still alive, Antonio Inoki had met Gotch, and took an interest to his methods. Gotch gave Inoki a specialized maneuver that he'd be able to use in his matches, which would later cataclyze into what became known as the Cobra twist or Manji-gatame. Inoki began to use the move in 1968; the next year, Inoki took Gotch's German suplex hold, the bridging version of the traditional German suplex. He moved to Japan temporarily in two stints between 1967 and 1969, and headed the JWA Dojo, which had been given the name the "Gotch Clinic". He specialized in training active professionals. Many of the people Gotch worked with in the "clinic" included Seiji Sakaguchi, Kim Duk, Katsuji Adachi, and Hishakaku Otsubo.Gotch had begun to be exhausted and frustrated with wrestling industry politicking and had a disdain for promoters' salary rates and rejection of talent opportunities. He had begun to teach more about the style and philosophy of his version of professional wrestling, without the use of politicking in the workers. He became politically neutral in all matters. Inoki had tried to clean up specific economic situations in JWA, which was said to be a contribution to its collapse. Yoshino Sato and Kokichi Endo, the heads of JWA, fired Inoki for alleging that he'd "betray" JWA and claim JWA for himself. In January 1972, Inoki went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, whilst Karl Gotch was travelling with the WWWF. Inoki went to Gotch for help, to assist him in starting a wrestling promotion. Gotch accepted to assist him on the condition he be a trainer and coach to the wrestlers, and left the tour and WWWF afterward. The negotiations in January 1972 resulted in the creation of New Japan Pro-Wrestling. He wrestled in the main event of the very first show held by NJPW on March 6, 1972, defeating Inoki. Karl was able to bring in stars like Lou Thesz, André The Giant, and Billy Robinson for the promotion of the new brand. By 1973, JWA shut down entirely.
Karl temporarily lived near the NJPW dojo, akin to his time in the JWA dojo. His first students included Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Tatsumi Fujinami. Fujiwara wanted to become a pro wrestler after a failed career in restauranteering and assistance; by that period, Fujinami had been accepted as a main understudy of Antonio Inoki. Satoru Sayama, the original Tiger Mask, ', ', Kuniaki Kobayashi, and Osamu Kido were later brought in as disciples of Gotch's methods as "Young Lions", and the class became his primary focus while in NJPW. Others that also took to Gotch's methods included Gran Hamada and Mr. Pogo, despite their eventual influence on separate wrestling styles.
Yoshiaki Fujiwara eventually became close friends with Gotch, as seen and depicted in the Karl Gotch: Kamisama film by Fumi Saito; Fujiwara would become the producer of the Karl Gotch Training Book, which detailed the training methods used by Gotch on him and his dojo-mates. He also developed a close relationship with Joe Malenko, who was touted as being a junior to Gotch in generational senses. Malenko paid tribute to Gotch after his death by appearing at numerous ceremonies honoring him over the years since 2007.