Top-ranked pound-for-pound American men's freestyle wrestler Kyle Dake (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)57 KG
Thomas Gilman takes the top spot as the returning world champion and Olympic bronze medalist and won Final X over #2 Vito Arujau. Zane Richards takes the #3 spot after beating #4 Jakob Camacho to make the national team at Final X. Jakob Camacho takes the #4 spot after finishing runner-up to #2 Vito Arujau at Senior World Team Trials, where he avenged his semifinal loss from the US Open to U.S. Open champion #5 Matthew Ramos.
Ramos has won the US Open with wins over Camacho and #10 Anthony Molton and took 4th at the Senior World Team Trials after a semifinal loss to Camacho and a loss in the third place match to Richards. Anthony Noto takes the #6 slot for winning the U23 World Team Trials with victories over #9 Greg Diakomihalis in the semifinals and #7 Trevor Mastrogiovanni in the finals. Trevor Mastrogiovanni takes the #8 spot in the rankings after a runner-up finish at the U23 World Team Trials, where he registered a strong win over Ryan Miller in the semifinals after Miller had beaten US Open and U23 World Team Trials 5th place finisher Caleb Smith in the quarterfinals. Timothy Levine takes the #8 slot in the rankings for wins over the US Open fourth-place finisher, U23 World Team Trials third-place finisher Diakomihalis along with the U.S. Open and U23 World Team Trials 5th place finisher Caleb Smith.
Diakomihalis takes the #9 spot for taking fourth in the U.S. Open and third at the U23 World Team Trials with a win over U.S. Open top seed Gabriel Townsell in the repechage bracket of the Senior World Team Trials and victories over Caleb Smith and Miller at U23 World Team Trials. Molton takes the final spot in the rankings at #10 for a runner-up finish in the Open where he defeated top seed Townsell in the quarterfinals. Molton did not place at the Senior World Team Trials after losses to Camacho and Richards. While Molton does a high placement at the US Open (runner-up to Ramos), his sole big win over Gabriel Townsell lost its strength when Townsell went on to take losses to Caleb Smith at the US Open consolation quarterfinals, Aden Reeves in the round of 16 at World Team Trials and to Diakomihalis in the blood round of the Senior World Team Trials.
61KG
Seth Gross holds the number one spot in the rankings after winning a three-match series against returning world runner-up #2 Daton Fix. Fix, a world championships representative in 2019 at 57 KG and the world runner-up in 2021 at 61 KG, takes the number two spot in the rankings after finishing runner-up at Final X to Gross. 2018 world bronze medalist Joe Colon returned to competition for the first since competing at the 2021 Senior World Team Trials last September and won the Poland Open over Taras Markovych (UKR). Colon earns his number three spot in the rankings based on his elite wins over 2018 61 KG world champion Yowlys Bonne Rodriguez (CUB), 2018 Final X champion Nahshon Garrett, Gross, and 2022 U.S. Open champion #4 Nico Megaludis.
Megaludis takes the #4 spot after winning the US Open with wins over Gross and #7 Josh Rodriguez and following it with a third place finish over Rodriguez at the Senior World Team Trials after a pin loss to Gross in the semifinals. Austin DeSanto takes the #5 spot in the rankings after a win over Senior World Team Trials runner-up #6 Daniel DeShazer to take bronze in the US Open. DeShazer fills the #6 spot in the rankings for a runner-up finish at the Senior World Team Trials, where he beat the US Open runner-up #7, Josh Rodriguez, in the semifinals.
Josh Rodriguez takes the #7 spot in the rankings after a runner-up finish in the US Open where he beat 2019 world fifth-place finisher Tyler Graff and DeShazer and followed it with a fourth-place finish at the Senior World Team Trials with losses to DeShazer in the semifinals and Megaludis in the bronze medal match. 2019 Final X champion and world fifth place finisher Graff takes the #8 spot for a 6th place finish in the U.S. Open after a semifinal loss to Rodriguez and failing to place in the U.S. World Team Trials with losses to DeShazer and Megaludis. Graff has victories over Megaludis and Colon from 2019 Senior World Team Trials and Final X. Nic Bouzakis holds down the #9 spot in the rankings for winning Junior World Team Trials over U.S. Open bronze medalist Jesse Mendez. Jesse Mendez takes the final spot in the rankings at #10 for taking third at the U.S. Open with a victory over 2021 Senior National runner-up Josh Kramer and taking second at Junior World Team Trials to Bouzakis.
