Tony Cecchine's Catch Wrestling - The Lost Art of Hooking

Click here to go back to the main page
Surprise!! That is what you will be telling your opponent while he taps the mat. Too often, the school environment is a closed society. Everyone does the same moves and counters. The only way to get ahead to bring some new moves and different solutions to the same problems. For a fresh and innovative look at all the standard positions and submission you need to take a look at Tony Cecchine's "Catch Wrestling - The Lost Art of Hooking" tapes.

Catch Wrestling is the art used by old time wrestlers before the WWF. This art form has a lot in common with BJJ. Both arts have a prime directive of controlling the opponent. Many of the submission and positions are shared by both arts. However, there are some sharp differences. The most important is the fact that Catch Wrestling emphasizes "submissions over position." A Catch Wrestler will go for a submission from almost anywhere. While this violates a fundamental BJJ rule, some people, like Frank Shamrock, have made a career of it. While Frank is not a Catch Wrestler, his win over Jeremy Horn does come to mind as a prime example of when to break the rules. Frank got the snot beaten out of him for the entire fight. In fact, moments before winning, Jeremy took Frank down. Frank had just hit the ground in a clearly "inferior" position. Frank grabbed Jeremy's leg, that was in front of him, and applied a knee bar that won him the fight. To me this was an object lesson in taking the submission wherever you find it and not waiting for a "superior" position.

That being said, there are risks inherent in violating the "Position before submission" rule. If the submission fails, you are often left in an inferior position or required to have a deep understanding of how to "chain" moves together. This is why I would not recommend this tape set for those just starting out. You really need a good base of knowledge to both appreciate what Tony has to offer and to avoid possible pit falls.

All of the tapes are laced with discussions on the differences between BJJ and Catch Wrestling. You should not look at this as an attack on BJJ, but as a chance to listen to another point of view. Tony has many valid points about the strengths and weakness of standard BJJ.

Additionally, the tapes have a NHB edge to them. The focus is clearly on submission grappling, but there is always some discussion of what you might do in a street fight, or say, how to properly punch from the mount. As a result, these tapes could be very helpful to those interested in Vale Tudo or NHB fighting.

Tony has a very clear and concise method of teaching. And while I say these tapes are not for beginners, that is not to imply that this material is at all difficult to learn. A beginner could learn this material very easily; they just would not be able to put it into perspective. Tony uses vivid descriptions that help you remember and understand the fine points that he is trying to get across. There is no wasted tape here. You get pure teaching without slow motion replays or other fillers. This makes this set a great value. Your really get a lot of first class teaching for your money.

I should mention a little bit about Tony Cecchine. Tony began studying Catch-As-Catch-Can Wrestling (Catch Wrestling) in 1977 when he was 13 years old under Stanley Radwan. For the two decades that followed, Tony continued his study of this nearly lost art with such greats as Billy Wicks and Lou Thesz, who dubbed Tony Cecchine a "Hooker," a term bestowed on the highest practitioner of the art. Tony also has trained in traditional martial arts, boxing, and powerlifting. Tony has not competed MMA or Submission Grappling events that I know of. I point this out as a statement of fact and not as a slight on Tony. (To read more about Tony's training follow this link: Interview with Tony Cecchine).

Bottom Line:
This is excellent set of tapes that will make you reexamine your game. If you want to add a little more power and pain to your BJJ or want to learn legitimate Catch Wrestling, this is the place to learn it. I would not recommend this set to someone just starting out. Learn the basics and then get this set. You will be in a better position to appreciate what Tony is teaching on his tapes. For those with a basic to intermediate (or above) knowledge base, you have a golden opportunity to take your game to another level and in directions that your BJJ opponent's would never suspect. You will also learn new ways of inflicting pain and discomfort on your opponents. With the holidays coming up and all, remember, it is better to give than receive.

Tape 1 - Ground Domination 1 "Stick 'em like a Pig"
Number of Moves: 13
Length: 48 minutes
 This tape covers in detail three positions - Side Control, Scarf hold, and North and South. Tony's puts his own spin on these standard positions. This is one of the few tapes on the market that gets to the essence of what makes these positions work. You will walk away with a PhD in each of these positions. Tony has a way of describing the techniques that will stick in your memory and you walk away with the knowledge that you can easily do everything he teaches on the tapes. He also adds a lot of ways to rough up and wear down your opponent. Tony really likes to make his opponents uncomfortable in whatever position they find themselves. Having multiple points of pain both confuses your opponent and forces him into making a mistake.

Tape 2 - Ground Domination 2 "It's not self-defense, it's self-offense"
Number of Moves: 20
Length: 48 minutes
 This tape explores the mount, the back mount, and being in the guard. Like the first tape, Tony explores the physics and proper positioning that make being in one of these positions an advantage. One of Tony's main goals on this tape is to show that the person in the guard has the advantage. In non-sport BJJ this is very true. Moreover, Tony has come up with a completely different variation on these positions. He also continues his theme of torturing his opponent to force him to make a mistake.

