I wonder if that's the last we'll see of JB. I kinda hope he tries for another gold at 79kg so we can see him one last time.
Yeah, Gable bailed last year and Parris won bronze at worlds. So he’s waiting for the winner in the best 2/3
He's still giving WWE a go. He was supposedly going to be given a big "push" but when he got down there to learn how to fake wrestle it turned out he sucked at it. He considered wrestling at the world championships last year but was supposedly given the choice of "us or them" by WWE.
I could use a Vander/ggcd breakdown of the weight classes(internationally), my only compensation can be a like.
Zahid lost in a fair and square match, thank you for asking. edit: I didn’t see a singlet grab on the replay, so that call was awful especially in that situation.
Sure that’s the end result but that was an absolute theft. Sucks anytime that happens and especially when it’s home cooking bullshit
Makes me think there are crazy enough people in that cult fanbase to pay off refs you can't make that call
Same shit ass ref tried to give Brooks two when he took Zahid down himself more than Brooks. It just sucks because one guy won the match and now cheesey Jesus fuck thinks he was gifted that by god instead of corrupt refs
It doesn't fucking matter if DT would roll Zahid 9/10, Zahid deserves the chance and not lose on some bullshit Cult fanbase
57kg: Spencer Lee vs Thomas Gilman Former teammates, Gilman left Iowa for NLWC in large part because of the presence of Spencer Lee who was the Brands' golden boy. Gilman has said in the past that Spencer humbled him when they wrestled in practice. Weight still needs to be qualified. 65kg: Zain Retherford vs Nick Lee Also former teammates. They're buddies though. Zain just won gold last year at 70kg. Nick Lee has been incredible domestically but has been a pretty huge disappointment internationally. Weight still needs to be qualified. 74kg: Kyle Dake vs Jason Nolf Another NLWC matchup. Unlike Lee/Retherford, I'm pretty sure they're not buddy-buddy. They've wrestled a handful of times but I don't believe Nolf has ever beaten Dake. 86kg: David Taylor vs Aaron Brooks Do you see a pattern forming here? NLWC matchup. David Taylor is on his way to being one of the greats if he can win another Olympic gold. I believe only Smith and Baumgartner* have won 2. Brooks won U23 gold last year and would definitely be a threat for olympic gold if he could get past Taylor. 97kg: Kyle Snyder vs Isaac Trumble. Finally, only one NLWC athlete. Trumble is legit, he just won U23 Gold last year as well. But Kyle Snyder in a best 2 of 3 is a tall task. 125kg: Mason Parris vs Hayden Zilmer Parris is right there with the best 125s in the world. He pinned Zare to win JR world gold and Iranians have been wanting that rematch ever since. Mason was right there with Geno last year but couldn't get it done. Zilmer was the rep in 2022 but lost to Geno, not as competitive as Mason's match.
We don't even know who's qualified/wrestling yet. I'll throw something together when the picture gets clearer.
Still rage posting but here’s a quick, back of the napkin rundown. 57kg - Most wide open with different champs all 3 years in the quad(granted Russia missed one of them) and Uguev looking a little past his prime. Micic won last year with a performance well above his previous level. Favorite: Uguev but not that much of one Top Medal Threats: Micic, Abarakov(Albania by way of Dagestan), Rei Higuchi, Haruntyunyan(has looked better at Euros than worlds typically but a threat) Others to know: Abdullaev(Uzbekistan), Aman(India but not qualified), Darian Cruz, Rzazdze(Azeri) 65kg - Deepest, with some absolute hammers: Defending champ is Ismail Musujkaev, Hungary by way of Dagestan, used to be more famous for gassing out but finally got it done. At least a couple world or Olympic champions will be around with Amouzad from Iran and, it looks like, Rashidov from Russia. Seabass made the finals last year and still isn’t a top 10 guy. Olympic champ Otoguro dealt with injuries the whole quad and lost his spot on the Japan team. US not yet qualified. Favorites: Amouzad, Musujkaev, Rashidov Others: Seabass, Tevanyan(Armenia), Dudaev(Albania via Dagestan), Jalolov(Uzbekistan), and old man Haci Aliyev from Azerbaijan 74kg - Sidakov still the man with Dake and Kadimagomedov on his heels but clearly behind. No others are real threats to that that trio. Old timers still frisky: Tsbalov, Serbia by way of Dagestan. Chamizo(not yet qualified due to fuckery in Azerbaijan), Soner Demirtas of Turkey Young guns that might make a leap: Takatani, Greek guy(not even trying to spell those wild ass names, and Turan Bayramov(Azeri who benefited from said fuckery) 86kg - Easiest one, the two legends in Taylor and Yazdani, first ballot Hall of Famers if that was a thing. Naifonov is back for Russia but he’s never beaten either one, nobody else worth mentioning. 97kg - Most upheaval here, Ahkmed Tazhudinov of Bahrain via Dagestan ran through Snyder and Sadulaev(who got “injured” after he was already getting worked) to win worlds and followed that up with another Asian gold. Sadulaev was denied entry into the Euro qualifier, hasn’t been able to compete in his year due to visa denials due to his apparent support for the Russian war in Ukraine. Russia qualified but it’s unclear if he’ll be apart of it. Some other young guys from Georgia and Azerbaijan will be worth watching too, along with whoever Iran sends(very unsettled). 125kg - Old guys, Akgul and Petriashvili, still around and capable of winning but Amir Zare has taken over as the clear favorite. Parris an outside chance
He was never that guy until last year when he beat the murderers row of Abakarov(22 champ), Uguev, and Heiguchi all in a row in Belgrade. Can’t be ignored but, at the same time, I have a hard time thinking of him at that level
I fucking love wrestling and love you all. Was at a bar with some high school of finals tonight and i was taking about all this and none of them knew hardly anything. You guys are the best sours other than Steve he sucks.
Where do the first round of finals matches slot into this first session? Do we have an actual match schedule?
The first 5 or so are up on mat assignments, but you'll have to look at bout numbers on each bracket. The brackets may be in order by bout number, but I'm not checking each one. First and last (mens fs 86kg off the bottom) are in order.
I actually don't care that much about freestyle, and this is mostly an intra squad scrimmage for nwlc. The highlight of last night was Tom Ryan's car getting towed because he parked illegally at the venue. That's the kind of home cooking we love to see
Before the session they announced 5 cars in fire lanes that were about to be towed. I can't believe one was Tom's.
Not much. They said didn’t land in danger so only 2. (Idk what that means, FS is very hard to understand as someone who only started following a couple years ago)
From last night. Singlet grab https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https://i.redd.it/8v8tk1aa0kvc1.jpeg&rdt=36491
The video is better, that happens in less than a split second. And he’s not pulling for leverage against an attack, it’s just a tie up
Kennedy Blades took out Adeline Gray in round 1. She looked good too. This might be the passing of the torch there.