65KG
2021 world championships representative Yianni Diakomihalis holds down the #1 spot after making his second Senior world team by winning Final X over #4 Evan Henderson. Joey McKenna holds the #2 spot after finishing third at Senior World Team Trials and the reason for this is Joey has a superior resume than Final X runner-up #4 Evan Henderson due to his 2019 Senior Nationals and 2021 World Team Trials wins over Diakomihalis along with his 2021 Olympic Trials victory over #1 (70) Zain Retherford and he avenged his World Team Trials quarterfinal loss to #3 Ian Parker to take third. Ian Parker holds down the #3 spot for beating McKenna and #6 Kendric Maple in the U.S. World Team Trials on his way to a fourth-place finish. Parker finished third in the U.S. Open after quarterfinal loss to runner-up #10 Matthew Kolodzik. Final X runner-up Evan Henderson takes the fourth spot in the rankings for wins over 2021 US Olympic Trials bronze medalist #5 Nick Lee and US Open champion Maple.
Nick Lee fills the number five spot in the rankings for victories in 2021 at the Olympic Trials over Diakomihalis and #1 (70) Zain Retherford. Lee cannot be higher in the rankings as he has losses to Henderson in the semifinals of the World Team Trials and to McKenna in the consolation semifinals of the Senior World Team Trials. Maple takes the number six spot for winning the US Open and notching victories over #9 Beau Bartlett and #10 Matthew Kolodzik. Cole Matthews takes the number seven spot for beating number eight Dylan D'Emilio and number nine Ridge Lovett to win the U23 World Team Trials. Beau Bartlett takes the final spot in the rankings at number ten for his win over US Open runner-up Matthew Kolodzik at the Senior World Team Trials. The group of Matthews, D'Emilio, Lovett, and Bartlett is contingent on the roller coaster that was Matthew Kolodzik's performances in the US Open and Senior World Team Trials. In the US Open, Kolodzik makes the finals with fantastic wins over #3 Ian Parker and Henderson then loses to Maple in the finals. Kolodzik goes into the US World Team Trials as the number five seed, loses in the quarters to #5 Nick Lee and then loses in the bloodround by 15-5 tech to #9 Beau Bartlett. Bartlett follows that up by being eliminated by #6 Kendrick Maple in the World Team consolation quarterfinals then loses in the quarters of U23 World Team Trials to D'Emilio and loses in the consolation semifinals to Lovett who goes on to take bronze over Jordan Decatur. So it follows then that the order should be Matthews, D'Emilio, Lovett, and Bartlett.
70KG
Zain Retherford holds down the number one spot in the 70 KG rankings after winning Final X in a three-match series over 2021 65 KG Olympic Trials champion #2 Jordan Oliver. Tyler Berger slots in at third in the rankings for taking third at the World Team Trials over #5 Sammy Sasso and for his win over #4 Ryan Deakin in the consolation semifinals of the Trials. Deakin slots in at fourth based on the strength of a US Open title in 2019 over two-time world medalist James Green, a 2019 Final X runner-up finish and was a 2021 World Team Trials runner-up to James Green where he knocked off #6 Alec Pantaleo. Deakin beat Sasso to make the semifinals of the World Team Trials and then lost to #2 Jordan Oliver and lost again in the consolation semifinals to Berger.
