The SnakePit Wigan

Our roots trace back to Riley’s Gym in Wigan, UK, the historic coal mining town where some of the greatest wrestlers in the world originated. Catch as Catch Can or Lancashire Wrestling has a long history. The name implies that unlike many traditional wrestling styles there is no set grip with exponents taking opportunities as they come this enables a wider variety of tactics and techniques. Due to the dominance of Japanese and American wrestlers with Catch training in Mixed Martial Arts and grappling competitions in the 2000s interest again began to grow in the original art of Catch as Catch Can wrestling. Since then people from all over the world have attended The Snake Pit to train in the traditional Catch style in intensive seminars and the yearly week-long International Week. Riley’s gym is continuing to pass on the art of Catch wrestling to a new generation and maintain it's legacy as the home of Catch as Catch Can, Lancashire’s great heritage style of wrestling at The Snake Pit.