USA v Japan at Worlds

[wrestlingfan22]

Truzz said he may try to get a more detailed preview out there, but I will just be posting the matchups at each weight with small blurbs. 

57- Lee vs Sakamoto 

This is a shockingly weak 57kg for Japan. It seems nobody can hold it/wants to come down for this weight class. Sakamoto is good, but his results (5th at Asians) show that he is far from the level of Higuchi and Ono.

 

61- Vito/Jax vs Suda

This is one of Japan's best weight's and Suda is a monster. 

 

65-Woods vs Kiyooka

Reigning Olympic Champ who went through a very tough bracket to even make the Japanese world team. 

 

70-Duke vs Aoyagi 

Returning World Silver. Took a loss at Meiji Cup to Yama*I poop my pants, don't laugh at me*a, who won Duke's u20 worlds bracket last year. Beat Green and Lewan earlier this year. 

 

74-Carr vs Takahashi 

This match is super interesting for me. Carr beat returning Olympic Silver Takatani (not competing this year) and Takahashi beat Messenbrink at u23 worlds last season. He also took 5th at senior worlds up at 79kg. This should be a great matchup. 

 

79-Haines vs Kamiya

Kamiya lost 8-0 to Wick earlier this year and DNP at u20s last year. This is a weight where I would expect USA to win. 

 

86-Zahid vs H. Ishiguro

Ishiguro was teched by Brooks at the Olympics. He is not a slouch but another weight USA is favored. 

 

92- Hidlay vs T. Ishiguro

Ishiguro took 3rd at Senior Asians, went 0-1 at worlds last year losing to Ghasempour. He is real solid and there is little data to compare the two, I would lean Hidlay but not a sure thing at all. 

 

97-Snyder vs Yoshida

Yoshida beat Snyder earlier this year, but it is a result that can absolutely be reversed. This is another one of the matches that can really go either way

 

125- Hendrickson vs Yamamoto

Wyatt all day. 

[Truzzcat]

34 minutes ago, wrestlingfan22 said:

Truzz said he may try to get a more detailed preview out there, but I will just be posting the matchups at each weight with small blurbs. 

57- Lee vs Sakamoto 

This is a shockingly weak 57kg for Japan. It seems nobody can hold it/wants to come down for this weight class. Sakamoto is good, but his results (5th at Asians) show that he is far from the level of Higuchi and Ono.

 

61- Vito/Jax vs Suda

This is one of Japan's best weight's and Suda is a monster. 

 

65-Woods vs Kiyooka

Reigning Olympic Champ who went through a very tough bracket to even make the Japanese world team. 

 

70-Duke vs Aoyagi 

Returning World Silver. Took a loss at Meiji Cup to Yama*I poop my pants, don't laugh at me*a, who won Duke's u20 worlds bracket last year. Beat Green and Lewan earlier this year. 

 

74-Carr vs Takahashi 

This match is super interesting for me. Carr beat returning Olympic Silver Takatani (not competing this year) and Takahashi beat Messenbrink at u23 worlds last season. He also took 5th at senior worlds up at 79kg. This should be a great matchup. 

 

79-Haines vs Kamiya

Kamiya lost 8-0 to Wick earlier this year and DNP at u20s last year. This is a weight where I would expect USA to win. 

 

86-Zahid vs H. Ishiguro

Ishiguro was teched by Brooks at the Olympics. He is not a slouch but another weight USA is favored. 

 

92- Hidlay vs T. Ishiguro

Ishiguro took 3rd at Senior Asians, went 0-1 at worlds last year losing to Ghasempour. He is real solid and there is little data to compare the two, I would lean Hidlay but not a sure thing at all. 

 

97-Snyder vs Yoshida

Yoshida beat Snyder earlier this year, but it is a result that can absolutely be reversed. This is another one of the matches that can really go either way

 

125- Hendrickson vs Yamamoto

Wyatt all day. 

Not much to add I will say from what I have seen from Kiyooka despite taking a few losses he seems to have really evolved his ability to score when guys are in on his legs. He has a great chest wrap and crotch lock now that will be a super tough ask for Real but I think both guys would score some points. I've seen a lot made of Sakamoto's asian championships performance but his losses were to the north korean who could very well be spencers biggest test at worlds (I am thinking him RBY and Mongush) and then the mongolian who beat RBY at the ranking series although I would expect roman to reverse that result next time. I believe the loss to the north korean was 12-6 and a fall to the mongolian who seems like he has tricky hips so I am wondering if he hipped over on something. Sakamoto's ability to create his own offense is still a big question mark for me but he has insane hips and is really really good front head and pretty good at getting himself in that position. Last I think Takahashi is Japans best guy at 74kg I know probably crazy to say because they have Takatani but Takahashi wrestled mitchell with a bum wheel for most of the match and still beat him. He is also only 21 so the rate of progression is probably well ahead of Takatani at this point.

