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Wyatt Hendrickson Enters the Barn - Session 85
47 Plays16 days ago
We welcome Wyatt Hendrickson back onto the podcast to go over the stellar year he's had. From winning an NCAA title over Gable Steveson, to most recently making his first world team. We talk about how David Taylor has transformed his mentality, developed world-class system in Stillwater, and more!
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Transcript
Introducing Wyatt Henderson and Weather Tales
00:00:00
Wyatt
Thank you.
00:00:00
Cokeley Brothers
Welcome back to the barn session, everybody. We are here on a nice Wednesday or Thursday morning now at this point.
00:00:04
Ryne
Thanks.
00:00:09
Cokeley Brothers
and We're here with a special guest. We have 2025 125 kilo world team member, Wyatt Henderson back on the show with us ah ready to talk some wrestling.
00:00:11
Reese
Thank you.
00:00:19
Cokeley Brothers
So Wyatt, how are you doing?
00:00:21
Wyatt
I'm good. I'm good. Stillwater is the place to be right now. We have hurricane type winds. We've got hail the size of tennis. It's just the best life you could ever ask for.
00:00:33
Wyatt
No, it's been good.
00:00:33
Ryne
Thank you.
00:00:34
Wyatt
But we just actually had a recent storm. And um I loved it. So I'm like a storm chaser at heart. But my wife, Emily, she's from Denver. Denver, Colorado. Not many thunderstorms. So we're driving.
00:00:46
Wyatt
i have Ain't No Lovin' Oklahoma cranked to the max. I'm loving And she's in the passenger seat just like shocked while we're driving through this storm. But I love it. I love i love i love it here. but it's ah But now it's it's the sunniest day I've ever I'm going to go to the lake and have a good time. so
00:01:03
Ryne
Wow, that'll be fun.
00:01:03
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, yeah. You guys have...
00:01:04
Ryne
Yeah, you got to you got take her to see some tornadoes, man.
00:01:05
Reese
Is it like worse?
00:01:08
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:01:08
Wyatt
I was trying to. They said there was a tornado watch. She was like, babe, we need to get home right now. And I'm like, it's fine. Don't worry.
00:01:15
Ryne
don't know.
00:01:17
Wyatt
We'll be okay. But and all we were okay. i don't think any tornadoes touched down near Stillwater. I wish, though. That would have been cool.
00:01:23
Ryne
I started Wichita like had some crazy straight line wins, like a hundred mile an hour, straight line wins, like power outages for like 12 hours or something like that.
00:01:24
Cokeley Brothers
Stores.
00:01:27
Reese
Yeah.
00:01:31
Ryne
Like they they got hit really hard the other day.
Community and Achievements in Stillwater
00:01:35
Wyatt
Yeah, that that storm came through, but everything always misses Stillwater. They said there hasn't been trend in here for the past 30, 40 years. It always just goes around. There's like a map of it, and it never hits Stillwater. It always goes around. Yeah.
00:01:48
Cokeley Brothers
Still water has still been, they've kind of been through the paces with, with, uh, natural disasters this year with, you guys had the fires earlier and, uh, yeah.
00:01:48
Ryne
It must be because of you.
00:01:54
Wyatt
Yeah, that that that will that did suck. That was the one thing that kind of, yeah. But, mean, for the most part, I think almost, well, because actually someone, are our academic advisor, his house burnt down.
00:02:06
Ryne
Whoa. whoa
00:02:06
Cokeley Brothers
No.
00:02:06
Wyatt
But with the with the community support here, I mean, obviously was the toughest thing is the stuff that you can't replace, those pictures and stuff.
00:02:14
Wyatt
But, I mean, he's back.
00:02:14
Cokeley Brothers
No.
00:02:14
Wyatt
we were all I think everyone's mostly fully recovered from that. And most people actually turned into a controlled burn. mean, Coach Smith was calling us up, like, get over here, boys, get the tractor, we're going to control this thing, because he needed to burn his his land.
00:02:27
Wyatt
So most of the guys are just like, well, another day of work, I guess we're doing it now.
00:02:30
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:02:31
Wyatt
So lot of people were up at night, Troy Sprout, all those guys out there just helping maintain it and just turning to control burn. But, yeah.
00:02:38
Reese
Thank you.
00:02:38
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. Sweet. Well, uh, I'm not really sure where the best places to start, but I know that we wanted to get you on here after, obviously after NCA's went down and, and you had, uh, a, went through the new circuit, like the main stream, on ESPN and and all that stuff.
00:02:57
Cokeley Brothers
Um, But I do want to kind of pull back to what what happened in Philadelphia and really your entire year at Stillwater um because it was, from our perspective, it seemed like it was just kind of like this.
00:03:12
Cokeley Brothers
I don't know what the best way is to describe it, but like ever and yeah everything everything was good was going great.
