Wrestling reform ideas

[peanut]

Shorter season. Too many athletes are visibly injured. A fix would be a shorter season — which would allow a longer period of less intense training. 

Step out. Too many athletes are wrestling at the edge.

Tiebreakers. It’s not quite as fun to watch when both guys cruise to OT.

Stand ups after one minute of riding time. Nobody needs to see more than one minute of that. 

[enterdisplayname]

1 minute ago, peanut said:

Shorter season. Too many athletes are visibly injured. A fix would be a shorter season — which would allow a longer period of less intense training. 

I disagree. I don't think they need 40 matches a season, but some of those matches can be utilized to grow younger wrestlers who may be put in a starting position the next season and may have never wrestled under the lights in a high pressure situation. 

Step out. Too many athletes are wrestling at the edge.

I enjoy the edge action. I like that they're calling fleeing the mat more on the edge than in the past. I feel like its a good compromise. 

Tiebreakers. It’s not quite as fun to watch when both guys cruise to OT.

I'm not sure how you want to improve kids working to get to overtime...thats a wrestler issue, not a scoring or rule issue. 

Stand ups after one minute of riding time. Nobody needs to see more than one minute of that. 

Just put them both on their feet and go for first takedown. Turn the clock off and just go. Someone will score eventually. 

 

[NormMacDonald]

No ridding time point unless you also get back points. 

Start calling guys on top for stalling if they aren't working to turn. 

[KCMO2]

Allow more leeway for refs to use common sense on the step out calls.  Seen too many matches where the guy taking all the shots gets pushed out once when he's near the edge and is hit for stalling. 

[Gene Mills Fan]

Do we need a shot clock?   

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

49 minutes ago, peanut said:

Shorter season. Too many athletes are visibly injured. A fix would be a shorter season — which would allow a longer period of less intense training. 

Step out. Too many athletes are wrestling at the edge.

Tiebreakers. It’s not quite as fun to watch when both guys cruise to OT.

Stand ups after one minute of riding time. Nobody needs to see more than one minute of that. 

Sounds like you'd rather just watch freestyle?

[Pablo]

27 minutes ago, Gene Mills Fan said:

Do we need a shot clock?   

I was officiating a dual last year, and with one team, when I'd blow the whistle, the coach would start counting down, "10...9...8..."  I never talked to him about it, but I got the idea that he was challenging his guys that they had to make an aggressive wrestling move within 10 seconds.

They certainly were aggressive, and a lot of fun to officiate, because there wasn't any stalling.

[peanut]

30 minutes ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

Sounds like you'd rather just watch freestyle?

I enjoy watching freestyle more, yes. Of course, in the 00s it was much worse for fans to watch. Freestyle’s willingness to change the rules so it’s more fan friendly was huge. 

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

Just now, peanut said:

I enjoy watching freestyle more, yes. Of course, in the 00s it was much worse for fans to watch. Freestyle’s willingness to change the rules so it’s more fan friendly was huge. 

I mean folkstyle season is only a few months a year.  Isn't there enough freestyle elsewhere for you to get your fill?

[nhs67]

Going to OT with neither wrestler having a takedown should go straight to rideouts.

[Packard]

1 hour ago, peanut said:

Shorter season. Too many athletes are visibly injured. A fix would be a shorter season — which would allow a longer period of less intense training. 

Step out. Too many athletes are wrestling at the edge.

Tiebreakers. It’s not quite as fun to watch when both guys cruise to OT.

Stand ups after one minute of riding time. Nobody needs to see more than one minute of that. 

I don’t know how I feel about a shorter season. ESPN was talking about a guy who had more wins than anybody this season - 30. Most guys in the tournament barely have 20 matches. I’d say competition has been reduced a huge amount from Cael Sanderson’s days. 
 

I would love to see more stalling called - Top, bottom, neutral. Also think a step out point would be nice. The amount of guys that back up, put their back on the line, then circle around and shoot an opponent OOBs is ridiculous. I don’t think Freestyle has become sumo at all. 
 

I love mat wrestling and think it makes us unique. I don’t want to limit that, but I think a riding point should only be awarded if you score back points as well. Add that requirement and be more aggressive calling stall on mat wrestling. Especially the top guy. 

[Caveira]

1 hour ago, peanut said:

Step out. Too many athletes are wrestling at the edge.

On these tiny little mats … where the table is basically on the mat…. converting folkstyle to boring freestyle would be great.  

[ironmonkey]

Eliminate chalkenge bricks and reviews or st least find a way to streamline them.  

 

Otherwise Folkstyle is great.  Fans don't wabt freestyle 

[CHROMEBIRD]

The reviews still grate my nerves.

[peanut]

1 hour ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

I mean folkstyle season is only a few months a year.  Isn't there enough freestyle elsewhere for you to get your fill?

There's no reason to not improve folkstyle if it can be improved -- but the question will always be, what reforms would be an improvement?

[Pablo]

Make a reversal worth 3.  I don't understand why a reversal should not get the same as a TD.

Better yet, make it 4.  Make it equivalent to an esc + TD.

Call me crazy, but I think a reversal is a better wrestling move than a TD.  Better in that, it's harder to accomplish and therefore should be worth more.

It bothers me that a TD+esc is worth twice as much as just going straight from the defensive position to offense.