The Snake Pit (Wigan)
The Snake Pit, based in Aspull, Wigan Borough, England, is the gym and organisation regarded as the home of catch wrestling. Founded in 1948 by Billy Riley in the town of Wigan, it was originally known as Riley's Gym. Riley was succeeded by Roy Wood, one of his last living students. It hosts the Aspull Olympic Wrestling Club, which focuses on freestyle wrestling. Wood was recognised on the 2024 New Year Honours and awarded a British Empire Medal "for services to wrestling and young people" after coaching for almost 50 years. An exhibition about Riley and the gym began at the Leigh Town Hall in April 2024.
The gym has had a [|significant influence] on the evolution of catch-as-catch-can, freestyle, and professional wrestling, as well as mixed martial arts, especially in Japan. Riley was the head coach for over 20 years, teaching Lancashire style catch wrestling, and the gym became known in Britain and internationally for producing skilled wrestlers. Riley closed the gym in the early 1970s due to the decline of legitimate skills in pro wrestling, but it was soon revived through a community effort with Roy Wood becoming head coach, assisted by Riley and other veteran wrestlers. The gym switched to freestyle wrestling, producing champions and international competitors, and hosting the Aspull Freestyle Wrestling International for over 35 years. The gym moved to Aspull during this time, establishing the Aspull Olympic Wrestling Club.
The gym continued to be one of the most essential sources for preserving catch wrestling and began to formally promote the style again in 2012 through competitions, training, and certification. The Snake Pit has organised the Catch Wrestling World Championships since 2018, and also organises the [|British Championships] and other competitions. The 2025 British Championships took place on June 21. The 2025 World Championships are scheduled for October 18.
History
Riley's Gym
was a skilled professional wrestler in a time when there were still legitimate matches. Riley trained in pubs like the Crispin Arms or at his home before he and a handful of other wrestlers, who were also tradesmen, combined their resources to purchase a plot of land and build a dedicated gym in the Whelley area of the town of Wigan. The gym opened in 1948 to teach catch-as-catch-can, freestyle, and professional wrestling in the Lancashire style.The original building was described as a shed or shack with a tin roof, bare bricks inside, a worn wrestling mat stuffed with horse hair, a coal stove for heat, no toilet, rusting weights, and a shower in the corner that only had cold water. Riley was an active coach, known for hard training. He demanded every opponent be approached as world-class, even novices, and frequently used phrases like “you can never train too hard” and "do it again." Riley wanted to be confident in his trainees' skills and did not let them work shows otherwise. He also kept a room of books and reference materials for wrestling. and other veteran wrestlers would regularly coach alongside Riley. Many of the trainees were mine workers and hoped to boost their incomes by wrestling. There was a common saying that someone reaching into a local mine would grab either a wrestler or rugby player. The professionals usually trained in the morning and worked shows in the evening, then the wrestlers with regular jobs trained after work. Since there had been legitimate wrestlers in every family, it became impossible to hold theatrical-style pro wrestling in Wigan. Riley did not make much money as a coach because he kept his member fees modest. In 1964, they were only two shillings and six pence, despite a wrestler like Karl Gotch reportedly earning £30,000 annually. Although the training was tough and many visitors were one-time-only, the gym had unwritten rules against breaking limbs, eye-poking, hair-pulling, and similar behaviour. Women and children were also disallowed in those days.
The tough environment produced some of the most popular and skilled wrestlers of their time, such as Karl Gotch, Billy Robinson, Bert Assirati, Jack Dempsey, Les Thornton, and Billy Joyce. Other wrestlers from the gym included Ernie Riley, Joe Robinson, Melvyn Riss, John Foley, Alan Latham, Mick and Seamus Dunleavy, Billy Chambers, Len Wetherby, Jackie Cheers, Frank Riley, Jimmy Hart, Alan Hartwood, Harry Duvall, Ken Baldwin, John Naylor, Brian Burke, and Roy Wood. As well as Bob Sherry, El Diablo, George Gregory, Count Bartelli, Jack Mountford, Johnny Eagle, and Tommy Heyes.
The gym became well-known internationally and hosted wrestlers from countries including France, Belgium, Italy, Finland, Spain, India, Pakistan, Turkey, the United States, and Canada. Riley also encouraged his wrestlers to bring knowledge back from other gyms and styles. During Billy Robinson's eight years at Riley's, he was sent to Hungary to learn Greco-Roman wrestling, and to Sweden and Germany. Gotch, Robinson, Joyce, Thornton, and other Riley's wrestlers toured Japan, where the wrestlers and their style developed an enduring popularity. Rumours of the gym's reputation inspired the "Tiger's Den" in Tiger Mask, a manga and anime series about pro wrestling, and Robinson inspired the manga/anime character Robin Mask.
Although Riley's was the most well-known gym, it had several rivals such as the Belshaws, who were a family of undertakers that specialised in takedowns. They had been trained by Billy Riley's coach Willie "Pop" Charnock, who also had his own gym.
Riley's was featured in "The Wrestlers", a documentary by ITV Granada, which premiered on September 5, 1967. The documentary focused on the lives and personalities of popular pro wrestlers outside the ring, featuring Billy Robinson, Les Kellett, Johnny Eagle, Vic Faulkner, Abe Ginsberg, Jim Hussey, Alan Dennison, and Roy "Bull" Davis, along with Billy Riley. It was directed by Michael Elster, filmed by David Wood, produced by Denis Mitchell, edited by Leonard Trumm, with sound recording by John Muxworthy.