00:03:15
Ryne
magical
00:03:18
Cokeley Brothers
And it was like nothing but good news the entire year. One for Stillwater and two for Wyatt Hendrickson. um So if you can kind of summarize that in whatever way in in your experience from this past year and how it's, how it's gone, because I mean, things have been basically magical for you um for at least the last eight months.
00:03:33
Reese
Thank
00:03:39
Cokeley Brothers
So
00:03:40
Wyatt
Yeah, and that's something actually, that's what, uh, that's what Coach Taylor said. If you come to Stillwater, I promise it'll be magical, but I'm just kidding.
00:03:46
Cokeley Brothers
yeah.
00:03:47
Wyatt
He didn't say that, but pretty much he did
Mindset and Training Philosophy at Stillwater
00:03:49
Wyatt
without saying it. But I remember from the very beginning, The very first call I had with Coach Taylor, we talked about, and I think and we mentioned this a last time, but it's not just about this one year. Obviously, we wanted to be a national champion, and we did that. But that wasn't the very first thing that Coach Taylor really mentioned. He said, hey, we want to take over the world. We want to be world champions. He's like, we don't want to limit ourselves.
00:04:13
Wyatt
to being national champions or being on the on the world team. And i think after, I was obviously, I'm super happy and blessed to have had a great tournament.
00:04:18
Ryne
Thank
00:04:23
Wyatt
Obviously, I won Final X, I'm on the world team, but i mean, I was excited, but I didn't think it was really neat anything to celebrate about.
00:04:26
Reese
Thank
00:04:31
Wyatt
um Our goal is to be out. I mean, even before that, like coaches, hey, we're not trained to be on the world team. We're training to be world champions. And so having that mindset going into Final X, obviously it's a stepping stone. But I mean, there wasn't really a big reason to celebrate that much because this was cool, but this isn't really my goal. i haven't really reached my goals yet. And that's going to be going to world and being a world champion.
00:04:52
Wyatt
And that's something that Coach Taylor has kind of preached from day one. And after having been under his coaching for a year, it's ah it's it's so unique how how we work in the wrestling room. Everything is just...
00:05:08
Wyatt
it's It's unlike anything I've ever done before because everything we do, and and we don't overdo wrestling. We love having team bonding events, and he the best thing is he doesn't always make 24-7, grind wrestling, doing this.
00:05:20
Wyatt
um but we're what But when we're in the wrestling room, it's everything wrestling. We don't we don't show up and start jogging, do this. We get right to wrestling. Most of us now actually we have a new game.
00:05:31
Wyatt
It's like where you give a ball and you... toss it up if you've seen us on social media you know what what game that is but we always show up early we do that and we get right to wrestling so uh you know we're we talk about like people there's some some teams and in the past and you do uh there's some team building stuff that's good but like doing some sprints doing stairs doing big big mile runs
00:05:36
Ryne
Thank you.
00:05:45
Reese
Thank you.
00:05:53
Wyatt
You don't see cross-country people or sprinters coming to wrestling to get better at track. So everything we do is revolved around wrestling, even in the weight room. We don't do many traditional lifts. Everything we do is with bands, simulating snaps, simulating throws.
00:06:06
Wyatt
um We do some Dumbo work here and there, but... Everything we do is revolved around wrestling when we're doing wrestling. And it just becomes second nature fun. Like you don't look, I don't look at it as, oh, I got to go into practice today and do this. It's like, oh, this is sweet. This is the time of day where we get to go and and get better at wrestling to you know be world Olympic champions. So everything, I'd say the mindset is the biggest thing that has altered in my wrestling. Obviously, I became a better wrestler throughout these past couple couple months this past year, but my mindset going into everything, because in the past, I probably would have gone into ah the US Open or Final X like, hey, I'm just glad to be here, and I want to do my best.
00:06:49
Wyatt
And while that's still true, it's like, I thought I would have been content just placing top three or just making it to Final X or even making it to the national finals against Gabriel Stevenson. In the past, would have just been content, but you know what?
00:07:03
Wyatt
I think I've done enough.
00:07:04
Reese
Thank
00:07:05
Wyatt
whatever happens happens. But now my perspective on everything is like, we are coming, I'm coming to take over the world. And, ah I don't mean that in an evil, evil sense, but you i mean, in the wrestling world, I want to be number one in everything.
00:07:13
Ryne
Thank you.
00:07:18
Wyatt
And so going into these matches, my mindset's not like, obviously I'm grateful to be here, but it's like, Hey, this is, this is what, this is what it's all about. I've worked for this moment. I'm not going waste it. I'm not going to take no for an answer. I'm not going to take this loss for an answer.
00:07:32
Wyatt
And I think my opponents, uh, whoever it is when I wrestle them, no matter how many points they start to score on me, they just feel my presence of, I am going to die on this mat or I'm going to win.
00:07:36
Reese
Thank you.
00:07:43
Wyatt
And that's what makes me so dangerous is they feel it.
