Do We Need to Re-Think the Delayed Wrestle-Off System?

Earlier this week, we learned of three Final X series’ that will be delayed because of an injury to one of its participants. The 65 kg men’s freestyle series between Real Woods and Bo Bassett, the 68 kg women’s freestyle series between Kennedy Blades and Isabella Mir, and the 76 kg women’s freestyle series between Kylie Welker and Dymond Guilford will all get pushed back in accordance with rules set by USA Wrestling.

This is on top of the fact that there will be no actual match at 72 kg in women’s freestyle as US Open champion Alex Glaude suffered a serious knee injury that will sideline her for an extended period of time.

In addition, the 92 kg series in men’s freestyle already took place as Trent Hidlay got by former training partner Michael Macchiavello in two straight matches last Saturday. That series needed to move as Hidlay gets married on Saturday and Macchiavello is attending the wedding. Initially, Final X was slated to take place last week and Hidlay planned appropriately; however, the Final X date was later changed.

With all of those changes, there will be only 15 series’ wrestled at Final X, rather than the 20 as initially planned.

In each of these situations, a delay is acceptable because the party requesting it is a returning world medalist. This is led many fans online to wonder if this is right or fair and whether or not the rules regarding a delay to the Final X wrestle-off are even needed.

Wrestling, particularly in America, is a sport that is typically used to inflexible deadlines or benchmarks. If you don’t make the weight at the required time, you don’t wrestle. If you are injured and can’t compete in the district, regional, or conference tournament, you can’t take part in the state or national tournament. It stinks, but everyone is aware of these deadlines and, generally, the sport waits for no one.

Once we get to international wrestling, some of those deadlines are a bit more grey, rather than black or white. Fairness isn’t the top priority. Sending the best team possible to the world championships is what USA Wrestling should focus on. The entire process is weighed to give the stars the benefit of the doubt. A returning world medalist (at that weight class) can automatically advance to Final X without having to compete at the US Open or World Team Trials.

This practice has actually moved in favor of the underdogs with the inception of Final X. The World Team Trials used to be like the Olympic Trials and that returning medalist had a bye to the finals and their opponent was determined by wrestling in a tournament the day before (or day of) their match. The way Final X is structured, with about a month between the Trials and Final X, seems more fair to me.

Back to 2026, there are fans that think changes might be warranted to the process to avoid all the delays we will encounter this week. Is giving the returning world medalist a berth in Final X, bypassing the qualifying tournament, plus the option to push back their series (provided they meet specified criteria), too much power?

My opinion is that we do need a “cut-off” date. One that is known ahead of time. If you’re injured or something comes up that might prevent you from competing at the world championships, you need to make a decision by this specific date. I also think that date is not June 19th (Final X 2026). The 2026 World Championships will take place during the last few days of October. That’s more than four months from this week. That’s a lot of time, though, typically the world championships are not this late in the year.

Maybe a deadline that is 60 days out from the world championships? I tend to think that this is an issue that might be an outlier rather than a way to game the system. It behooves the world team members to win and get Final X and wrestle-offs out of the way. Then the athletes can schedule the events they’d like to attend as a tune-up and tailor their schedules around the world championships.

We have to remember that, even though our world team selection process is very fair compared to other nations, fairness is not the complete endgame. Making the world team is not easy, particularly when you have to go through a Real Woods or Kennedy Blades. You will get tested mentally and physically. The physical part is obviously on the mat and the mental part may involve having to push your match down the line, if needed.

While I do advocate for the world medalists to move series as needed, I do think this should be only utilized if there is no other option. Final X is supposed to consist of 20 matches and only 15 will be contested on Friday. That’s a shame as Final X is one of the must-see events on the wrestling calendar. I attended the Hidlay/Macchiavello wrestle-off last weekend and it was nowhere near the type of atmosphere that Final X provides.

In the future, I think we need to keep an eye on these types of situations and if it becomes a trend, maybe a change is needed. For now, look at it as an outlier. Coming into 2026, Final X only had four wrestle-off’s that needed to be moved since the inception of Final X in 2018.