PNWfan

In all seriousness, anyone else concerned he might announce a full commitment to WWE and forego future wrestling plans? This seems unlikely given him already wrestling in the U.S. Open and Final X, plus all the teases about Iowa, but it would really suck if that is the big announcement tonight.

They are on the UWW site. In summary: 57kg: Richards beats German to take Bronze 65kg: Lee teched by Mongolian 10-0 in less than two minutes. 74kg: No medal for Ramirez 86kg: No medal 92kg: Zahid loses first match to Iranian but ends up taking gold due 97kg: Snyder wins gold via forfeit 125kg: Parris rolls through the field to take gold. Beat Conyedo (Olympic bronze at 97kg) in first match 10-0, also beat Deng from China who is a former world silver.

Ochir looked impressive, clearly outclassed Lee. I think Yianni gives the U.S. a better chance in those matches than Lee does. However, if Yianni cannot beat Lee, that is a problem.

That was ugly.

Was surprised to see him there too with all that he has accomplished, he must want the matches as a tune up for World's.

Looks like the team is in Budapest, minus Retherford, Dake, Taylor and Steveson. With Parris wrestling in place of Steveson, will be interested to see how he fares against the rest of the 125kg field. I still believe he is one of the top 10 125kg's in the world, hopefully he gets the chance to show it against the likes of Akgul, Petriashvili, etc.

Interesting timing for this announcement. Seems like JG has always been a tweener for the Olympic weights. Not powerful enough to bump up and beat the best at 74kg, but too strenuous of a cut to 65kg to compete at the peak levels he reached at 70kg in non-Olympic seasons. Another guy who seems to fit in this same category is Zain Retherford. Hoping James can beat the odds.

Any idea if the U.S. actually plans to send their A team to this tournament, as the list from UWW suggests?

Kinda happy to see Rashidov has been unseated at 65kg. Didn’t care much for his sit and wait style.

Incorrect. Starocci and Nickal wrestled opening round of Olympic Trials in 2021. Nickal victorious 6-1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_Olympic_Team_Trials_(wrestling)#Brackets

Curious to see if we get Gable vs. Zare at this year's WC's. I saw Gable's interview where he was asked about possible matchups against Petriashvili/Akgul, but I think the 125kg that would actually be the toughest matchup right now for Gable is Zare. I'd still expect Gable to win, but Zare does have that relentless, push forward Iranian style (if he doesn't gas) that would be a different look for Gable.

Pretty sure Starocci and Nickal wrestled in the opening round. Perhaps that is what Brooks is alluding to.

I agree that the grounding rule is very subjective and inconsistently called in freestyle at the senior levelt. However, I disagree with the statement that a wrestler can drop to his knees and never give up 1. Look at David Taylor's Olympic final match against Yazdani. Yaz was pushing him with those underhooks and DT was (smartly) dropping to his knees to avoid the push-out point. I think it was the third time this happened where the ref hit DT with a caution and awarded Yaz 1 point, which seemed to catch DT off guard.

Not sure Feldman is a true HWT. Seemed like he really struggled at Junior World's with some of the competition that was more grown into the weight.

If Steveson wins World's in 2023 and Olympics in 2024, he belongs on Rushmore. Look at who he beat in the Olympics and the age he did it. Plus, the eye test shows he is one of the most dominant HWT's the world has ever seen. I doubt he will hang around long enough to build up an international resume comparable to the like of Smith, Baumgartner, Taylor, Dake, etc., but that should not restrict him from being placed among the greats of all time.

I thought David Taylor was going to be wrestling at 86kg, but brackets just released show Mark Hall as the U.S. rep. Any idea what happened?

Masoumi drops two matches at 125kg. Where are our Iranian friends? Would love to see their thoughts on his performance.

Meh, I'm sure you were also saying before the last Olympics that Gable had no chance of beating Akgul or Petriashvili given his limited experience on the senior level. We saw how that turned out.

The problem with the Ferrari's starts with the Dad who has enabled this type of behavior from his kids. Consider me skeptical the Ferrari's land at Iowa, and if they do, don't expect it to be for too long given their history of moving around once trouble hits. Also, this time last year, AJ was saying he would be picking a school soon, blah blah blah. Gotta take what he says with a grain of salt, especially with the black cloud of his legal situation still looming.

Totally agree. The way Starocci went about winning his match was borderline shameful. No fault to him I suppose that the rules are the way they are, but that match, other than the dance-off at the end, was absolutely dreadful to watch. Something needs to change.