00:07:47
Ryne
We're
00:07:47
Wyatt
Like, they can just feel when they tie with me. Even they get a you know a move on me or like, Trent hit me with a two four-point moves so far. would have been wrestling him first. And, you know, for most, I'd probably inspire some confidence, which I'm sure it does a little bit. But then he's still just like,
00:08:03
Wyatt
that doesn't really matter. Like this guy is still going to be coming after me. And I know what that mindset is because in the past when I've wrestled people, I've been that person with the wrong mindset.
00:08:06
Ryne
herman
00:08:12
Wyatt
I've wrestled Mason Paris a couple times and my mindset wasn't there. I was like, i'm just grateful to be here wrestling. And even though I think one match was up like seven to zero, i didn't feel that confidence of winning that match because my brain was still just like,
00:08:25
Wyatt
it's so if he hits me with some moves, that's okay. It was supposed to happen. You know, you're not supposed to win this match, bubble blah, blah, blah. And so I know what it feels like to be on the opposite side of this. But not being on the positive side, it's just like, dude, no matter what happens, going to come out on top every single time.
00:08:41
Wyatt
And I haven't lost in a long time. I'm going to keep that streak rolling.
00:08:43
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:08:44
Wyatt
think it's been over a year now.
00:08:44
Ryne
Yeah. Yeah. yeah
00:08:46
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. That's so, I mean, it is interesting to hear like having this, this attitude that's centered around like just gratitude for being able to be there and have the opportunity, but then also tacking on top of that because that's what it was before.
00:08:49
Reese
you
00:09:00
Cokeley Brothers
And now it's, it's not just that I'm not just happy to be here. Right. I need to have this assertion and this this aggression that like, I'm going to go, go out there and I'm going to dominate and I'm going to win and I'm going to do whatever it takes to get that done.
00:09:12
Cokeley Brothers
um It's interesting to hear that you, that you add that on top of it and it's had the change ah that we've seen this last year. So that's been pretty interesting.
00:09:22
Cokeley Brothers
um Interesting to hear about. So yeah.
00:09:25
Wyatt
Yeah. the um my my The mindset's huge.
00:09:26
Reese
Get rich or die trying.
00:09:30
Wyatt
Go ahead, Reese.
00:09:30
Cokeley Brothers
Interesting.
00:09:32
Ryne
Reese, go ahead.
00:09:33
Reese
But, oh, I said, ah get rich or die trying, you know, that's, a that's the mindset.
00:09:39
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:09:39
Wyatt
Yeah. Yeah.
00:09:40
Ryne
Yeah, truly, truly.
00:09:43
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, I ah actually know you. Yes, there is something that you said in there that that made me think of something, right? Because like you mentioned, people are go to people are going to score points on you. It's going to happen. um But they can they can kind of feel like that's not enough.
00:09:52
Wyatt
yeah
00:09:55
Cokeley Brothers
And it made me think about, there's there's a very famous clip of ah Larry Bird coaching against ah against Michael Jordan. And it's like, they just took the lead, but there's still time on the clock.
00:10:05
Cokeley Brothers
And Larry Bird's just sitting there like, there's still time on the clock.
00:10:06
Wyatt
Ha ha.
00:10:08
Cokeley Brothers
So that's... a its very It's a very interesting comparison. so Well, um
00:10:18
Cokeley Brothers
so college is over.
00:10:20
Ryne
Thank you.
00:10:20
Cokeley Brothers
You're a national champion. ah You took out one of the best in the world to do that. What was your... what was your talk to Talk to me about like what things were what was going through your mind in that seven-minute span when you're wrestling on the mat with Gable Steveson.
00:10:40
Cokeley Brothers
ah The president's there. There's a crowd full of people who are, some are cheering for you, some are cheering against you. um you know what is What is the mindset of Wyatt Hendrickson during that?
00:10:51
Wyatt
Yeah, so obviously, like you just mentioned, stepping into an arena that's obviously supportive and hostile where, um you know, the president's there, a bunch of people are there. It's on national television. There's and however many tens of thousands of people in that arena. I'm going against Gable Steveson.
00:11:08
Wyatt
In those situations, it's easy to kind of get too involved and too ah aware of your surroundings. And you start you start letting that take effect on you. And I mentioned how my mindset's changed this year.
00:11:21
Wyatt
When I walked out there, i was I was pretty focused. I mean, I did the same thing. I usually do my warm-up in the back room. I say my prayer. I you know talk to the coach for a brief second. i walk out there and wrestle. So the best way I can describe the feeling it felt was in the movie Creed when he's he's in the boxing match.
00:11:40
Wyatt
He's out in the center of the ring and there's just a spotlight on him. There's no one in the crowd. There's not a sound in sight, not a person in sight, just him and his opponent. that's that's really what happened. I remember running out of the tunnel, and then I started to become inaudible, is what I call it. So, like, I'm not aware of my surroundings. I just, all I see is the center mat, me and my opponent, and people always ask me, what did Gable say to you?
