Karl Gotch | |
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Birth name | Karel Istaz[1][2] |
Born | [3] Antwerp, Belgium[4] | August 3, 1924
Died | July 28, 2007[5] Tampa, Florida, U.S.[6] | (aged 82)
Children | 1 |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Karl Gotch[4] Karl Krauser[4] |
Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)[7] |
Billed weight | 245 lb (111 kg)[7] |
Billed from | Hamburg, Germany |
Trained by | Billy Riley[4] The Snake Pit |
Debut | 1950 |
Retired | January 1, 1982[8] |
Karel "Karl" Istaz[1][2] (August 3, 1924 – July 28, 2007), best known by his ring name Karl Gotch, was a Belgian-born German-American professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, catch wrestler, and trainer.
Gotch represented Belgium at the 1948 Summer Olympics in both freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling before learning catch wrestling at Riley's Gym, better known as "The Snake Pit", and wrestling professionally afterward.[1][2] He was given the ringname "Gotch" by Ohio promoter Al Haft in honor of American wrestler Frank Gotch.[9] In Japan, he became known as a "God of Wrestling" (神様, Kamisama) alongside Billy Robinson and Lou Thesz, due to their collective influence on Japanese professional wrestling.[10][8] In the early 1970s, Gotch had a hand at training the first batch of students in the Antonio Inoki co-led NJPW Dojo. Gotch had previously trained NJPW founding members Inoki and Seiji Sakaguchi. Three notable students of Gotch's were Killer Khan, Tatsumi Fujinami[11] and Yoshiaki Fujiwara. 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.[12]
Gotch had significantly influenced the development of modern mixed martial arts (MMA), especially in Japan. Several of Gotch's students, which included Satoru Sayama,[13] Masakatsu Funaki,[14][15] Minoru Suzuki[15][11] and Akira Maeda,[16] established pioneering MMA promotions and training schools to transmit Gotch's training. These include the UFC-predated Sayama's Shooto and the Funaki-Suzuki Pancrase, and the Maeda-founded Fighting Network RINGS.
Several other professional wrestlers who had been, at some point, taught by Gotch include El Canek, Riki Choshu,[11] Masanobu Fuchi, Bob Backlund, and brothers Joe and Dean Malenko.
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