An offshoot of traditional wrestling, catch wrestling became popular in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century. Carnivals hosted athletic shows, which would pit carnival wrestlers against the locals. If the opponent could defeat the strongman by a pin or submission, he would win a cash prize. The traveling wrestlers developed concession holds, or hooks, to defeat their challengers. The wrestlers would stretch and crank their opponents, making them shout uncle. Hooking your opponent as quickly as possible was and still is the name of the game in catch wrestling.

Catch wrestling includes many techniques, including hand strikes, kicks, takedowns, sweeps, gouges, arm locks, leg locks, torso cranks, neck cranks, chokes, rips and so on. Most of the techniques can take place standing up or on the ground. Catch wrestling is the base for many hybrid fighting systems, including shootwrestling.


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