What's the technical rule on pushout = stalling?

[Fletcher]

Seems like all season long, refs would call stalling after one wrestler pushed the other out of bounds 2x in a row. At the ACC tourney, they were calling it after the first pushout.  Is there an official rule on this or is it entirely at the referee's discretion?

[1032004]

Call stalling on who?  Technically, it should be stalling on the wrestler that is pushing, but that doesn’t usually seem to be how it’s called (but it can be hard to tell sometimes)

[Hammerlock3]

I'm pretty sure the rule is to apply it randomly to scare the athletes, unless the guy who backs out is winnng in which case you always hit him.

[Fletcher]

  On 3/12/2025 at 8:21 PM, Hammerlock3 said:

I'm pretty sure the rule is to apply it randomly to scare the athletes, unless the guy who backs out is winnng in which case you always hit him.

Expand  

Then the refs are applying the rule flawlessly.

[ugarles]

i think there's no way to do it other than to give the ref discretion to decide if one guy is pushing or if the other is backing off. the guy who is winning late in a match usually is the one stalling. tbh there should be more stalling called in the first period against guys who are backing away from someone trying to engage.

the hale/foca ivy final was a masterclass by hale in getting away with the absolute maximum. once hale was finally hit with a warning, he attacked, successfully, but in SV when a second stall call would end the match he was forced to engage and foca got in clean. there was a kind of nonsense push-out stall on foca late in the match but it had no real effect because foca was the aggressor all match and he didn't need to change his game at all.

Edited March 12 by ugarles

[Wrestleknownothing]

  On 3/12/2025 at 8:16 PM, 1032004 said:

Call stalling on who?  Technically, it should be stalling on the wrestler that is pushing, but that doesn’t usually seem to be how it’s called (but it can be hard to tell sometimes)

Expand  

I saw that call a number of times at B1G.

[Fletcher]

  On 3/12/2025 at 8:16 PM, 1032004 said:

Call stalling on who?  Technically, it should be stalling on the wrestler that is pushing, but that doesn’t usually seem to be how it’s called (but it can be hard to tell sometimes)

Expand  

100% agree. We often see one wrestler pushing out and blocking the other from re-entering the circle in order to solicit a stall call. Which guys is actually stalling in this scenario?

Enforcement now seems to be divorced from the intent of the rule, so just curious if refs are given instructions on how to call and whether it's after the first pushout or second.

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

At Big 10s getting pushed out meant an auto stall call on the wrestler getting pushed out. 

[BarSeries]

  On 3/12/2025 at 10:25 PM, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

At Big 10s getting pushed out meant an auto stall call on the wrestler getting pushed out. 

Expand  

I thought it was the opposite. 

[Fletcher]

  On 3/12/2025 at 10:25 PM, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

At Big 10s getting pushed out meant an auto stall call on the wrestler getting pushed out. 

Expand  

Though that shouldn't be considered stalling, I'm actually OK if that's how it's enforced. At least then there's consistency, referee discretion is limited, and guys are not hit with surprises.

[Scouts Honor]

  On 3/12/2025 at 10:24 PM, Fletcher said:

100% agree. We often see one wrestler pushing out and blocking the other from re-entering the circle in order to solicit a stall call. Which guys is actually stalling in this scenario?

Enforcement now seems to be divorced from the intent of the rule, so just curious if refs are given instructions on how to call and whether it's after the first pushout or second.

Expand  

i might be mistaken, but i remember there being a rule about not letting the opponent circle in... maybe it's gone now? 

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

  On 3/12/2025 at 10:28 PM, BarSeries said:

I thought it was the opposite. 

Expand  

That’s how the rule is supposed to work but they were calling it the opposite way 

[peanut]

It’s beyond time to add a step-out rule

[jajensen09]

  On 3/12/2025 at 10:21 PM, Wrestleknownothing said:

I saw that call a number of times at B1G.

Expand  

I agree. Illinois was a team not doing any moves per say, but just pushing guys and getting stalling calls for it 

[ironmonkey]

The Big Ten tournament was exciting.  Lots of action and upsets.  I'm not sure how a step out does anything but satisfy the freestyle contingent.  There was plenty of action. The calls seemed consistent to me.  

[wrestle87]

  On 3/12/2025 at 8:21 PM, Hammerlock3 said:

I'm pretty sure the rule is to apply it randomly to scare the athletes, unless the guy who backs out is winnng in which case you always hit him.

Expand  

This right here.  Hammerlock, are you secretly Angel Rivera?

[Hammerlock3]

  On 3/16/2025 at 6:31 PM, wrestle87 said:

This right here.  Hammerlock, are you secretly Angel Rivera?

Expand  

I'm secretly Tbar secretly being Rivera.....

[BarSeries]

  On 3/12/2025 at 11:10 PM, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

That’s how the rule is supposed to work but they were calling it the opposite way 

Expand  

At B1G they were calling stalling on the pusher a lot

[Wrestleknownothing]

  On 3/16/2025 at 9:05 PM, BarSeries said:

At B1G they were calling stalling on the pusher a lot

Expand  

 

 

Edited March 16 by Wrestleknownothing

[bnwtwg]

  On 3/16/2025 at 5:22 PM, jajensen09 said:

I agree. Illinois was a team not doing any moves per say, but just pushing guys and getting stalling calls for it 

Expand  

The power of Jombo was pumping through the Illini arms while Nebraska looked like a cornerback drill with all that backwards running

[Fletcher]

  On 3/16/2025 at 5:37 PM, ironmonkey said:

The Big Ten tournament was exciting.  Lots of action and upsets.  I'm not sure how a step out does anything but satisfy the freestyle contingent.  There was plenty of action. The calls seemed consistent to me.  

Expand  

Removes some referee discretion. Wherever there's referee discretion, there's room for error/abuse.

[1032004]

I kinda like Cael’s idea of just getting rid of stalling altogether 

[Pablo]

NFHS is talking about eliminating the rule on locked hands next year.  In the discussions I've had, the general idea is that this is going to dealt with by calling it stalling instead.