History - Combat Submission Wrestling
Erik Paulson's CSW - Origins and Development
Combat Submission Wrestling is a reformulated Shoot Wrestling curriculum as developed and taught by Erik Paulson, multiple World Light Heavyweight Shooto Champion. The curriculum is a three dimensional martial art form involving striking, takedowns and submissions.
The base of CSW is Shoot Wrestling, which was introduced to Paulson by Yorinaga Nakamura, an instructor from Japan. Shoot Wrestling is a general term that describes a range of hybrid fighting systems originating in Japan in the late 1970s, in close association with Japanese professional wrestling. Shoot Wrestling has several sub-disciplines eg. Shoot Fighting, Shooto, Pancrase, RINGS Submission Fighting, and Shoot Boxing. The term "shoot" refers to the fact that the techniques are applied for real, as opposed to a "work" or soft practise. The Shoot Wrestling techniques are often applied in shoot-style professional wrestling matches, which feature predetermined outcomes, but with much technique applied in a stiff or full contact manner.
Historically, Shoot Wrestling has been influenced by many martial arts such as Catch Wrestling, freestyle wrestling, Greco-Roman Wrestling and Pehlwani/Kushti in the beginning and Karate, Muay Thai and Judo in the final stages. The strongest influence on Shoot Wrestling though, has been that of Catch Wrestling. In fact, Catch Wrestler Karl Istaz (using the professional wrestling name Karl Gotch) is widely recognised as the single most important figure in the development of Shoot Wrestling. Karl Istaz was a student of the famous Snake Pit gym under Billy Riley of Wigan. The gym was the centre for learning submission wrestling as practiced in the mining town of Wigan, popularly known as Catch-As-Catch-Can Wrestling. It was here that Karl Istaz honed his Catch Wrestling skills. Karl Istaz also travelled to India to practice the wrestling form of Pehlwani and later on he would propagate the exercises using the "Hindu Mace" (Mudgals) and would go on to incorporate the Indian system of exercises using push ups, neck exercises, breathing exercises (Yoga) and "Hindu squats" for conditioning. Karl Istaz eventually travelled to the American and professional wrestling where he found moderate success. It was his tour to Japan though, that set the stage for the birth of Shoot Wrestling.