00:12:02
Wyatt
What happened there? And i I did not listen to a thing he said. I don't know. All I saw was I looked up. I saw he was coming up to me. was like, oh, he wants to, he's coming to shake my hand right now. I shook his hand. I went back to my corner. It wasn't until after the match I realized he was trying to be hostile and create an event out of that. But,
00:12:18
Wyatt
and and In a situation like that, my mindset going to that match was, this is no different than what I've been doing in the past 15, 19, 20 years When I wrestle my best is on days where I wake up here, i have some breakfast, hang out with the boys and go practice here in s Stillwater.
00:12:37
Wyatt
There's nothing special about
Team Dynamics and Mentorship
00:12:38
Wyatt
that day. It's just a normal day. So that day the national tournament, I just made it like any other day. i woke up, hung out, got some breakfast. I'm not sitting there exhausting myself thinking about the match tonight because if I let that start to, if I'm sitting there thinking all day, like, oh, President Trump's going to be there.
00:12:54
Wyatt
Gable is, oh, it's Gable Steveson or, oh, this yeah there's so many people watching me. and oh yeah As soon as you start to do that, you just wear yourself out. And I've done that before. I've mentally stressed myself out before I've ever stepped on the mat. So that entire day, was just doing anything I'd do any the other day. was hanging out, was on my phone, just...
00:13:12
Wyatt
I didn't want to make it any different because if you make it something different, that's when that's when you're going to start falling behind. That's when you're going to see your mood start to slip. That's when you're gonna start overthinking. And so that entire day, I just went to the back as soon as the Nationals started and just just hung out and then obviously walking out there and wrestling.
00:13:29
Wyatt
I the only things that Coach Taylor said to me is he's like, hey, ah make it hard. ah Be patient and have fun. And so going out there, I didn't want to give an inch. Obviously, from the very first scramble, if my mindset would have been a little bit different, I definitely would have considered that takedown.
00:13:47
Wyatt
Oh, it's it's gay what's supposed to happen. But I was like, I'm going out here to win. so I'm going to wrestle like it. And that very first scramble, as soon as I kind of shocked him, that threw him off. That was part of the plan, you know, just hey make it difficult on him because so many people – just give it to those good wrestlers on a silver platter like oh here you go here's the win i'm going against you but you're supposed to win this blah bla blah blah yeah no that's not the way it was going to go so i went out there and that plot was probably a little bit new for gable because most of give it to someone's legs they're so shocked and they're so concerned they're wrestling gabe steveson that they they fall over and i know that because that was me the very first time i wrestled with him my freshman year at ncaa's
00:14:26
Wyatt
I was ah ah you know freshly out of high school and I was like I just watched this guy what a national championship. I just watched this guy in the NCAAs. And that was someone I looked up to. And obviously ah looking up to someone and going against them, that are two that's pretty sweet. And so the first time I wrestled him,
00:14:43
Wyatt
I was like, oh, it's Gable, you know, or earth it's this. And so I just kind of didn't really wrestle my match. But this was obviously ah different this time. And just there's ah the entire match, I just wore down on it wore down on him in that last 30 seconds.
00:14:59
Wyatt
This is, and people are like, did you plan that? all What I was trying to do was get him... shaken up, get him out of his stance, finally wear him down. And if you look back to the match, when I did that snap, that was the first time he looked put his head down.
00:15:09
Ryne
Mm-hmm.
00:15:14
Wyatt
The first time I was like, and I was like, he's tired. i kind of knew that he going to the break. He threw that challenge brick, but I think he, I think, I don't think he, he knew he didn't have that takedown. i think he just needed a breather.
00:15:26
Wyatt
And so I walked to the corner. i'm like, coach, like he's tired. He's like, yeah, I know. Go win this. And so that last shot, when I was moving, i was faking, faking. That was the first time when I snapped him, he let his head go down. And I shot right after that. I took him down and we finished the match. But that was a long, long response to that one question of, yeah.
00:15:46
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, but there's there's a couple other things in there because you you mentioned how, I think you you said it earlier this year in in in another interview, how because you've you've gotten a lot of pins in your college career, but you kind of, what Coach Taylor said to you, like, hey, we need to be able to wrestle full matches, right?
00:15:56
Wyatt
right
00:16:02
Wyatt
yeah
00:16:03
Cokeley Brothers
um And so, like, kind of kind of paid off a little bit, right? Because Gable Steveson kind of came out there for the Big Ten schedule and just just got things over in the first period, done in the second period. And, like, I think he wrestled two or three full matches before the NCAA finals.
00:16:16
Cokeley Brothers
And so, you know,
00:16:17
Ryne
I thought it was only one. I thought Feldman was the only one he went a full match with before Wyatt.
00:16:21
Reese
Treffen
00:16:22
Cokeley Brothers
Feldman, Treffen and Kirk, right?
00:16:24
Ryne
Oh, traffic. That's right.