Sammy Sasso takes the number five spot in the rankings off his fourth-place finish at World Team Trials where he beat US Open champion #6 Alec Pantaleo and US Open fourth place finisher #7 Doug Zapf. Pantaleo who boasts elite international wins over 2021 65 KG Olympic runner-up #2 (65) Haji Aliyev (AZE), 2021 70 KG World bronze medalist #19 Zurab Iakobishvili (GEO), and 2019 65 KG world runner-up Daulet Niyazbekov, put together an excellent start of the U.S. freestyle season with a US Open title over Oliver, but could not repeat his title-winning efforts and didn't place at World Team Trials after beating Berger in his opening match then losing to Retherford and Sasso in the championship and consolation semifinals.
Zapf takes the number seven spot in the rankings for taking third at the US Open with wins over #5 Sammy Sasso, #8 Michael Blockhus, and Anthony Ashnault. Zapf failed to place at World Team Trials after a quarterfinal loss to Retherford and a consolation quarterfinal loss to Berger. Yahya Thomas takes the number seven spot in the rankings after winning the U23 World Team Trials over #9 Jonathan Millner. Jonathan Millner fills the number nine spot in the rankings after a runner-up finish at the U23 World Team Trials where he beat Drew Roberts in the semifinals after Roberts had upset Ed Scott in the quarterfinals. Michael Blockhus is at number ten in the rankings based on a fourth-place finish at the U.S. Open, where he beat Brock Mauller after Mauller had beaten Ed Scott when Scott was coming off a win over #8 Yahya Thomas.
74KG
Reigning world champion Kyle Dake holds down the number one spot in the rankings after winning Final X against Yarygin runner-up #2 Jason Nolf. David Carr is at #3 for taking third at World Team Trials and winning his true third-place match over World Team Trials runner-up #4 Joey Lavallee at Final X. Joey Lavallee is at #4 after a runner-up finish at the World Team Trials, where he beat US Open runner-up #5 Josh Shields and #6 Tommy Gantt and losing his true third match at Final X to make the national team against Carr.
Shields takes the number five spot in the rankings based on a runner-up finish at the US Open off a strong win over #6 Tommy Gantt. Gantt takes the #6 spot in the rankings for finishing fourth at the World Team Trials, where he beat US Open bronze medalist #7 Collin Purinton. Purinton is at number seven in the rankings for taking third in the US Open with victories over #8 Andrew Cerniglia and #9 Peter Pappas.
Cerniglia had an excellent run to the US Open semifinals where he beat Lavallee, Purinton and #10 Josh Ogunsanya, but losses to #2 Jason Nolf and #7 Collin Purinton in the championship and consolation semifinals relegated him to a fifth-place finish and eighth in the US domestic rankings. Patrick Kennedy secures the number nine spot in the rankings for winning the U23 World Team Trials with strong victories over Peyton Robb, Peyton Hall, and Josh Ogunsanya. US Open fourth-place finisher Peter Pappas takes the number ten spot in the rankings for beating Josh Ogunsanya in the consolation quarterfinals after Ogunsanya had upset two-time All-American Cam Amine of Michigan.
79KG
Reigning world champion Jordan Burroughs lays claim to the top spot in the 79 KG rankings after winning a three-match series against #2 Chance Marsteller at Final X. Chance Marsteller earns the number two spot in the rankings for a Final X runner-up finish, a World Team Trials title and 5th place finish at the US Open. This season, Marsteller defeated the likes of #3 Vincenzo Joseph, #4 Carter Starocci, and #5 David McFadden. Vincenzo Joseph is number three in the rankings for runner-up finishes at the World Team Trials and US Open where he won matches over the likes of #2 Chance Marsteller, #6 Alex Dieringer, and #7 Taylor Lujan. Joseph's only losses this domestic season were to #5 David McFadden in the US Open finals and to Marsteller in a three-match series in the World Team Trials finals.
Carter Starocci is number four in the rankings off a true third finish at Final X and a third-place finish at World Team Trials where he beat McFadden and #6 Alex Dieringer. Starocci finished third at the 2021 World Team Trials as well where he beat #9 Evan Wick, #2 (74) Jason Nolf and Marsteller. Starocci's only loss at the World Team Trials was to Marsteller in the quarterfinals.