[CHROMEBIRD]

Sakamoto with cornrows is wild. Any predictions on the WFS side? I don't know what Japan's lineup is looking like, but saw that Ozaki lost to Motoki at the Meiji Cup at 62 and that Ishii won 68.

[bnwtwg]

4 hours ago, wrestlingfan22 said:

Yama*I poop my pants, don't laugh at me*a

lolllllll

[wrestlingfan22]

Kozak uploaded a team Japan preview: I didn't realize Ishiguro at 86 has a past TF win over Zahid. That could make that matchup more interesting. 

[Truzzcat]

5 minutes ago, wrestlingfan22 said:

Kozak uploaded a team Japan preview: I didn't realize Ishiguro at 86 has a past TF win over Zahid. That could make that matchup more interesting. 

Zahid looked rather bad at that ranking series if I recall he had to pull a win against China out of his butt. I believe Ishiguro was on a heat too he pinned Amine and then got the first takedown against Yazdani.

[shiraz321]

Can Kiyooka be the first guy to go back to back at 65/66 in nearly 20 years?

 

 

[Truzzcat]

11 minutes ago, shiraz321 said:

Can Kiyooka be the first guy to go back to back at 65/66 in nearly 20 years?

 

 

Mamadov not being in the field certainly helps his chances. He seems to have developed a really good series when guys are in either sitting the corner or going chest wrap. However, I still think he is very volatile so I would probably take the field over him. I still think Amouzad is the best guy in the world if he can learn to control his weight or if that is even possible for him.

[shiraz321]

8 minutes ago, Truzzcat said:

Mamadov not being in the field certainly helps his chances. He seems to have developed a really good series when guys are in either sitting the corner or going chest wrap. However, I still think he is very volatile so I would probably take the field over him. I still think Amouzad is the best guy in the world if he can learn to control his weight or if that is even possible for him.

Not sure, Amouzad lost to Mamedov at 67kg in that Iran vs Russia event. About that olympic final, the only thing the coaches ever said was that Kiyooka was a bad match up for him. I never heard anything about weight. I would be interested to see Amzouad and him hit day 1 this time and see if the weight thing had any impact. I suspect if weight was in issue it would have show on day 1 also but we will see.

Edited yesterday at 01:30 PM by shiraz321

[Truzzcat]

53 minutes ago, shiraz321 said:

Not sure, Amouzad lost to Mamedov at 67kg in that Iran vs Russia event. About that olympic final, the only thing the coaches ever said was that Kiyooka was a bad match up for him. I never heard anything about weight. I would be interested to see Amzouad and him hit day 1 this time and see if the weight thing had any impact. I suspect if weight was in issue it would have show on day 1 also but we will see.

I think it's hard to dehydrate yourself to that extent two days in a row, but I could be wrong. I thought Amouzad wrestled really well at the PWL he seemed to lose his head after losing that challenge which I thought was a super questionable call from the angle I could see at least which resulted in him giving up the challenge point and then getting over zealous and getting shucked by for 2 and 2.

[CA_Wrestler]

On 6/23/2025 at 1:25 PM, CHROMEBIRD said:

Sakamoto with cornrows is wild. Any predictions on the WFS side? I don't know what Japan's lineup is looking like, but saw that Ozaki lost to Motoki at the Meiji Cup at 62 and that Ishii won 68.

The US has a great chance this year and is easily the frontrunner to take the WFS team title only because Susaki, Fujinami, Sakurai and Kagami aren't competing.   I think this is the final list of World Team members.

One thing to note:  I'm not sure if North Korea has qualified any athletes, but if they have....they are extremely tough outs.  I still think all of them are on "something", but that's just me.

-50 kg Yoshimoto(former Senior WC) One of the favorites for gold, but her offense isn't nearly as dynamic as Susaki's.

-53kg Murayama(Okuno, former 3x senior WC) One of the favorites to win gold

-55kg Sowaka Uchida(former 2x U17 WC, U20WC) 19 years old.   It's hard to make any prediction here since she's never wrestled at the senior level outside of Japan, but she is very, very good.  Technique will have to be almost perfect do to lack of strength and experience.

-57kg- Himeka Tokuhara (former U2 bronze)Complete and an absolute surprise that she won this spot.  Doesn't score very much, stingy on defense.  Definitely nowhere near Fujinami's level.  Low medal threat.

-59kg Sakura Onishi(former U17 U20 WC) 19 years old.  Won gold at the Senior Asian championships, definitely a medal threat.  Technique will have to be almost perfect do to lack of strength and experience.

-62kg- Motoki(former Olympic champ, senior silver, bronze) Gold medal threat

-65kg Miwa Morikawa(former Senior WC) High medal threat

-68kg Ishii(former Senior WC, U23 WC) Medium medal threat.  Can medal or completely lose out.  If anybody remembers, she lost in the 2023 Sr WC and placed 5th.  That opened the door for Nonoka Ozaki to win the Paris 68KG spot.

-72kg Masako Furuichi(former Senior WC) High medal threat

-76kg Nodoka Yamamoto Has never made a Senior WC team, low level medal threat