Revival
By the 1970s, the theatrical elements of pro wrestling had completely overtaken legitimate wrestling ability and Riley closed his famous gym. However, the gym was revived when Roy Wood's son Darren and a friend wanted to wrestle, but it needed repairs first. Using materials donated by Bill Swiers, a group of locals rebuilt the gym to twice the original size. Wood then became the head coach and Riley returned to mentor from his chair, along with Tommy Heyes. Riley's converted to freestyle wrestling because there were no opportunities for catch wrestlers in Britain coupled with safety concerns for training youth. Riley's grandsons Mark and Paul, and nephew Patrick Burns also trained at the revived gym. After a lifetime in wrestling, Billy Riley died in September 1977.The gym consistently produced British champions and top competitors. In 1986, Darren Wood won gold in freestyle wrestling at the European Cadets Championship followed by gold at the 1987 Cadet World Championships and the 1987 British Senior Championships.
On February 7, 1989, the documentary series First Tuesday premiered "The Wigan Hold", produced by Roger Finnegan, focusing on Riley's gym. The piece focused on the lives of Ernie Riley and Tommy Moore ; Riley, Moore, and Roy Wood coaching youth; retrospectives on wrestling history in Wigan, Billy Riley, the gym, and theatrical pro wrestling. It also included archival footage from "The Wrestlers" documentary of Riley coaching a young Wood. The deteriorating state of the facility and lack of resources shown on the programme prompted a government offer to renovate the gym. Instead, the decision was made to relocate, establishing the Aspull Olympic Wrestling Club. The original gym was later demolished after a fire and houses were built on the land.
The Aspull Olympic Wrestling Club
In 1990, Japanese pro wrestlers Kazuo Sakurada and KY Wakamatsu approached Billy Joyce, who directed them to Wood, with an offer to coach in Japan for Super World of Sports. After a training session, Wood and Joyce took them to the ruins of Riley's, where the visitors looked noticeably upset by the famed gym's condition and offered financial assistance to rebuild it. Wood then travelled to Japan and coached the SWS roster in Lancashire-style catch wrestling. He ended his tour with an exhibition match in front of 17,000 spectators at Yokohama Arena. During this trip, Wood broke the leg of a Japanese wrestler who challenged him, which convinced the others of his ability. Wood was offered a position as a coach in Japan but declined due to his life in England, choosing to visit periodically.In 1993, the club had another visitor from Japan, Osamu Matsunami. An 18-year-old Matsunami had learned about the club from an article about Dynamite Kid in Weekly Gong magazine. A quote by Joyce in the article inspired Matsunami's interest in Lancashire wrestling, which grew when Wood coached for SWS in 1990. In May 1993, Matsunami made his first trip to the club, despite knowing little English or the location. After an extended journey and the assistance of several people, Matsunami met Wood, who introduced Matsunami to his family and the community. Matsunami accompanied Wood for several days, including wrestling practices, meeting Riley's wrestlers, and visiting the ruins of Riley's. His visit was covered by the Wigan Post. Matsunami made several more journeys to Wigan, staying for several months at a time. He trained with Wood, Ernie Riley, Billy Joyce, and several other wrestlers, and helped Wood coach kids classes. Matsunami also competed, including a trip to France early-on and placing fifth at the 1995 British Freestyle Wrestling Championships. He opened his own gym in Kyoto, Japan in December 2006. Wood named it "Riley's Gym Kyoto" while visiting in spring 2007.
In 1995, Osamu Nishimura visited and trained at the gym. Soon after, Wood was recruited by Nishimura's mentor Tatsumi Fujinami, a popular pro wrestler and then-president of New Japan Pro Wrestling, to train NJPW's roster. In Japan, Wigan and Riley's were regarded as the spiritual home of wrestling, and Fujinami viewed CACC as the foundation of pro wrestling and wanted it to be preserved. Wood was accompanied by five wrestlers including Shane Rigby, a three-time Commonwealth silver medallist from Bolton Olympic Wrestling Club, who learned catch wrestling under Wood. After the success of the first tour, Wood coached in Japan several more times and NJPW held several Lancashire wrestling-style shows featuring Wood's wrestlers under the brand "Muga" 2=無我.
Other visitors from Japan included Shigeo Miyato, Yoji Anjo, and UWF booker Shinji Sasazaki. In 1999, Miyato established a gym based on Riley's, the UWF Snake Pit Japan, with Billy Robinson and Lou Thesz as the first head coaches.
In 2000, Roy Wood and his daughter Andrea helped establish freestyle wrestling programs at several schools in Greater Manchester, one of which quickly won back-to-back British championships for boys and girls. Wood had pushed for more female participation in wrestling since the Aspull Olympic Wrestling Club's opening. He also worked with the St Helens and Wigan Warriors rugby clubs to introduce wrestling into professional rugby. During Wood's six years coaching St Helens, the team won the Challenge Cup multiple times. Paul Stridgeon, a student of Wood and a British freestyle champion, transitioned to professional rugby, and coached the England national team and Wales national team.
In 2008, Wood coached the British wrestling team for the Commonwealth Youth Games in India. In April 2009, Wood was voted as the England-Northern representative for British Wrestling's then-newly established Nations & Regions Committee. In May 2010, AOWC was among the first clubs to receive British Wrestling's Clubmark certification.
Wood coached Maria Dunn, a freestyle wrestler from Guam, for the 2012 Olympics. Wood and Ben Johnson also served as torchbearers for the Olympic flame. Dunn later married Bolton wrestling coach Nathan Tully and they founded the Snakepit Wrestling Academy in Guam. Tully died in 2020 after a battle with cancer. The Nathan Tully award "for dedication to grassroots/paying it forward" is presented in his memory at the Catch Wrestling World Championships.
The club hosted the Aspull Freestyle Wrestling International for 35 years as of 2012.