McFadden takes number five in the rankings for a US Open title where he beat Marsteller and Joseph that was followed by a fourth-place finish at World Team Trials where he beat 2019 74 KG Final X runner-up #7 Isaiah Martinez and #10 Brayden Thompson, but lost in the semifinals to Marsteller and #4 Starocci for bronze.
Dieringer is number six in the rankings after a third-place finish at the US Open and making the semifinals of the World Team Trials. Dieringer took wins over Marsteller, Martinez, #8 Taylor Lujan and Wick against losses to Joseph in the US Open and World Team Trials semifinals and to Starocci in the World Team Trials consolation semifinals. Martinez takes the number seven spot in the rankings for beating US Open fourth place finisher Lujan in the World Team Trials consolation quarters. Martinez failed to place due to losses from Dieringer and McFadden in the championship quarterfinals and consolation semifinals.
Taylor Lujan fills the number eight spot in the rankings off a fourth-place finish at the US Open, where he beat Thompson and Wick. Brayden Thompson takes the number nine spot for finishing fifth at the US Open, where he upset 6th seeded Michael O'Malley and winning a Junior World Team Trials title over Luca Augustine. Wick takes the final spot in the rankings at number ten for placing seventh at the U.S. Open and beating Isaiah White in the blood round after White had upset U23 World Team Trials runner-up O'Malley the match before.
86KG
2021 Olympic champion David Taylor owns the top spot in the ranking for winning Final X over #2 Zahid Valencia. Zahid Valencia is at number two for finishing runner-up at Final X and winning World Team Trials over #3 Mark Hall. Hall is at number three for winning the true third match at Final X against #4 Trent Hidlay and for winning the US Open over #6 Marcus Coleman. Hidlay took third at World Team Trials by beating #5 Drew Foster and Coleman, lost the true third match at Final X to Hall and won U23 World Team Trials over Trent Munoz to lock down the number four spot in the rankings.
Foster is ranked fifth for beating US Open runner-up #6 Marcus Coleman and #7 Andrew Morgan at World Team Trials on his way to a fourth-place finish after losses to Hall and Hidlay in the semifinals and third-place match. Coleman is number six in the rankings for finishing runner-up at the US Open, where he beat second-seeded Nick Reenan and #8 Owen Webster. Reenan is not ranked because he went 79 KG for the World Team Trials and went 0-2 with losses to #9 (79) Brayden Thompson and #8 Taylor Lujan.
Andrew Morgan is seventh in the rankings for beating US Open fourth place finisher #9 Caden Steffen and #10 Owen Webster at World Team Trials. Caleb Hopkins is number eight in the rankings for beating Open fourth place finisher Steffen in the blood round at World Team Trials after Hopkins had finished sixth at the US Open due to a consolation semifinal loss to Steffen and a loss in the fifth place match to Webster. Caden Steffen is ranked #9 for beating Morgan and Hopkins in the US Open, which was subsequently followed by losing to both Morgan and Hopkins at World Team Trials. Webster is #10 for beating #8 Caleb Hopkins twice at the U.S. Open; in the championship quarterfinals and in the fifth place match. Webster went 0-2 at World Team Trials with losses to #4 Trent Hidlay and #7 Andrew Morgan.
92KG
Returning world bronze medalist J'den Cox won the top spot in the rankings by coming out on top of a three-match series against #2 Nate Jackson at Final X. Nate Jackson is number two in the rankings after his runner-up finish at Final X and title at World Team Trials over #4 Isaac Trumble. Jay Aiello is number three for winning the true third match at Final X against World Team Trials runner-up Trumble. US Open runner-up Isaac Trumble is fourth in the rankings for finishing runner-up at the World Team Trials to Jackson and losing his true third match against Aiello. Trumble's best wins of this season were avenging his US Open finals loss to #5 Cam Caffey in the World Team Trials semifinals and beating U.S. Open third place finisher #7 Max Shaw in the US Open semifinals.
