What’s the most memorable match you’ve ever been in, win or lose?

[jross]

Hey everyone, let’s get some stories going! I want to hear about the most memorable match you’ve ever been in; win or lose.  Spill the details... weight class, opponent, moment that stuck with you, whatever made it unforgettable!

What’s your story?

[MedicineMan]

1983 vs 3-time national champ.  I didn't AA the year before, my current record was 2-0 at beginning of the season and he was already 8-0, so he was more fit.  I took him down right away, but he escaped and took me down...then I escaped and took him down again.  It was a long match, with constant motion and with many restarts as we scrambled and ended up OB.  After about 12 minutes, I looked at the clock, 20 seconds left in 3rd and I was ahead 13-12.  I started running and got a quick stall call.  With 8 seconds left he shot and I sprawled, and back-pedaled, he reshot and got a fingernail on my shoelace as I dove out of bounds, but he  took me down at the edge of the mat to win, 14-13.  Most fun I had in a match and didn't feel like a loss at all.

[Elevator]

Friendly alumni grudge match a few years after graduation being refereed by the captain of the current team.  Format was adjusted for a water/lung break between periods.  The vegas line was not in my favor. 

No score from neutral in first.  I lost the toss.  He chose top in the 2nd and I managed an escape. Up 1 heading to the third.  The rules had changed (unbeknownst to opponent) such that I had choice in the third and took down.  He could not believe it and may have lost his poise.  I pulled out the win with years of bragging rights! 

[11986]

Different kind of memorable as their fame came years later. I lost a match to future Hollywood money maker Mark Ruffalo and won a match against future Olympic Gold medalist diver Mark Lenzi (RIP). 

[Wrasslin]

^^^ so, since we're talking famous people, I beat the $hit out of Mario Lopez (Saved by the Bell) at J Robinson's Intensive Wrestling Camp when we were in high school.

He's aged better, still all buff, rich, and his wife is way hotter than mine- he's probably still having sex. So who really won? 

[Chigachanuk]

Casar over Steveson.  Two times.  None better.  Not  a fluke either.

[Wrestleknownothing]

  On 4/6/2025 at 5:16 PM, Chigachanuk said:

Casar over Steveson.  Two times.  None better.  Not  a fluke either.

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Are you Anthony or Gable? Either way, we are honored to have you.

[Leg rider]

So I will tell this story with both what I knew at the time and things I found out after the fact. Way back in my Senior year of high school we were about to go up against our cross town rivals. They had an assistant coach that I had history with. He had left my school after my freshmen year and left on bad terms and on his way out told me I would never amount to anything as a wrestler. So fast forward back to my senior year I am having a great season and am one of the favorites to win a State championship. I was a better mat wrestler than I was on my feet and the rival school had a guy at my weight that was a gifted athlete but not as accomplished as me as a wrestler. So I found out the assistant that hated me (and yes he genuinely disliked me he was not trying to motivate me when he said I wouldn't amount to anything) had been telling his wrestler that he was going to beat me and that his game plan was for him to get takedowns and then cut me and avoid wrestling on the mat. So the match starts and in the first period I tie up with him and got the first takedown. Apparently that just broke him when the whole game plan went out the window and he just stopped doing anything other than trying to avoid getting turned. I would keep trying to start to run something on top and he would just avoid any action. The stall warnings didn't get him any more active and the match ended in the first period with him disqualified for stalling. From on bottom. In a rivalry match between two seniors.

[Chigachanuk]

  On 4/6/2025 at 6:55 PM, Wrestleknownothing said:

Are you Anthony or Gable? Either way, we are honored to have you.

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Yeah, it seems I misread the post.  Best match, not MY best match.

[jross]

