Has this season been a downer so far?

[Threadkilla]

I haven't been this apathetic about a wresting season in 40 years,  there is more talent out there than ever.  There were some great matches at the All-Star but since then it seems like every marquee matchup that is anticipated doesn't happen,  dudes don't wrestle or show up for the tourney at all.

Last year at this time Crookham had beaten Vito and Blaze beat #1 Ramos as a HS Junior. and there were a dozen other storylines.

We are almost halfway through the season.  what are the highlights so far?  Anything. 

Josh Barr meeting expectations is all i can think of so far.  Perhaps Ferrari.

Edited Saturday at 12:45 AM by Threadkilla

[ionel]

4 minutes ago, Threadkilla said:

I haven't been this apathetic about a wresting season in 40 years,  there is more talent out there than ever.  There were some great matches at the All-Star but since then it seems like every marquee matchup that is anticipated doesn't happen,  dudes don't wrestle or show up for the tourney at all.

We are almost halfway through the season.  what are the highlights so far?  Tell me I'm wrong.  

[Wrestleknownothing]

13 minutes ago, Threadkilla said:

I haven't been this apathetic about a wresting season in 40 years,  there is more talent out there than ever.  There were some great matches at the All-Star but since then it seems like every marquee matchup that is anticipated doesn't happen,  dudes don't wrestle or show up for the tourney at all.

Last year at this time Crookham had beaten Vito and Blaze beat #1 Ramos as a HS Junior. and there were a dozen other storylines.

We are almost halfway through the season.  what are the highlights so far?  Anything. 

Josh Barr meeting expectations is all i can think of so far.  Perhaps Ferrari.

Your apathy has caused you to not pay attention. There have been a ton of top 10 match ups.

O'Toole v Haines

Ramos v Spratley

Ayala v Knox

Hardy v Jamison

Lovett v Henson

Downey v Taylor

Keckeisen v Plott

Buchanan v Munoz

Hendricksen v Feldman

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

Lucas Byrd v. Nasir Bailey

The reemergence of the ILLINI as a national power. Webster and Scoles killing it. The Brawlnagels and Luffman back. Ruth at a new weight. This season has been anything but a downer for ILLINOIS fans. 

 

[1032004]

We are also just getting into the more significant dual season

[Threadkilla]

20 minutes ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

Your apathy has caused you to not pay attention. There have been a ton of top 10 match ups.

O'Toole v Haines

Ramos v Spratley

Ayala v Knox

Hardy v Jamison

Lovett v Henson

Downey v Taylor

Keckeisen v Plott

Buchanan v Munoz

Hendricksen v Feldman

 

Perhaps.   It may be the hype machine like the soldier salute and they spend an hour on the potential matchups at FRL and half of the studs are no shows.  The Scuffle used to be one of the top events and the field looks sparse.   

 

[Wrestleknownothing]

3 minutes ago, Threadkilla said:

 

Perhaps.   It may be the hype machine like the soldier salute and they spend an hour on the potential matchups at FRL and half of the studs are no shows.  The Scuffle used to be one of the top events and the field looks sparse.   

 

No doubt the in season tournaments are a pale imitation of what they used to be.

[Hammerlock3]

It has been D level so far. 

[MadMardigain]

Seems like the least amount of TV aired matches/events I’ve ever seen.  Used to be able to catch some duals and at least a tournament final or two between one of the ESPN channels, Big10 network, and the ACC network by this time of year. Now almost everything’s behind a paywall of some sort.  

[SNL Wrestling]

Ive never been more engaged tbh, there are constatnly good matches and match-ups between teams.

[flyingcement]

I feel my excitement level as being lower than it usually is at this time of year.  Not sure why exactly.  It could be my fault entirely.

[MizzouFan01]

8 minutes ago, flyingcement said:

I feel my excitement level as being lower than it usually is at this time of year.  Not sure why exactly.  It could be my fault entirely.

