Wrasslin

True, this happened. Zepeda also beat Nininger, and since you mention Bassett, 2 of Zepeda's 3 matches with Bassett were competitive (pinned Bassett and lost in a very entertaining overtime match). One loss to Nininger on the backside of a bracket with nothing at stake does little to disparage my original statement. Only my opinion!

UWW ranking points are a little weird. To break down the above so they're understandable, it's based on the tournament (A,B,C level...A being highest) and # of competitors in those tournaments. Both received 26,000 points from Olympic bronze plus 3,000 bonus points for the 57kg bracket having 13-16 competitors in an "A" event (Olympics). Aman placed 3rd in Ranking series Mongolian Open "C" event, which gave him 5,200 points. Because there were only 10 competitors, he doesn't get bonus points. Here's the crazy part...Aman didn't wrestle in Senior Asian Championships, whereas Gulomjon did, and he placed 8th without winning a match! By fortuitous draw, he skipped qualification round and was drawn into Quarters where he lost to Kalzhan of Kazakhstan who was then beaten in the next round and Gulomjon was eliminated,but got 8th having wrestled (and lost) one match. Because continental championships are "B" events, points are worth more than ranking "C" events, so he received 4,000 for 8th, plus a bonus of 3,000 points for having 13-16 competitors in the bracket, so 7,000 total points. Not bad for losing a match! Good news is, they're 2 and 3 seeds, so it really matters very little as they'll eventually meet in semis if they win out.

Uri Kalashnikov at 92kg (Freestyle) and Melkamu Fetene at 60kg (Greco) are both unseeded and will be drawn in...so there's that.

Definitely Fadzaev. Dude dominated 65kg for a decade straight, winning World/Olympic gold from '83 to '92. The only year in there he missed was '84 due to boycott. No one since has come close to that. The most recent streak is likely Gevorgyan from Armenia who won world gold consecutively in '95, '97 and '98, but placed 5th in 1996 Olympics, losing to our very own Townsend Saunders in the semis, effectively breaking his streak. Crazy to think that's been almost 30 years ago...Yikes!

I'm not sure how much you have watched Zepeda wrestle. . .when Zepeda is in shape and motivated, he is capable of beating anyone in this age group. I look at this as a quality win for Stanich, regardless of the score.

Maybe a little off the national radar, but I think Stanford at 141 between Aden Valencia and Jack Consiglio is intriguing. Both Freshman, but I think both could AA this year, minimum R12.

Seems like you're getting the kind of attention you are looking for... But still super dumb- you're doing a disservice to Iranian wrestling fans.

Will all due respect AnklePicker, I think Mphillips is right, and you'd have a hard time convincing the rest of the world that Seniors isn't the litmus test. A couple of things . . . Hard to consider us the best wrestling country right now given our poor showing at 2024 Olympics...three total medals and no gold- the first time in 56 years. We finished 3rd (4th if you count Russia), so that doesn't equal best. And no golds in non-Olympic weights either. As OP suggested, I believe Jordan Burroughs was a catalyst for this recent "Golden Age." I was at Worlds in Budapest in 2013 for the dark days- when we only had one total world medal, a gold by Burroughs on a bum leg. At that point, he was USA Wrestling, and these kids now at U17/U20/U23 were grade schoolers who idolized him. I'm just as excited about this young crop as you (and everyone) are- I'm very hopeful that they can have the same impact in college and at the Senior level...time will tell, but we've never assembled this much talent at one time. It's exciting!

Blaze made easy work of this tournament- he has senior level class. Also, congrats to Puerto Rico's Omar Ayoub (by way of Ohio and Nebraska Huskers), who brought home Bronze hardware in this same weight class!

Here's the final team totals heading into the final day of men's freestyle. Anticlimactic really...unlike U17s. It'll be USA, followed by Russia, then Iran...

Congrats to Stanich! I'm officially a fan! Also with that win, USA has clinched the team title!

I (seriously) have a T-shirt that says, "Russians don't do cardio"

Good for McEnelly- outwrestled Rahmani. Deserved that win!

Bump... I didn't see this, especially given the gauntlet he had, but kudos to you for calling it! Hopefully he has one more in him. Uchida looks pretty tough, but I've learned my lesson, not counting Stanich out!

I don't know why he wouldn't compete at 2026 U20s. He competed this year at US Open U20s and took 4th (lost to Sonny Sasso in Quarters and Dillon Bechtold in 3rd Place Match). If he's repping another country, it's the first I've heard of it, but yeah, I think he has potential to be pretty good.

I foresee a lot of laying around on the mat in this second period.