• I made it to the state finals in youth wrestling, and in one match, Chris complimented me mid-takedown, and again during a reversal. It was the only time I ever heard another wrestler speak during live action.
• At a major tournament when I was 11 or 12, I took a kid down right off the whistle and cut him for a release. He grabbed my wrists, made them his own, and took me down with ruthless force. It was the first time I’d ever been overpowered. Later, I found out he was a state champ.
• Then there was Josh V., who used pressure points on my neck and inside my elbows to control me completely. I felt cheated.
• As a freshman, I dueled Jason B., a multiple-time state champion. He caught me in a headlock in the first period, but I countered with a gut lock, rolling him to his back as I powered through. The crowd’s reaction was the first I’d ever noticed. He recovered and dominated me.
• As a sophomore, Mike P. pinned me with overwhelming strength. Back when he was the new, chubby kid, I’d pinned him easily multiple times. 
• As a sophomore, I went up from 145 to 153 and tech falled my teammate during wrestle offs.  I showered and was ready to leave when coach comes to the locker room and makes me wrestle the upper classman again (first time ever for multiple wrestle offs).  I lose by one point.  We then have a best of three and I landed on my head from a whizzer position.  I sprained a muscle in my neck, had a huge lump, and could only turn one direction without turning my shoulders for the better part of a year.  I had bumped up after having to stop cutting too much weight; hospital visit due to dehydration. Returned to wrestle at regionals four weeks later at 160lbs... DNQ.  (second year at regionals with an injury)
• Junior year, at 16, I moved up weight classes. After two stagnant years, I was having success but felt nervous facing a kid with a 20-2 record. My interim coach asked, 'What do you think he’s thinking about you?' I pinned him in the first period.  I never had a record intimidate me to that degree again.  
• Junior year summer after high school, I soundly beat Joel T. (multiple time state champ, D1) by controlling ties.  I had no idea who he was.  My coach had taught my to dig my thumb under the jaw to turn the opponent's head away.  He was the only wrestler I ever did it to, and it was effective.  
• As a senior, I majored Adam P., a multiple-time youth champion who’d beaten me at least five times growing up. One of those losses stung; I’d caught him with a cow catcher and taken the lead with 20 seconds left, only to lose. 
• Senior year state semi finals: I'm losing by one point, on bottom, with a minute left int he third period.  Hit a standing switch and reversed him to his back.  Held him there for the win... on to the finals.
• At an alumni wrestling event, I was winning against a younger, stronger opponent. About three minutes in, I was on top, but I’d hit my limit. I muttered, 'Enough, I quit,' and he quickly reversed me. Flat on my belly, gasping for air, I heard my old high school coach angrily yell from the sidelines, 'What are you doing? Just roll over and let him pin you!' Too exhausted to argue, I gave in to a chicken wing. Afterward, I stumbled outside and lay on my back for 45 minutes, trying to recover. It wasn’t ego; my heart was about to burst. That match was a wake-up call about fitness. 

In hind sight, my best win was probably against a kid from Ellsworth (Clint F).  It is only memorable because after taking third that year, he won youth state every year from then on.  He placed at High School Nationals...  I didn't know there was a "nationals"...

Looking back, I never learned how to be strategic or wrestle close matches.  I found defensive / passive wrestlers incredibly frustrating.

I only had one year (junior) with a coach having had college wrestling experience.  That coach enabled my mental break thru.

My senior year, I had a dollar coach that just graduated from college playing football.  That man could bench 385lbs and wrenched on my neck.  He made me learn how to power through painful positions to score. 

I graduated at 17, and I’d have given anything for another year of high school like my peers; to keep growing, keep learning, to dominate.

My only options were Neosho County Community College with Terry Pack.  I drove myself down there, saw the trashy trailers, and decided my girlfriend was more important.  Dog gone it.

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

1.  Down 8-0 in first period vs. a national qualifier.  A bunch of takedowns (and some other action later) and I win 16-14.

2.  Despite being a 158, kept a NQ 177 from getting a major on me in a dual.  One more and he would have been DQ.  Opposing coach was a World Team coach.  Sought me out after the match and complimented me on my guts for going after it against a much larger and better opponent.

3.  Greco: had a decent lead against a much better wrestler before getting stuck lol

[mspart]

It was my senior year and I was doing pretty good.   I was confident I'd make it to states.   But I wasn't state champ material.   I went up against the #1 guy in my district and felt like I would do pretty good.   I had finally gotten the mental switch where I was going to win.   He pretty much wiped the mat with me.   He was that much better.   It was a disappointment for sure but I still felt I had the right mental attitude.   Unfortunately, I hyperextended my right elbow a little later and that ended my season.  

Another, I was a sophomore (first year HS wrestling) and I made it to the finals of districts.   I went up against the man at 101 lbs.   Just his name was intimidating.   So I did well, and did almost turn him.   He was very flexible and I couldn't get him over.   I lost but it was very close and it was the most danger he had been in all year.   So that was good.  

I was not the greatest but I had a good time.   I did wrestle Veterans after watching them and seeing how slow they were.   I could do that.   Well, I did it for 3 years and was slow too!!   I didn't do well, but had a great time preparing for it and particpating.   I love wrestling and asst coached everywhere I lived.   But I was never all that good in reality!

mspart

[manatree]

Fourth grade, first match ever, I was pinned by Chris Renn in 17 seconds.