00:16:26
Reese
and Kirk, yeah.
00:16:26
Cokeley Brothers
I think those three.
00:16:26
Ryne
Yep.
00:16:28
Cokeley Brothers
um So, so, i mean, yeah, that, that, ah you know, coaches insight pays off um and mentioning the idea of having fun ah just, just from the perspective of social media, like with, with stilly boys and everything we, you know, the fans get a pretty good understanding of like this team likes to have, likes to enjoy their time, not just in the room, but spending time together outside of the room.
00:16:52
Cokeley Brothers
um How, how has that been as an experience, know, Um, and, and, and I'm, I'm imagining that it's, there's a similar brotherhood that comes from your experience at the air force.
00:17:01
Reese
Thank
00:17:02
Wyatt
Absolutely.
00:17:02
Cokeley Brothers
Uh, but it's a different, it's a different way of spending your time, uh, being able to, um, you know, you know, uh, whatever activities you guys get into out at Stillwater.
00:17:02
Wyatt
Yeah.
00:17:13
Cokeley Brothers
So
00:17:14
Wyatt
Absolutely. And at the Air Force Academy, we made our own fun, even though sometimes we couldn't leave base.
00:17:18
Cokeley Brothers
yeah, right.
00:17:18
Wyatt
do We do all of our fun stuff. But here... It's, and and this is, this is my perspective on it is if I can go in and have a grind practice with the guys and we work our tails off for two hours, it, if we go to the lake later that day, that makes it so rewarding because we're like, hey we earned this.
00:17:36
Wyatt
Um, and without that sort of, ah gratitude with the training if we went in there and grinded two hours every day and then just kind of went back maybe watch some film and then just didn't do anything that becomes really repetitive and you're not really reaping the benefits of your hard training so the way i look at it and the guys do is it makes it a lot more fun when you can go grind with everyone and then we'll go play pickleball as a team later because it's like hey this is our reward for grinding and like we've we've we've earned this
00:17:43
Ryne
Thank
00:18:07
Wyatt
And whenever, if you don't practice, you're just having fun all the time. You're like, hey, maybe we didn't deserve this. So i think for us, it's part of like a chain reaction. Like we want to train hard. We want to work hard and we want to play hard because if we're just working hard all the time, we're going burn.
00:18:19
Ryne
Yeah, card play hard.
00:18:21
Wyatt
Some guys have done that. I think ah some guys from other teams, they're like, this is is the best thing ever. like I'm enjoying myself. I'm having emotion outside of the wrestling. I'm having a great time. I'm enjoying my life.
00:18:33
Wyatt
Because obviously we love wrestling. It's what we've ahve we've all done it. But if that's all you do... i don't I don't think you're going to be the happiest. Now, some guys can do this. There's some guys on the team like RBY. That guy's insane. He eats, sleeps, he breathes, he drinks everything wrestling.
00:18:51
Wyatt
He wakes up, he trains, he does some more CrossFit stuff. He comes in, he saunas, he goes back, works out again, goes back in saunas. He can do that. that is not That is not me. I would drive myself insane.
00:19:02
Ryne
Thank you.
00:19:02
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:19:02
Wyatt
so And most people, I think, are similar. if so If you just do that, wrestling and wrestling is fun in the room, but there needs to be more to it. There needs to be a full circle moment. And I think that's what we've done. we go to the lake together. we go fishing. we do we do it We do a lot of stuff together just because we enjoy each other. We enjoy having fun. We're like we're we're a family.
00:19:21
Wyatt
And when you're going out there, if you're a if you're wrestling as an individual, it's you know It's not going to hit as different, but if you're going out there wrestling for the boys right behind you in the orange singlet, that's what's most important, and that's what gives you that extra drive out there on the mat.
00:19:35
Wyatt
and When I was sitting there, obviously, in the finals on that high crotch, it was like, I wanted it too, but I was like, dude, I'm i'm doing this for the boys.
00:19:41
Ryne
Yep.
00:19:41
Ryne
Yes.
00:19:41
Wyatt
This is for all of us, and so having a moment like that, because at the end of the day, it's all of us holding the trophy, not just me.
00:19:42
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:19:46
Wyatt
we all we all and Obviously, we want to be national champions. Third place is great. when We're not celebrating too much. We still higher goals than that, but I think you understand what I'm saying, though, is just it makes it a lot more enjoyable to have a community of guys where ah you can have fun outside of wrestling because wrestling's a grind.
00:20:04
Wyatt
And if you don't do anything besides that, you might drive yourself insane, unless you're RBY or someone like that. But he still shows up and does some fun stuff, too.
00:20:09
Cokeley Brothers
yeah
00:20:11
Wyatt
But yeah.
00:20:12
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Um, yeah, it's, it's a cool and like, I've seen, a similar version of, of what can be described as the recipe for success in terms of building a culture, um, with it within a program, uh, that, that not only are we, you know,
00:20:29
Wyatt
Yes.
