Winning Wrestling Moves by Barry Davis, Mark Mysnyk & Brooks Simpson
Foreword by Dan Gable

This book might be better titled “All the Wrestling Moves.” There are 195 pages, and every one of them is filled with wrestling techniques: takedowns, escapes, reversals, rides, breakdowns and pins. It’s not an exhaustive collection of wrestling maneuvers, but it sure gets close, even including some Greco-Roman and Freestyle technique in a text clearly weighted toward collegiate-style wrestling. The publisher description claims the book contains more than 700 photographs and 200 takedowns featuring variations based on the opponent's reaction.

The mat techniques favor a scholastic or collegiate style of wrestling, but that is to be expected considering the authors. Davis, Mysnyk and Simpson were All-American wrestlers at Iowa.

The text covers a lot of ground, but it doesn’t always provide a lot of depth and detail. Certain techniques are only described with some text or maybe a single photograph. The experienced grappler will have little trouble with level of detail, but it’s guaranteed to confuse the novice.

It’s one of two weaknesses in the text. The second weakness is clearly presentation. All the photos are black-and-white. The monochrome isn’t always a problem, but in this case the demonstrating wrestlers are identified by the shade of their singlets – the executing wrestler is usually in black. Sometimes, when the book it illustrating counter moves, the wrestler in the lighter singlet is performing the move and sometimes it’s the wrestler in the black singlet. The moves can still be deciphered, and the front of the book has a section detailing how to interpret the singlet color. It’s not a terrible weakness, but sometimes it just seems harder to read than it should be.

Aside from those two minor weaknesses, the book has a lot of strengths. One feature that I really enjoy is a star that marks must-know moves that every wrestler should know. It’s just another piece of information that helps the reader process and prioritize the huge amount of information being presented.

Overall, the organization of the text is a real strength. Moves are broken up into related groups, and presented in a sequence of opens and finishes. For example, the book will show the low single, then provide a menu of finishes, including options based on the opponent’s reaction. The section usually closes with counters to the different moves.

The book covers a lot of material and it’s common for a technique section to make reference to finishes and counters in other sections, complete with page numbers. There is a good index in the back, so it can be used like an encyclopedia of wrestling moves.

I highly-recommend this book to anyone interested in grappling or wrestling. I’m always pulling it off the shelf to look for a technique reference or a little piece of information. There’s not always a lot of tactical or contextual information to frame the techniques, so I have to connect some of the dots on my own. Still, there is no doubt that this book has added to my grappling game and continues to provide a wrestling touchstone to help round out my game.

Good book, though beginners may struggle to maximize the information.