Catch Wrestling Holds and Counters Reference

Mat Manual companion guide to "Catch Wrestling: An Instructor's Overview." Print it. Keep it in your gym bag.

Catch wrestling finishes two ways, by pin and by submission, and its holds were built for a man who is already being held down. This reference lays out the art's working library: the rides and pinning combinations that create the finish, the submission families with their main entries and the counters that answer them, the rules the modern events actually use, and the words, from the Lancashire era to the modern gym. Dangerous holds are included because a source of truth does not pretend they do not exist. They are framed the way good catch rooms frame them: learn the shape, learn the defense, apply slowly, and never crank anything that involves a neck or a spine.

The Safety Frame, Read First

☐ Tap early. A tap in training is information, not surrender of honor. ☐ Every hold in this guide is applied with control first and pressure last. If you cannot hold the position without the finish, you do not own the finish. ☐ Neck cranks and spinal attacks are control-and-knowledge material. Learn to recognize them, learn to defend them, drill them at partner speed with no finishing pressure. Do not apply them to a finish in training. Full stop. ☐ Leg locks come on fast and the damage arrives before the pain does. Apply toe holds and heel-twisting holds in slow motion, and release the instant a partner taps, shifts, or calls out. ☐ Never train through numbness, tingling, or shooting pain anywhere. Stop, report it, and sit out until it is gone.