00:20:36
Cokeley Brothers
we're not just here to be a wrestling team. We're not just here to get better at wrestling yeah because if we, if that's all we do, then, you know, you're going to just suffer outside of the room and suffer inside the room. ah So we want to be, may be able to balance the, the pain with some fun.
00:20:49
Cokeley Brothers
um And so, yeah, I mean, I think, I think that's awesome. I think that, that, uh, things are great in Stillwater. Um, what, what do you see moving forward? Cause you have your, your in Stillwater through 2028.
00:21:04
Cokeley Brothers
Um, you know, what do you see things looking like for Stillwater, uh, for this next Olympic cycle, basically?
00:21:11
Wyatt
I think a lot of people are seeing that Stillwater a great place to train and people are coming here to wrestle. But more than that, there's a lot of people even from ah from other countries that are trying to come here and train. And so I think the RTC here is obviously growing immensely.
00:21:30
Wyatt
ah lot of us that just graduated, um you know Dean, Cameron, Caleb, ah myself, we're all sticking around to train. which is going to start building that RTC. Obviously, we have some more people coming in, RBY.
00:21:45
Wyatt
We've got Mirzo. We've got multiple guys here. um and gas Gastain Garrett. We've a lot of guys here that are going to continually build this RTC. you know Coach Roper, he's been amazing. i love That guy, is he is his IQ on the mat is pretty intense.
00:21:59
Wyatt
He sees stuff that I never would have seen a mile away, which is the best part. ah We have a lot of aha moments, but I just think the way it's moving is towards probably one of the best RTCs in the United States. Obviously Penn State, Nittany Lion right now is amazing, but I think with... a our vision and the way we see things going.
00:22:20
Wyatt
We have a vision of everything we're doing. Now we're just, it's playing out. You know, I think it's, uh, I, I think obviously this is probably the best place for me.
00:22:24
Cokeley Brothers
Mm-hmm.
00:22:28
Wyatt
I'm obviously going to go back to the Springs Olympic training center. I'm going to go back to the AFRTC because that, I mean, obviously they are part of the but foundation. They helped build part of that foundation that made me such a great wrestler.
00:22:39
Wyatt
So, um, there's still great training partners there for me. There's still great coaches. I want to get their perspectives and I'm training. So, um, I'm going to be traveling, doing some more stuff there, but um'm just ah I'm just excited. i know we got a couple big – and you the best thing is obviously the new guys we bring in for ah Oklahoma State, I'll still be able to wrestle them on some of those RTC days. So I'm excited to help train them. And on the on the opposite side, the recruits we're bringing in are probably are some of the best heavyweights in the country already. So being able to wrestle them is going to help me just as much as it's going help –
00:23:13
Wyatt
ah me wrestling them, whatever i said. It's mutually beneficial, so.
00:23:16
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:23:16
Wyatt
Correct.
00:23:16
Ryne
Yes, yes.
00:23:17
Cokeley Brothers
Right. Yeah. How, you know, how, um, cause like one of one of your, one of the big recruits, um, in this, uh, in this next class is going to be Dreshawn Ross.
00:23:27
Wyatt
Correct.
00:23:27
Cokeley Brothers
And, um, you know, what, what is your perspective or what's your, what's your stance in terms of, you know, we're We're helping build each other, but like do you are you out there saying, like i want to I want to make sure, not not only that art that you're helping me win an Olympic title, but that I'm helping you you know go out there and a national title for Oklahoma State or or get get yourself poised to win an Olympic title once it's your time?
00:23:53
Cokeley Brothers
um do are you
00:23:54
Wyatt
yeah
00:23:55
Cokeley Brothers
Is that just like, that's what I want to go and go into this room and do? but do for you and like help establish that culture, even though you're not on the team, um as a member of the RTC, you feel like this is something that one, I enjoy doing and two, that I'm obligated to do.
00:24:09
Wyatt
Yeah, I think it's just, there's no formal stuff. I think it all just comes with us caring about each other.
00:24:13
Cokeley Brothers
Right.
00:24:14
Wyatt
I mean, Dreshawn Ross was my partner for Pan Ams. And it's just, I enjoy helping people no matter what. And sometimes people don't want my help. Uh, I think that was before I was more, more accoladed wrestler, but you know, it's like, who are you to tell me, you know, you're, if there's a guy's a stage champion and the guy on your team, you didn't even qualify for stage trying to tell you what to do.
00:24:29
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:24:33
Wyatt
You're like, yeah, bro. Like, okay.
00:24:34
Cokeley Brothers
yeah
00:24:35
Wyatt
But I even just wrestling Dreshawn there, ah I just, I can't help but want to help my guys. Like whenever Dreshawn would shoot, I'd stuff his head and go, I'm like, hey man, would have done this, I wouldn't be able to this. just's like, oh really? Yeah. And so it's kind of just, it just kind of happens.