What I'm watching right now is embarrassing.

Bottom side of 74kg bracket is not great.

Doesn't matter one way or another- Elahi had no offense- got to his underhook once. PJ wins that match 99% of the time.

haha! I remember we were at senior worlds in Kazakhstan in 2019 and I swear there were 3 Kazak wrestlers at every weight, and all had cupcake draws until at the semis- they were on every mat all the time! Kazakhstan ended up second in the team race that year behind Russia but ahead of both Iran and USA. The whole thing had total home cookin' FILA vibes.

Dude looks like he's been getting after it and hitting the weight room hard, compared to his past iterations, which might also be his body maturing at 24...either way, it's scary. I see a lot of push outs in his future, and not a lot anyone can do to stop it! I think he wins worlds (and anything he wants to for the next several years) with very little resistance.

Great list! I've added a few others in RED I'm interested to see how they do coming back

This is great analysis- thank you! Here's what I'm thinking...you can book it now! 57kg - I think DNP is a little hard on Knox. I think he takes BRONZE. I think Sakamoto (JPN) is the favorite and beats Knox H2H. Other Challengers: Aitanov (KAZ)- he wrestled Lilledahl tough at Cadets two different years. I haven't seen Ozdamirov (RUS) enough and I'm not ready to anoint Zangaladze (GEO) quite yet. 61kg - Blaze for GOLD. Besides Toktamotov (KRG), I think Begoyan (ARM) is toughest (and beat Saitiev at Euro U20). Khateri (IRI) is capable of medaling here too. 65kg - is TOUGH TOUGH! Stanich is BRONZE. I think Dhzandubaev (RUS) is the favorite, followed by Toprak (TUR), but I can also easily see Uulu (KRG - U17 World Champ who beat Jordyn Raney) or Ashwani (IND) finding their way to Gold- neither will be an easy out. Sleeper is Karimov (AZE) who is former U17 Euro Champ and beat Magomedov in a wild one. 70kg - As strong as 65kg is, 70kg is just as weak. Duke for GOLD. I think Elahi (IRI) will be his biggest test, and maybe Ito (JPN) who beat Melvin Miller at U17 last year. 74kg - This weight is also underwhelming to me. Lockett for GOLD. Khaniev (RUS), Wagin (GER - who I still can't get behind) and Mamivand (IRI) will be his stiffest tests but keep an eye out for Yamaguchi (JPN), a former U17 Silver medalist. 79kg - I don't think Henckel finds the podium DNP. Too many tough guys here- Yousefi (IRI) is the favorite. Begenjov (TRK) and Amit (IND) will also be factors. Sleepers are Omarov (AZE) and Tchetchelashvili (GEO). 86kg - McEnelly for SILVER. If he can avoid being turned in par terre, he beats everyone in this group except Rahmani (IRI) who is my pick to win this weight. 92kg - Conner for BRONZE/DNP. Depends on the draw. Poyonov (UZB) is the favorite, and Sachin (IND) is one to watch out for- I think both beat Conner H2H. I don't recognize too many of the other guys 97kg - Rademacher for SILVER. He always looks undersized, and I can't figure out why?!? Alizadeh (IRI) gets this one done. Iran sending a strong team. Petriashvili (GEO) and Magamedov (RUS) are neck and neck but neither quite there yet. 125kg - I didn't pay too much attention to HWT so I'll pass on prediction.

I don't think it's hyperbole. A few years I'd have said "No", but times have changed. Watching Forrest and Duke makes me think Sanchez and James can achieve the same- talent is there and the exposure young wrestlers have these days is just insane. If this were Japan, both would likely be seen as too old to complete in 2028. That being said: By 2028 cycle, Sanchez will be a senior in high school (a la Duke), so won't have the benefit of a year of college under his belt (Lilledahl got teched 10-0 fast by Lee as a senior and improved a bunch in his year of college). However, I fully expect Sanchez to be the first ever undefeated, 4x CA State champion (never been done). If there is a weight to be competitive at the next level, it's 57kg. Lee is Lee, and Lilledahl is world class, but in 3 years Sanchez will have grown into the weight and will be competitive. I'm tempted to take Sanchez over Liam Cronin (our #3) right now. haha! With James, Lockett (who's pretty good) outweighed him but also outwrestled him- I felt like Lockett was out to prove a point. While there's a gap between MM/Carr and James now, good news for James is that by 2028, he'll know exactly where he stacks up (being in the same room with Penn St. guys). He's got the talent to compete in this next Olympic cycle.

I like Jayden, but he has a few years still IMO. He got big brothered pretty hard by Dee Lockett.