My excitement level is low as well. Maybe it’s injuries, lack of top teams or big matchups happening at what I consider watered down dual meets and tournaments. Take the SS for example, the match with Arnold and Ferrari not happening killed it. The highlight match of the tournament and it doesn’t happen due to a MFF. We can get KOT vs Haines but not Ferrari/Arnold. Hopefully the second half of the season heats up, January-March is a great time of the year when wrestling is going full steam. 

[BarSeries]

Not to worry, Big 10 season is upon us.

[ionel]

24 minutes ago, flyingcement said:

I feel my excitement level as being lower than it usually is at this time of year.  Not sure why exactly.  It could be my fault entirely.

 

10 minutes ago, MizzouFan01 said:

My excitement level is low as well.

... old age low T ... 

@BobDole!

Edited Saturday at 02:36 AM by ionel

[Threadkilla]

 

15 minutes ago, ionel said:

39 minutes ago, flyingcement said:

I feel my excitement level as being lower than it usually is at this time of year.  Not sure why exactly.  It could be my fault entirely.

 

25 minutes ago, MizzouFan01 said:

My excitement level is low as well.

 

So it isn't just me. Nice to hear.  and I agree with Madmardigan that it seems alot harder to catch a match here and there.  I'm thankful for those Indian dudes that post matches followed by a pottery video.

 

[Gus]

11 hours ago, Threadkilla said:

I haven't been this apathetic about a wresting season in 40 years,  there is more talent out there than ever.  There were some great matches at the All-Star but since then it seems like every marquee matchup that is anticipated doesn't happen,  dudes don't wrestle or show up for the tourney at all.

Last year at this time Crookham had beaten Vito and Blaze beat #1 Ramos as a HS Junior. and there were a dozen other storylines.

We are almost halfway through the season.  what are the highlights so far?  Anything. 

Josh Barr meeting expectations is all i can think of so far.  Perhaps Ferrari.

Who’s your team?

[Gene Mills Fan]

12 hours ago, ILLINIWrestlingBlog said:

Lucas Byrd v. Nasir Bailey

The reemergence of the ILLINI as a national power. Webster and Scoles killing it. The Brawlnagels and Luffman back. Ruth at a new weight. This season has been anything but a downer for ILLINOIS fans. 

 

 

1 hour ago, Gus said:

Who’s your team?

 

12 hours ago, ILLINIWrestlingBlog said:

Lucas Byrd v. Nasir Bailey

The reemergence of the ILLINI as a national power. Webster and Scoles killing it. The Brawlnagels and Luffman back. Ruth at a new weight. This season has been anything but a downer for ILLINOIS fans. 

 

Webster is a beast

 

[Quaker118]

Keckeisen vs Starocci. 

[BruceyB]

The first half of every NCAA season is pretty boring IMO. You might get a handful of interesting duals, and CKLV. Even if their are a number of top 10 matchups, they are spread out over several weeks and several events.

The B1G duals are basically the best part of the regular college season. With guys only wrestling 20 matches during the regular season, there just aren't that many great events where a lot of top guys are present at the same time.

[CHROMEBIRD]

On 1/3/2025 at 6:11 PM, flyingcement said:

I feel my excitement level as being lower than it usually is at this time of year.  Not sure why exactly.  It could be my fault entirely.

I'm feeling the same way. The season hasn't been bad thus far, but I'm just less excited about it. My interest in college sports in general has been fading a bit. It feels like the transfer portal, NIL, pay to play settlement, realignment, etc. have taken a lot out of the parity and tradition that used to make D1 sports fun.

[okokzach]

8 minutes ago, CHROMEBIRD said:

I'm feeling the same way. The season hasn't been bad thus far, but I'm just less excited about it. My interest in college sports in general has been fading a bit. It feels like the transfer portal, NIL, pay to play settlement, realignment, etc. have taken a lot out of the parity and tradition that used to make D1 sports fun.

