Pa in Taiwan

A fair statement. That said, they both dominated their respective weight classes at the Senior Men's Freestyle World Championships. That in itself is a HUGE jump from WTT. I guess your point is that Zahid was already at a much higher level. I just feel that the inconsistency of his previous senior men's performances really disappeared here. There was not a scintilla of that inconsistency in ANY of his matches.

Zahid "may" have? Zahid was a different wrestler in this tournament, not in style, but in just about every other facet. His cardio was so much improved, dare I say David Taylor-like. His attacks were crisp, and there were no dives onto the opponents legs. HIs attitude, motivation and confidence are all visibly different. There's no doubt that Trent has levelled up. There's also no doubt that Zahid has levelled up. The biggest question for them both now is consistency. Remember, on any given day... They both had great tournaments. Can they continue the momentum next year? Trent looks big at 92kg. I imagine he will look bigger in 2026 and 2027, and I am guessing that he will look to go to 97kg for 2028.

And congratulations to the Islamic Republic of Iran for winning the team title. People tend to value the individual gold medals more, but to put forward a team that could produce a team title with fewer golds than the US is quite remarkable. They are young, as well. This bodes well for the future of freestyle wrestling.

I don't know if Amouzad will be the GOAT of Iranian wrestling. I don't know if he'll be at 65kg for the 2028 Olympics. I don't know if he'll be at 65kg next year, but it won't surprise me if he is. I just want to say "Thank you" to him for providing some excellent wrestling in the 2025 World Championships and looking pretty much like a freight train against all his opponents, except perhaps Sujeet. He made a pretty strong statement this year. I feel the same way about Zahid, and I think DT has really provided an excellent environment and fantastic coaching to enable him. NCAA wrestling is only going to get more interesting and less PSU dominated with DT at Oklahoma State. Thanks, Zahid. Thanks, Rahman. Thanks, Amir Zare. Thanks, Trent Hidlay. Thanks, Kyle. Thanks, Kota Takahashi. Thanks to the other champs as well, though I haven't really watched their matches yet. How about North Korea? They have made a strong showing this year, taking a gold in men's freestyle and medals in women's freestyle as well.

It's a bad matchup for Zahid. Ishiguro is extremely sound positionally, like most of the Japanese squad. He keeps a low stance, and he's very powerful. In addition, Ishiguro will have an endless gas tank, especially for a finals match. It should be a great final. If Zahid can finish his shots, he can win. He didn't finish his shots last time.

Munkh Erdene Batkhuyag from Mongolia defeated RBY in the gold medal match 6-3. RBY showed a lot of heart in beating Aman Aman from India in the semifinal match. He was quite gassed, and Indian lightweights have excellent motors, though Aman also looked quite gassed at the end.

Mongolia borders Russia and China. The Central Asian "stans", Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan are close by. There are direct flights from Kazakhstan, which take 4 hours. Japan is a 5.5 hour flight away. That's not too far. India is a bit farther, with direct flights about 9 hours away. There certainly are good wrestling areas near Mongolia. That doesn't mean that those nations will participate in this ranking tournament.

He should have said "is certainly NOT"

Wrestling is a conservative leaning sport. It's not "red state", because politics in the US is not just red state/blue state. In every state, the large concentration of blue voters reside in the cities, while the red voters are in the suburbs and rural areas. The latter is where the wrestlers and their families live.

Good God! What an exaggeration. Gable is certainly NOT the #1 HWT FS wrestler in the world. He probably wasn't that in the year that he won the Olympics. He had a good day. Geno Petriashvili choked bigly, and Gable did not face Iran. And if you disagree, that's great. Keep in mind that that gold medal was in the 2020 Olympics, which I believe took place in 2021. Since 2021, Gable Steveson has NOT competed in senior men's freestyle. How can you say he's the #1 HWT FS wrestler? Memories, pressed across the pages of my mind Memories, sweetened through the ages just like wine Your memories of Gable as Olympic Champ do NOT make him #1. Other heavies have been developing. Do you think Gable made a lot of progress in his freestyle wrestling since 2021?

He won't see Masoumi, not this year anyway. Masoumi can't get past Zare, who is still pretty young and will probably represent Iran for a few more years. Don't worry, though. He can't beat Zare either.

Hamiti goes full Sanderson on Haines, via David Taylor.

Losing by major is closer than losing by tech fall. The bonus points from Mitch will add to the PSU cause.

Ruiz over Pinto in the consis at 174. You never thought as a PSU fan that you would care about Nebraska guys losing on the back side, but I guess every point will be counting here.

Undoubtedly. Keep in mind that PSU has 5 wrestlers still competing for the title in 165 through Hwt and Nebraska has only Minto. Is there a real chance that Minto will get past Messenbrink?