Caffey is fifth in the rankings off the strength of a US Open title with victories over Trumble and Battista that was followed up by a fourth-place finish at World Team Trials off losses to Jackson in the semifinals and Aiello in the bronze medal match. Battista is sixth in the rankings off a 4th place finish in the US Open, where he lost to #7 Max Shaw that he then avenged in the repechage bracket of World Team Trials. Max Shaw is seventh for finishing third at the U.S. Open and beating Battista and following it up by going 0-2 at World Team Trials with losses to Jackson and Battista.
Jacob Cardenas is at number eight for winning the U23 World Team Trials. Christopher Smith is ninth in the rankings for finishing fifth in the U.S. Open. Jacob Koser is tenth in the rankings for finishing sixth in the U.S. Open.
97KG
2021 Olympic and World runner-up Kyle Snyder is number one in the domestic rankings for winning Final X over #2 Kollin Moore. Michael Macchiavello is third in the rankings for finishing runner-up to #2 Kollin Moore at World Team Trials and winning the US Open. Macchiavello had wins this season over #5 Ethan Laird and #6 Timothy Dudley. Ben Kueter is fourth in the rankings for winning Junior World Team Trials and the Junior World championships. While some may take issue with his lack of domestic Senior competition, Kueter's win over Rifat Gidak in the JR world finals after Gidak had upset the returning U23 world champion Amirali Azarpira in the semifinals is better than any win that athletes ranked fifth through tenth have.
Ethan Laird is fifth in the rankings for taking third at World Team Trials over #6 Timothy Dudley and avenging his loss from in the fifth place match of the U.S. Open to #7 Samuel Mitchell. Dudley is sixth in the rankings after a fourth-place finish at the U.S. Open and World Team Trials. Mitchell is seventh in the rankings for beating Laird at the U.S.Open. Tanner Sloan is eighth in the rankings for winning the U23 World Team Trials. Nick Stemmet is ninth for finishing runner-up at the U23 World Team Trials. Duncan Lee is tenth for finishing in seventh place at the U.S. Open.
125KG
Hayden Zillmer is number one in the rankings for winning Final X over two-time world bronze medalist #2 Nick Gwiazdowski. Dom Bradley is number three in the rankings for taking third at World Team Trials and finishing runner-up at the US Open to Zillmer. Ty Walz is number four for taking bronze at the U.S. Open and fourth at World Team Trials and notching wins over #5 Tony Cassioppi and #8 Demetrius Thomas. Tony Cassioppi is fifth in the rankings for beating #6 Derek White at World Team Trials and beating #9 Zach Elam in the U23 World Team Trials finals.
White is sixth in the rankings for beating #7 Christian Lance at World Team Trials. Lance is seventh in the rankings for taking sixth in the US Open, where he beat made the quarterfinals and lost to #8 Thomas, then beat White in the blood round then lost to Walz and Lucas Davison. Lance avenged his loss to Davidson at World Team Trials but was beaten by #6 Derek White and eliminated in the repechage bracket. Thomas is eighth in the rankings for getting fourth at the U.S.Open where he beat Lance and Davison, but followed it up with a loss in the round of 16 of World Team Trials to Lance and was eliminated in the consolation quarterfinals by Walz. Elam is ninth in the rankings for finishing runner-up to Cassioppi at U23 World Team Trials and beating #10 Tyrie Houghton in the semifinals after Houghton had upset the Senior US Open fifth-place finisher, Lucas Davison, in the quarterfinals.
Pound for Pound
Kyle Dake is number one in the pound-for-pound rankings based on his three world titles (‘18 & ‘19 at 79KG, ‘21 at 74KG) and his Olympic bronze medal plus his wins over #2 David Taylor, #3 Jordan Burroughs, #8 J'den Cox, #14 Zahid Valencia, #17 Alex Dieringer and #24 Jason Nolf. The rest of the top five is all returning World/Olympic medalists in #2 David Taylor, #3 Jordan Burroughs, #4 Kyle Snyder, and #5 Thomas Gilman as their elite domestic and international wins warrant their top five status.