Agreed that lack of parity really kills the fun. I stopped watching college football partly because of the huge SEC bias. Wrestling media seems more fair by comparison, probably because there aren't as many direct financial ties to certain conferences. Penn State's insane dominance makes things less fun to watch and is probably bad for college wrestling overall, but at least media coverage is pretty even handed

Edited 20 hours ago by okokzach

[BruceyB]

54 minutes ago, okokzach said:

Agreed that lack of parity really kills the fun. I stopped watching college football partly because of the huge SEC bias. Wrestling media seems more fair by comparison, probably because there aren't as many direct financial ties to certain conferences. Penn State's insane dominance makes things less fun to watch and is probably bad for college wrestling overall, but at least media coverage is pretty even handed

Agreed. It's hard to imagine any team not named Penn St, Iowa, or Ok St realistically being a title contender in the foreseeable future. Between their HS recruits and financial ability to fill in gaps through the portal, they aren't likely to have many, if any holes in their lineups. The fact that Iowa has 2 noncompetitive weights this year is pretty shocking. Ohio State has a ton of talent, but unless they have the funds and are able to bring in high level transfers, I just don't see think any team able to compete for a national title just based on their high school recruits.

[wrestle87]

On 1/3/2025 at 7:40 PM, Threadkilla said:

I haven't been this apathetic about a wresting season in 40 years,  there is more talent out there than ever.  There were some great matches at the All-Star but since then it seems like every marquee matchup that is anticipated doesn't happen,  dudes don't wrestle or show up for the tourney at all.

Last year at this time Crookham had beaten Vito and Blaze beat #1 Ramos as a HS Junior. and there were a dozen other storylines.

We are almost halfway through the season.  what are the highlights so far?  Anything. 

Josh Barr meeting expectations is all i can think of so far.  Perhaps Ferrari.

You are not wrong, it's been a major snoozefest, which happens.  There are down years and transition years which tend to crop up following the graduation of big names.  We're just experiencing a major dip because we graduated SO MANY guys last year who had been around for what felt like a decade.  

From finalists last year, the following are those who graduated. 

Vito
Fix
Austin Gomez
Carr
Brooks
Hidlay
Davison

I don't feel like doing all the math, but everybody please feel free to add in the 7x AA's who also graduated.

We had a glut of guys get REALLY good (because, 900 years of eligibility), and this is the reset year.

The other year that I can remember being this boring was 2003, like gouge your eyes out boring, was right after Cael graduated.  That's definitely not a coincidence.



 

Edited 19 hours ago by wrestle87

[Hammerlock3]

1 hour ago, wrestle87 said:

You are not wrong, it's been a major snoozefest, which happens.  There are down years and transition years which tend to crop up following the graduation of big names.  We're just experiencing a major dip because we graduated SO MANY guys last year who had been around for what felt like a decade.  

From finalists last year, the following are those who graduated. 

Vito
Fix
Austin Gomez
Carr
Brooks
Hidlay
Davison

I don't feel like doing all the math, but everybody please feel free to add in the 7x AA's who also graduated.

We had a glut of guys get REALLY good (because, 900 years of eligibility), and this is the reset year.

The other year that I can remember being this boring was 2003, like gouge your eyes out boring, was right after Cael graduated.  That's definitely not a coincidence.



 

I think this is wrong. We don't need more good guys, we need more good stories, and we aren't getting any because everyone has figured out that you shouldn't put anything on the line before march.

My god we got Gable Steveson BACK and no one cares.

Edited 18 hours ago by Hammerlock3

[The Kid]

50 minutes ago, Hammerlock3 said:

I think this is wrong. We don't need more good guys, we need more good stories, and we aren't getting any because everyone has figured out that you shouldn't put anything on the line before march.

My god we got Gable Steveson BACK and no one cares.

What's the big deal with Steveson?

He came back after an ill advised wwe career.  Yeah, he gave thr nfl a go too.

Now he's back in his apparent 6th season at junior varsity. 

That's why no one cares.  It's absurd.