00:24:50
Wyatt
And the biggest breakthrough I'm finding myself help these guys is mindset. But for example, someone like Jack's forest, here he has the mindset of a champion because in his head, he's not worried about, Oh, I'm 17 years old or 17, 18 years old facing this 25 year old national champion. He doesn't care. He just wants to win.
00:25:12
Wyatt
And so he doesn't let that mental barrier get in front of him. I first had that barrier. When I came to Oklahoma state, I'd wrestle a coach Taylor. And sometimes I don't know if I just wouldn't fight the position. Like, Oh, well this is coach. This is David Taylor. Like,
00:25:25
Wyatt
you know so you kind of like you said talked about he so you put him on a pedestal and Dreshawn was letting me take him down in all these positions and I'm like I was like Dreshawn I had a very serious moment. I'm I don't care. This was funny because said this a reason. I was like, I don't care if you're facing the heavyweight champion or the Dan Hodge trophy winner. I was like, I don't care who you're wrestling.
00:25:50
Wyatt
don't Don't change the way you wrestle just because you're wrestling a more accolade or prestigious wrestler or whatever. like you're You're letting me get this stuff because your your brain thinks you should. I'm like, not because I'm actually earning it, because I was getting in some sloppy positions.
00:26:04
Wyatt
When I was taking him like, dude, you need to stop this. I don't care if you're going against Coach Taylor. don't care if you're going against Sturachi. I don't care if you're going against DJ Hamidi. I don't care who you're going against. Don't change the way you wrestle. And just off of saying that, I saw his his brain kind of click.
00:26:19
Wyatt
Because the next time I got to his leg, he smashed and bounced my head off the mat and circled away. I'm like, yes! Like, that's what I'm freaking talking about. And so I get fired up helping these guys because real time, I'm seeing the there their technique and their mentality and their attitude change in in these situations.
00:26:26
Ryne
Yeah, I agree.
00:26:28
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:26:37
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. I, that's, I, so at the club that I help coach, like I have the exact same issue where the the kids around my weight, they'll be like tearing each other up and it's like, okay, you're going to wrestle with me now. And then they're all, they're all timid and they're like, Oh, it's coach. I don't want to hurt coach. And,
00:26:51
Cokeley Brothers
Or I don't want to, you know, I don't, I don't want to, I don't want to, you know, piss off coach or something like that. it's like, just wrestle me like you're trying to, like you're trying to win, like you're trying to to score. um And so, yeah, I think, ah I think that's a great thing to, to instill to those guys because it's something that you learned this last year. um Yeah, that's awesome.
00:27:11
Cokeley Brothers
I, I've kind of taken, taken charge of the questions. I'll leave some space for the brothers, Ryan Reese.
00:27:16
Reese
Well, I got a question.
00:27:17
Cokeley Brothers
Go ahead.
00:27:18
Reese
ah like So who all do you regularly wrestle with in the room?
Training and Preparation for Competitions
00:27:23
Reese
like do you Do you wrestle with Zahid and guys who are like that much lighter than you?
00:27:29
Wyatt
I've wrestled with Zahid a couple times, yes. And I think because of... And Zahid can wrestle me. like He gets to my leg. He's the one guy in that room that's a lower weight that...
00:27:41
Wyatt
It's ridiculous. it kind of pisses me off a little bit. He gets my leg and like I sprawl and he finishes on me. No one else should... You should not be able to do that. That's like inhumane for someone to... It's it's ridiculous.
00:27:52
Wyatt
I'm not kidding about that either. I was kind of getting pissed. I'm like, dude, like how can you take me down? like I'm sprawling on you and I weigh like 65 more pounds than you. But I think... ah He has a lot of good partners that lower weights, so I think I've wrestled him a couple times. but most of the time we just spar because he's fast. He has that movement, and love that.
00:28:08
Wyatt
But I think one of my biggest training partners is also Hunter Doucette, the previous heavyweight.
00:28:08
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:28:14
Wyatt
He's still been training. That guy has gotten a lot better this past year as well, obviously. And that was actually one of my closest matches was our challenge match. our challenge match was a five point match, which was our probably my closest matches all year, obviously besides the finals.
00:28:26
Wyatt
But, um, I mean, Connor's, he's still, ah he was already top eight, you know, and then I, I came into Oklahoma state. And so, uh, we obviously been both, we both made each other better this year.
00:28:33
Ryne
Thank
00:28:36
Wyatt
Cause we're, we've had a bunch of grinds where we just keep getting better and better. And so he was probably my number one training partner, Luke server, the 97 pounder. He, he now still hangs around. He's about two 20. So he gives a great feel Gary Traub. I wrestled with him a decent bit. Um,
00:28:51
Wyatt
And Coach Taylor, I wrestled with Coach Taylor. that's That's probably my favorite because he's just, for him, i understand. I learn technically by people doing stuff on me.