Tape 3 - Arm Manipulations 1 "It's snap, not tap"
Number of Moves: 16
Length: 48 minutes
 When you boil this tape down, it is really an in-depth study of the "Americana" armlock. That being said, Tony has a completely different way of executing the lock. Tony's method of executing "Americana" removes space and creates more pain right away. I walked away with a different understanding of this fundamental lock. He shows the lock from the guard, mount, and scarf hold. He shows how to transition into the lock too. This is just as important as the lock itself. While it might be hard to believe, this is all fresh and new material. You won't find what Tony teaches here on any other set. We all know how to do Americana, but you will fundamentally rethink the way you execute the armlock once you have seen this tape.

Tape 4 - Arm Manipulations 2 "Push, pull or twist if possible"
Number of Moves: 14
Length: 48 minutes
 This tape picks up where the last one left off and covers straight armbars from the scarf hold and the mount. You also get Tony's version of juji-gatame. Tony does a nice job covering what to do when your first attempt at the lock fails.

Tape 5 - Neck Manipulations 1 "Listen up Cronies"
Number of Moves: 16
Length: 48 minutes
 This tape deals with a wide variety of ways to rip your friend's head off (Your training partner might have to apply for a job chasing Ichabod Crane after you watch this tape). Tony starts the tape with a discussion of how the catch wrestling version of guillotine (called a neck crank) is different from the BJJ version of the guillotine. Tony has a point. The standard BJJ version of the guillotine is a choke, while his version works against the vertebrae of the neck (That's why they call it a neck crank). He then shows the neck crank from several positions and situations.

The next section, which covers head scissors, makes this one of the more valuable tapes of the set. Head scissors are not normally covered on most BJJ tape sets and make a valuable addition to the arsenal. Most importantly, Tony shows you realistic ways to setup the head scissors. The most interesting of these is a defense against a single leg takedown where you spin, step over your opponent and figure four his head for a submission.

Tony then moves on to show a few submissions when you are stuck in someone's ½ guard. All of these moves will add an element of surprise to your repertoire of moves. Too often, at any given school, everyone knows the moves and counters to what has been taught. The best way to catch people off guard is to use something they haven't seen or an unconventional move. This tape will give you plenty of ammo for this.

Tape 6 - Neck Manipulations 2 "People with skinny arms can choke the living hell out of you"
Number of Moves: 22
Length: 48 minutes
 This is one of the most innovative tapes of the set. On this tape, you will find some of Tony's best moves to surprise your opponents. Tony covers how to crank on the head and neck from the scarf hold, mount, the juji-gatame position, side control, and back mount. You will not find most the submissions on of this tape anywhere else. Therefore, your opponent will not see these moves coming (unless he has seen this tape). Who would think that you could go for a ½ nelson from the side control? The best thing is that most of the submissions are fairly painful. I will point out that you do need to really give some thought as to when to go for these submissions. Tony ignores positioning and this might get you into trouble if the submission fails. Tony would tell you that you need to "chain" the moves together and if one move fails, you move into a different submission. This will not work for those that are less experienced grapplers. This is why I do not recommend this set as place to start your career in grappling. This set is better suited to helping you bump your game to the next level after you have sound fundamentals.

Tape 7 - Leg Manipulations 1 "All I am thinking of is breaking his leg"
Number of Moves: 12
Length: 45 minutes
 This tape is a master class in leg locks and leg lock mechanics. Catch Wrestling has its own unique way of doing even the most common leg lock. Tony takes you by the hand and gives you an expert step-by-step guide of all the basic leg locks. 18 minutes of the tape is spent on explaining how to properly perform an Achilles leg lock and heel hook. Just as important, as how to finish someone, is how to enter into the leg locks. Tony gives you easy and realistic ways to transition into the each of the leg locks shown. Even better, Tony gives you a backup move or series of moves for when your leg lock attempts fails. Also covered on this tape are step over toeholds and ½ Boston crab. There is no doubt in my mind that you will learn how to improve your ability to submit someone from what you will learn on this tape.

Tape 8 - Leg Manipulations 2 "If you grab the man, you should be able to break the man"
Number of Moves: 12
Length: 48 minutes
 Tony continues with a wide arsenal of leg locks from the mount, open guard, closed guard, 1/2 guard and standing. This time the focus is on toeholds and shin locks. It is just as important that you see this tape so you can execute these moves, as it is so that you can defend against them. There were more than a few eye-opening moments on this tape. Tony's ability to enter into a leg lock while in the closed guard was a sobering moment. You will definitely have the element of surprise on your opponents when you go to the mat armed with many of these moves. Tony even manages to put a totally new spin on how and why to grapevine the legs from the mount. I think Tony's partner on the tapes suffered the most on this one. I also liked the great names that Catch Wrestling has for some of their moves like, "Standing Indian Death Lock." How can you go wrong with a move called that! This is a move done when you are stuck in the ½ guard that will surprise the hell out of your opponent. This is all new material that you will not find on another tape set.

