Wrestling Legend Billy Robinson Passes Away

Billy Robinson passed away several days ago. He was 74 years old. Robinson was originally trained at the Snake Pit in Wigan, England, the same place that also produced Dynamite Kid. Robinson was considered a great shooter as well as a tremendous technical wrestler.

In the US, Robinson was best known as being a main rival to Verne Gagne in the AWA. He also toured India, was a top star in Montreal in the 80s, and often wrestled WWWF Champion Bob Backlund to 60-minte draws. Robinson also had success in New Japan, including a rivalry with Antonio Inoki with the story being that it was a match between the top two technical wrestlers in the world.

From there, Robinson was brought in by the UWF and became a top trainer for their school in Japan, the UWF Snake Pit. He mentored a number of Americans who went over to work for the UWF and its successor, the UWFi, including former WWE and ECW star Little Guido. Robinson, known for his catch wrestling skills,

Robinson was inducted into the International Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003 worked very closely with MMA talents as well, including Josh Barnett, Kazushi Sakuraba and Rolando Delgado. He also worked with Davey Boy Smith Jr.

The following was posted on the official Facebook page for Scientific Wrestling in Little Rock, Arkansas, where Robinson worked as a coach….

“I am unbelievably sad to report that my very good friend Billy Robinson passed away today. I hadn’t heard from him in days so I contacted his apartment complex to check in on him. When I called back for a progress report the apartment manager put the police on the phone, it seems he passed peacefully in his sleep. He was a lion of a man, bigger than life in so many ways, my wife and I named our youngest son, Lliam in his honor. You will be sorely missed, my friend. Thank you so much for living the life you did.”

On behalf of everyone here on the website, I would like to extend our condolences to the family, friends and fans of Mr. Robinson.