I don't know a whole lot about Billy, other than he trained for a time at Riley's "Snake Pit" in Lancashire near Wigan. As a legitimate shooter, he was supposedly a bastard in the ring - often going just beyond working, stretching guys and taking liberties; a bit of a bully.
Anyone who's seen his matches can probably understand why he never caught on and became big in North America. Like Karl Gotch, Billy used a different "style" that usually wasn't as exciting to fans who were more accustomed to the New York-style brand. Billy spent a lot of time working for Verne Gagne's AWA, which had some excellent mat technicians, but I think his greatest success came in Japan, and I'd love to read about his trips there.
I congratulate Billy Robinson on his current success. I have to; even at his age, he'd probably cripple my ass!
Like Karl Gotch, I think that a lot of Billy's best work/notoriety came later in life. I posted a few semi-recent clips of Robinson training some MMA guys in this thread:
http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?topic=403477.0I'd also love to see what Billy has to say about the legendary Bill Riley and Karl Gotch!