[Gene Mills Fan]

As sophomore walk in. Knew 4 moves, single leg TD, double leg TD, half nelson, stand up escape . Two days before my First match my teammate shows me arm lever to half nelson to be my 5th weapon in the arsenal.  A single to an arm lever half got me a fall in 1:45 and my new nickname 'PinemPaul' ( thanks to quality of opponent!) Mondays practice was how to do an arm lever correctly!

 

[NewYooper]

Senior year in HS.  Wrestling at 185.  District meet.  My teammate (placed 2nd at state the following year) wrestling at 167 gets a guy up in the air on a takedown and slams him (accidentally) to the mat.  Yes, it was a slam.  The kid was fine.  Just as he starts to get up, his coach yells out (loud enough for he whole gym to hear) "Stay down."  The coach runs out to check on his kid.  Sure enough he is "injured" so the kid wins and my teammate loses on a DQ for the move.

Later that evening in the finals, I am wrestling a kid from that same school in the 3/4 match.  Sure enough their kid picks me up and slams me to the mat (again, unintentionally).  Just as I hit the mat, the whole gym goes quiet.  Then, everyone in the gym all yelled at the same time "stay down!"  I busted out laughing.  I got up and looked at their coach (who was hiding behind his hands) and yelled "Nope coach, not stooping to your level."  Everyone in the gym heard it and gave me a standing ovation.  The ref looked at me and couldn't stop laughing.  He says I should hit you with unsportsmanlike conduct for talking to the coach, but he deserved it.  I did manage to get the decision.

[scourge165]

I have a really dumb one, but it's memorable. 

We're Wrestling our rivals. We were the team that would have 3-4 guys placing high at state, send 6 and then have just nothing at the lower weights. So depending on the matchups, there were quite a few times we'd be down quite a bit heading into ~140. 

I'm a Freshmen Wrestling 152. I grew up with my home right next to this other district, so a lot of friends from there. 

We get pinned a couple times in the first 3-4 matches, then one of the few good kids we had, he loses...and they were going NUTS. Their head coach is pointing at us and they're talking(a lot). Their fans are booing "overrated." So my Coach, he gathers everyone from '45 up. So the last 7 of us. 6 of us had been to state and...me.

He says I don't want one pin until you get at least 4 or 5 TDs. This is my first big duel and the guy I had...was my little 14 year old GFs Brother. 

He's a bigger dude, I was a tall skinnier kid, especially after cutting from 180 down to '52. So I go out there, couple of quick takedowns, but he's tough. 2nd period, he chooses down, I let him go and I take a bad, lazy double, arms out and he throws me by to my back. Now...I'm listening to this crowd, he's getting 5, I've got...1:40 to go...and again, Sr, stronger. The period ends, I've got 2-3 varsity matches, only made '52 a couple times and now I'm down 9-8 and I am as gassed as I've ever been. 

I got out and battled, ended up getting another TD, got away and I used a the cheesy stuff the head, tear back.  A little headlock...and didn't get the pin OR the major, but I survived. Every other guy got the pin(from '45 up). Wrestled him again later in the year at Conference and...got the tech, but just a miserable, sloppy match.

 

It wasn't the biggest or the most impressive or the coolest, but it's definitely one of my most memorable. That old GF is now married to one of my good buddies and I'm actually friends with him...

 

 

[Boring]

My most memorable match happened at the Sr level in the 2nd to last match I ever wrestled. I was wrestling a guy who'd finished 6th at Sr Nationals earlier that year. He was a full blown 270 pounds, 6'4", and chiseled. I was 5'10" and 230 pounds, about 30 pounds of that being pure beer belly, and I also looked mentally challenged with my headgear making my hair poke out weirdly all over. The ref blew the whistle, and I immediately locked him up in my favorite position (collar tie). He threw me, but I landed out of bounds. Restarted, and the guy literally tossed me out of bounds again. As I was walking (very slowly) back to the center I said to myself "self, if he tries that throw again I'm gonna sweep his feet out from under him". Damned if he didn't go back to the well again. As soon as he started to arch to throw me, I kicked his feet out from under him. He went down and a 230 pound sack of "me" landed right on his chest. His breath escaped him like an explosion and I locked on a sort of reverse headlock on him before he could catch his breath and pinned the sucker in 49 seconds. I jumped off the mat, holding both my index fingers in the air, then I pointed at the section of the crowd filled with friends who told me before the mat "yep, you are screwed".