Karl Gotch –
The God of Wrestling

In March of 1999, Matt Furey traveled to Florida to meet Karl Gotch, the man the Japanese called, Kami Sama, “The God of Wrestling.”

At the time Furey was publishing his own grappling newsmagazine, G.A.I.N., and figured a Gotch interview would be a huge motivator to his subscribers.

But, as it turned out, Furey’s interview with Gotch was not your standard interview.

Instead, Furey found himself on the carpet of Gotch’s condominium, on the receiving end of various catch wrestling submission holds (known as hooks) that Karl put on him. He also learned the truth about various “show holds” that were being passed off as real “hook,” and how easy they were to counter.

Imagine Furey’s surprise when Gotch countered some of these so-called submissions with one finger!

Over the course of four days, Gotch relayed his account of catch wrestling history, as well teaching Furey the details of the exercises that would go into his international best-seller, Combat Conditioning.

Furey learned what really happened in the ring when Gotch cornered for the Antonio Inoki fight with Muhammad Ali, refereed by “Judo” Gene LeBell.

Furey got the scoop about famous catch wrestlers, from “Farmer” Burns to Frank Gotch, to John Pesek, Geroge Hackenschmidt, and many others.

At the end of the training, Gotch suggested that Furey move to Florida to learn from him on a regular basis.

Upon Furey’s return to California, he published the interview and the back-story about Karl Gotch, which was well-received by his subscribers. Then, in September of that same year, Furey moved to Florida, where he trained with Gotch for two years, learning his catch wrestling system as well as his conditioning methods. At the time, Gotch regularly ran practices where Furey set up a studio with other practitioners. Additionally, Gotch frequently met with Furey in private to relay information that he taught to no one else in the class.

Now, for the first time outside of the subscribers to G.A.I.N., the interview and full story, with pictures, is available as an e-book.

You’re going to love reading this, along with the pictures and descriptions toward the end of Furey doing the now world famous Hindu squats and Hindu pushups.