Tape 9 - Leg Manipulations 3 "Chain and flow"
Number of Moves: 17
Length: 45 minutes
 This tape will show you a world of possibilities for attacking your opponent where you might have thought your options were limited. Moreover, just as with the other tapes, you have new ways to attack that your opponent will never expect. You will learn new attacks from the open guard, closed guard, side control, back mount, and ½ guard. Almost all the attacks are new and won't be found on any other tape set. You will get a master class in the art of shin locking. You really learn that you can attack from anywhere and from any position. Again, the only thing you must remember is that you had better have enough experience to chain your attacks together when one fails. This is because you are often giving up a superior position to go for a submission.

Tape 10 - Hooking Combinations "Locks, Hold downs, etc are just "words," you need to string them together to make sentences, paragraphs, stories and novels"
Number of Moves: 15
Length: 45 minutes
 This tape is only partly devoted to combinations. The other parts of the tape, while valuable, do not teach combinations. I was hoping for a little more structured approach to combinations. I really prefer the "If your opponent does this, then you do that." What Tony shows is more random combinations for whatever submission presents itself. This is fine if you are really skilled in all the submissions and recognize that they are there. However, Tony does little to help you put together a winning game plan. It is this lack of a comprehensive game plan that prevented me from giving this set 5 stars. I guess the whole purpose of this tape set is open your eyes to a world of grappling outside BJJ. Now that your eyes have been opened, you should be able to start seeing the submission that Tony demonstrated throughout this tape set.

Outside of the "combinations" section, the tape is mainly a catalog of moves that did not fit elsewhere on the tape set. You do get some really great moves here. Again, with the great names, Tony shows "Brian's Brain Buster." This a head crush from the triangle hold. Tony also spends a significant amount of time on Lou Thesz's version of the "Step Over Toe Hold." At the end of the tape is some painful ways to defeat the turtle position by driving your elbow into the back of the opponent. One nice suggestion by Tony is to take a bathroom scale and us it to see if you are properly generating maximum force down with your elbow.

Tape 11 - "The Lost Art of Hooking" (Documentary about Lou Thesz)
Number of Moves: 10
Length: 90 minutes
 This tape is a nice little documentary on Lou Thesz and the history of "Hooking." Sadly, it does not appear that this tape is included with the set these days and is not for sale. The tape is divided into four parts: A 15 minute interview with Lou Thesz (Thesz was 83 year old at the time), 30 minute match between Thesz and Verne Gagne from 1952, a 3 minutes video on Thesz training in his younger days and finally the first move from each of the 10 tapes that make up the this tape set. Since the moves were all repeats, I did not count the moves on this tape in the final tally for how many moves were on this set.

Actually, the most important thing that I got out of this tape was the Lou Thesz wholeheartedly endorsed Tony Cecchine. That means that you are getting real Catch Wrestling and not some made up moves and ideas put on tape. Lou Thesz was arguably the greatest of all the Catch Wrestlers.

I am not sure why WMA decide to put the footage from the previous 10 tapes on this tape. It could be part advertising and partly to show those who are watch just the documentary how some of the moves are performed. I would have liked Thesz to have taught a few moves.

Here are the questions that Thesz answered during the interview portion of the tape:
  1. What are the origins of Catch Wrestling?
  2. How did the early Greek style evolve into "Hooking?"
  3. Was "Hooking" ever used to seriously mane someone?
  4. When did you first see "worked" or exhibition matches emerge?
  5. Compare the wrestling of today with that of your era.
  6. How effective would "Hooking" be in a street fight?
  7. How many wrestlers on the pro circuit today know anything about "Hooking" or Catch Wrestling?
  8. Will the lineage or heritage of "hooking" continue?
  9. What is the most deadly "Hook" that can be used in a street fight?
Here are the questions that Thesz answered during the interview portion of the tape:

Here is a short article about Lou Thesz that was published the day he died:
Lou Thesz passes away
April 28, 2002 -- Lou Thesz, a pioneer in professional wrestling who grappled for more than 55 years and helped carry the spectacle into the era of television, died Sunday. He was 86. Thesz started wrestling professionally in the mid-1930s at age 17 and took part in a match in Japan when he was 73. Thesz was among wrestling's most visible performers in the 1940s and 1950s, according to Kit Bauman, co-author of Thesz's autobiography, "Hooker: An Authentic Wrestler's Adventures Inside the Bizarre World of Professional Wrestling." A good-looking, lithe man at 6-2, 225-pounds, Thesz began wrestling in St. Louis and was first named world champion at age 21. He regularly fulfilled between 200 and 250 wrestling dates per year and performed all over the world, according to his official Web site. Thesz received some mainstream celebrity, posing with movie stars like Alan Ladd and Yvonne DeCarlo and trading mock grips with former heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis. He was named to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in February.

For more information about Lou Thesz and Verne Gagne, here is a links to their books:"

Bill Lewis BJJ33@aol.com
© Copyright Bill Lewis 2003 all rights reserved.