Final X NYC Thoughts & Results
This event was amazing… from the matches, production, and crowd it was all put well together. In the last few weeks, there has been a lot of talk about where we should host wrestling events to be able to pull the biggest crowds. Final X NYC showed us that the east coast is ready to take that on. Just watching the flo stream, you could easily spot the major differences between WTT, Final X-Stillwater, and Final X-NYC. The lighting of the arena, the wrestlers walking out through the crowd, and the way the seats were set up all show the power of Beat The Streets events compared to other event organizers within the community.
One more thing to point out before we get into results is the quality of wrestling we see from all 3 divisions. Women’s wrestling has evolved fast, so its fun to see the rivalries and storylines come to play for them. As well as greco, guys like Kamal Bey and Hancock have the style to light up scoreboards, and thats what we need from our greco team going into worlds.
Men‘s Freestyle Results -
65 KG Yianni def Evan Henderson (2-0)
74 KG Kyle Dake def Jason Nolf (2-0)
79 KG JB def Chance Marstellar (2-1)
86 KG David Taylor def Zahid Valencia (2-0)
130 KG Hayden Zillmer def Nick Gwiazdowski (2-1)
thoughts: This is one of the best mens freestyle cards we have seen domestically. From top to bottom every single match was entertaining to watch. Henderson has put some good performances together recently, but it wasn’t enough to take out Yianni as he is on the quest for his first senior medal. Dake is one of the best defensive wrestlers I have ever seen. The way he holds position and pushes forward gives his opponents trouble getting to their offense. But did Jason Nolf give him all he could handle and more, finding a TD on Kyle with a low single shot. The proof is in the pudding, NLWC is up to something and its showing with all of their recent performances. I think Marstellar creates a unique challenge for guys, with his strength and positioning. Although JB did give up a match to him, I feel that JB showed he still has that same poise to go out and win when he has to. DT v. Zahid was my series of the night, because of the way they both push the pace. It was a relentless war through match one, but the longer the match goes the more it favors DT. We saw that with DT being able to pick up the tech round two as he began to pick up his attacks. Congrats to Zillmer, who has been on the verge of a world team for a while now. He was able to to take down World Medalist Gwiz in dramatic fashion, taking the last two matches from him. I don’t expect a medal at heavyweight, but I'm excited to see Zillmer compete at worlds.
Women’s Freestyle Results -
50 KG Sarah Hildebrandt def Alyssa Lampe (2-0)
53KG Dom Parrish def Felicity Taylor (2-0)
57 KG Helen Maroulis def Alex Hedrick (2-0)
72 KG Amit Elor def Skylar Grote (2-0)
thoughts: Helen, Sarah, and Adeline are all the standard for women’s wrestling right now. The way they are able to execute high level techniques within those matches is insane. Another big thing, is their ability to light up score boards, like I said earlier, is another major key in building women’s wrestling and they did just that. Amit Elor is my womens’ wrestler of the night just because of her dominance this past year. She made a cadet and junior team last year, won both world championships for that. Now she has made a junior and senior world team and is looking to add two more golds to her accolades. She is another young star who is wrestling well beyond her years.
Men’s Greco -
60 KG Ildar Havizof def Dalton Roberts (2-0)
67 KG Alejandro Sancho def Alston Nutter (2-0)
77 KG Kamal Bey def Britton Holmes (2-0)
87 KG Alan Vera def Tim Young (2-0)
97 KG G’Angelo Hancock def Braxton Amos (2-0)
thoughts: this is the best ive seen out of our greco team. We push to put points on the board and go for the big moves. You get rewarded for pushing to score points in wrestling, and thats what I think our greco team is starting to evolve to. With the lead of guys like Bey, Hancock, and Peak I think we have a bright future of turning around USA Greco. Im excited to see Bey and Hancock at worlds continuing to light up scoreboards!
thanks for reading :)
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