Seth Gross is at sixth in the pound-for-pound rankings based on his wins over #7 Daton Fix and #5 Thomas Gilman. Daton Fix is seventh for past wins over #6 Seth Gross and #5 Thomas Gilman. Fix's consistency from 57-61KG and coming off a world silver medal weighs more heavily for me than #8 J'den Cox's resume that's dependent on good wins from six years ago (#1 Kyle Dake at Olympic Trials) and five years ago (#2 David Taylor at 2017 World Team Trials) coupled with unranked losses (Illia Archaia of Ukraine at the 2021 Yasar Dogu) plus losing to #5 Kyle Snyder and failing to win world's hurts his pound for pound status.
Chance Marsteller is at ninth for going through the meatgrinder that was 79 KG this season and managing to take a match off of returning 79 KG world champion #3 Jordan Burroughs at Final X and winning matches against #13 Vincenzo Joseph, #15 Carter Starocci, and #15 David McFadden. Zain Retherford completes the top ten at tenth after making his third world team by beating #11 Jordan Oliver at the 70KG Final X and while there is an understandable push for #12 Yianni Diakomihalis to be top ten, both Zain and JO have avenged their losses to him from 2019 and are deserving of pound for pound spots ahead of him based off that.
Vincenzo Joseph is in at thirteen for wins over Marsteller and #17 Alex Dieringer this season. Joseph was a runner-up to Marsteller in the World Team Trials finals. Zahid Valencia is in at fourteen for runner-up finishes to Dake at 2018 79 KG Final X and finishing runner-up to Taylor this year at 86 KG Final X. Valencia is the consensus number two at 86 KG and currently ranked ninth internationally and boasts a pound for pound win over #17 Alex Dieringer, so being right in the middle of the rankings at #14 is a perfect spot for him.
Two-time NCAA champion Carter Starocci is in the rankings at fifteen for beating #16 David McFadden and #17 Alex Dieringer at 79 KG World Team Trials and Starocci also took third in 2021 at World Team Trials where he beat #9 Chance Marsteller and #24 Jason Nolf. Joey McKenna is in at eighteen for beating Retherford at the 2021 Olympic Trials and beating Diakomihalis at 2019 Senior Nationals and taking a match over Yianni at the 2021 World Team Trials.
Vito Arujau sits at #19 for putting together runner-up finishes at the 2021 57 KG Olympic Trials and this year at Final X, both to Gilman. Arujau's win that anchors him to the pound for pound is Fix at the 2021 Olympic Trials. Nate Jackson sits at number twenty in the rankings after a runner-up finish at Final X at 92 KG, where he took a match against #8 J'Den Cox. Kollin Moore is in at twenty-one for three straight World/Olympic Trials runner-up finishes going back to 2021 when he was runner-up to #4 Kyle Snyder at the 97 KG 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials, runner-up to #8 J'den Cox at the 2021 92 KG World Team Trials, and runner-up this year to #4 Kyle Snyder at 97 KG Final X.
125 KG Final X champion Hayden Zillmer is twenty-two in the rankings for beating two-time world bronze medalist #23 Nick Gwiazdowski to secure the 125 KG world championships spot. 74 KG Final X runner-up Jason Nolf slots in at twenty-four in the rankings. While that may seem low for someone of the skill caliber of Nolf, Nolf has just begun to establish himself as a serious international contender in freestyle and has been stuck behind the likes of #1 Kyle Dake and #3 Jordan Burroughs and hasn't been able to get any particular signature wins to his name due to the difficulty of the weight classes he's been in. Nolf also has a loss to #15 Carter Starocci from the 2021 79 KG World Team Trials. As it stands, Nolf's best current wins domestically are David Carr and Isaiah Martinez and his best international wins are #9 Timur Bizhoev (RUS) and Khetag Tsabolov (SRB). Very solid but in weights with pound-for-pound standouts like Burroughs and Dake, it's hard to break through with that. Joe Colon finishes the rankings at #25 based on his 2018 61 KG world bronze medal, victory over 2018 61 KG world champion Yowlys Bonne Rodriguez (CUB) and two wins over #6 Seth Gross.
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