Facts, Trends, and Numbers from Final X 2025

We’re almost done talking about Final X! It was truly one of the best nights in the history of the event. Some of the highest-scoring matches we’ve seen - actually four of the five highest-scoring in the history of the event. In updating our Final X record book, there were plenty of other notable facts and trends that have emerged and wouldn’t necessarily fit in that particular article - so here we are! All five editions of Final X have featured an Iowa grad at 57 kg in men’s freestyle (Thomas Gilman x4 and Spencer Lee x1) Both wrestlers at 65 kg in men’s freestyle (Real Woods/Joey McKenna) initially signed with and, and earned All-American honors, while wrestling at Stanford. The two wrestlers at 70 kg in men’s freestyle were both four-time (PJ Duke/Yianni Diakomihalis) New York state champions. PJ Duke is the only men’s freestyle wrestler to lose the first match of their series via tech, but who ended up coming back to win. It happened a few times in Greco and once in women’s freestyle. Duke is also the only wrestler in the history of Final X to win a third and deciding match via fall. There have been a total of 27 matches that have gone three matches in the five-year history of the event. Duke’s fall makes him the only men’s freestyle wrestler in the history of Final X to win with a pin. The 86 kg match in men’s freestyle featured a rematch of the very first year of Final X. In the original event, Kyle Dake defeated Zahid Valencia in two matches at 79 kg. This time it was Valencia in two matches. Alex Glaude became the third wrestler to win a Final X series via forfeit. Patrick Downey won via forfeit in 2019 and Kyle Snyder defeated J’den Cox by forfeit in 2023. In 2022, Jenna Burkert had to forfeit the final match of her series with Jacarra Winchester; however, she did wrestle the first two matches. There have been only four American women who have won Olympic gold medals in wrestling. Glaude was set to wrestle her second in Final X before Elor withdrew. Glaude also took on Tamyra Mensah-Stock in 2019. There hasn’t been a wrestler in any style who has faced multiple Olympic gold medalists (current or future) in the history of Final X. Helen Maroulis became the only wrestler in Final X history who won both matches in one series via fall. The only weight class that has seen five different champions in five editions of Final X is….65 kg in men’s freestyle. Real Woods follows, Nick Lee, Yianni Diakomihalis, Zain Retherford, and Logan Stieber. As you might expect, match two of the Wyatt Hendrickson/Trent Hillger series was the highest-scoring match in Final X history. That match alone (20-14 in Hendrickson’s favor) would account for more points than all but two of the previous two-matches series’. Match one of Adaugo Nwachukwo/Kayla Miracle’s series (14-8) is the highest-scoring women’s match in the history of Final X. The Cristelle Rodriguez/Everest Leydecker series (12-8, 8-5) is the highest-scoring women’s series in the history of Final X. Spencer Lee versus Luke Lilledahl became only the second Final X series to feature a pair of wrestlers ranked #1 overall in their high school recruiting class (Lee/’17 and Lilledahl/’24). They join David Taylor/’09 and Zahid Valencia/’15. Former Iowa teammate Felicity Taylor and Brianna Gonzalez met in the 53 kg women’s series. The pair also met in the NCWWC national finals in 2024. The three series’ that went three matches is an all-time low for Final X. Of course, without Greco-Roman is not comparing apples to apples. Even so, it is quite low. 2018 (also without Greco) had four. The years that had Greco were 2019 (5), 2022 (10), and 2023 (7). The delay to the 61 kg series marks the fourth time that a match has been moved out of Final X to another location. The previous three were 2019 Dake/Dieringer (Round Rock, TX), 2022 Miracle/Page (Lancaster, PA), and 2023 Maroulis/Mota-Pettis (Colorado Springs, CO). Kyle Snyder and Jacarra Winchester are the only two wrestlers to participate in, and win, during all five editions of Final X. Cornell, Iowa, NC State, Ohio State, and Penn State are the schools to have grads represented in every single Final X.

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