00:29:02
Wyatt
i mean, as like a ah prideful wrestler in what I do, i'm sure like you guys can relate. If someone does a move that works on you, you're like, okay, it's probably a pretty good move because I have i have high standards for the wrestler I think I am. And so whenever Coach Taylor does stuff on I'm like, what did you just do and show me how to do it?
00:29:18
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:29:18
Wyatt
Because I'm like, I'm um i'm a pretty good wrestler. And so if you're getting stuff on me and you only weigh 200 pounds, it's probably going to work if i if I can learn to do it. So wrestling coach Taylor has been pretty insightful. But I've also, i like start with other guys.
00:29:31
Wyatt
Like even coach Kennedy, sometimes we wrestle and he's really fast. And so I have to be really precise on my movements and my my shot selection because all he has to is kick his legs back in circle and he'll snap my face to the mat.
00:29:35
Ryne
Yeah.
00:29:43
Wyatt
But I mean, I feel like I'm a, I have smart mat IQ and
00:29:43
Reese
Thank you.
00:29:47
Wyatt
and wrestling I wrestling with everybody.
00:29:51
Wyatt
that's probably of the most fun i've even i've wressled with i've drilled with troy sometimes which is a little
00:29:51
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:29:56
Wyatt
little on the more so ah extreme side but i mean i like ru with everybody
00:30:00
Cokeley Brothers
it Yeah. I think, I think Spencer Lee said that he can't wait to to get his hands on you. And
00:30:05
Wyatt
I probably will. I was actually talking to him.
00:30:07
Cokeley Brothers
yeah
00:30:07
Wyatt
well like That's the craziest thing is those little guys' grip is off the charts.
00:30:11
Cokeley Brothers
yeah.
00:30:12
Ryne
Oh.
00:30:12
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:30:12
Wyatt
And i guarantee if he grabs my wrist, I probably won't be able to shake him off. And so, I mean, they're little firecrackers.
00:30:16
Cokeley Brothers
No.
00:30:18
Wyatt
They're powerful. they're And I don't want to say like they're... I always say this. They're not small wrestlers. They're just lighter weight class because none like these guys are huge. These guys are... like Pound for pound, they're all stronger than me.
00:30:30
Wyatt
um But i hate there but yeah this the smaller, light the lightweight wrestlers, those guys are powerful. it's
00:30:37
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:30:37
Wyatt
It's insane.
00:30:39
Cokeley Brothers
Right. Ryan, do you have anything?
00:30:42
Ryne
yeah Yeah, actually, um you know you're we're kind of i want to segue off off of like kind of what you said, bringing up Spencer Lee.
00:30:44
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:30:48
Ryne
like Have you kind of gotten to know some of these guys that you're going to be teammates with here at the World Championship yet?
00:30:57
Wyatt
Yeah, I've known a couple of the guys. David Carr, I've known him for for a little bit. We met a couple ah couple years ago. Hidley, we actually went to Mexico together. So some of these guys, I've kind of been seeing them around more.
00:31:11
Wyatt
And I think I need to do a better job at reaching out a little bit more because when we're at these tournaments, everyone's used to their own like, uh, routines and stuff. And I don't want to find myself breaking someone out a routine by doing something like I grab people and wrestle, but if there's, you know, I like to use Roman as the Roman as example, Roman has a pretty good like regimen of what he does. So if I walk over to him and try to wrestle with them, he might kind of like, Hey, don't want to do this. I I'm doing what I do before competition. So I think I like to be respectful of people's training environments.
00:31:43
Ryne
Right.
00:31:43
Wyatt
But after that, of course, I'm like, hey, you want to go get food?
00:31:45
Wyatt
Or, o we're going to go walk here. you want hang out and this? And so I think naturally you just kind of – we hang out more together. But i think the best thing is going to be at these – Olympic training camps for the world team when we can just go hang out with each other for for a week.
00:32:00
Wyatt
That's when the bonds really you start to really make those friendships. But um I saw everyone.
00:32:03
Reese
Thank you.
00:32:05
Wyatt
I dabbed everyone up. i think all of us kind of had a little circle meeting after after the championships. But in um uh you know kyle snyder i've known him for a while obviously we're not talking about recent stuff but uh we've trained at the olympic training center a couple times and that guy he's tough to wrestle because he'll warm up for about five seconds and then he just goes live so um i'll obviously he's still a great wrestler i'm excited to wrestle with him at more training camps but uh the littler guys that's where it's going to be that's where it's going to be fun we talk about uh spencer and um
00:32:38
Wyatt
There's just a connection. There's heavyweight, lightweight connection. i don't even know what it is.
00:32:40
Ryne
Yeah.
00:32:41
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:32:41
Ryne
yeah
00:32:41
Wyatt
But as soon as we – even before the tournament when we were at the interview, the press conference, we were just like – it was just fun. but i I just wanted to grab and start throwing around. And he probably wanted rust me too.
00:32:52
Wyatt
But I'm excited.
00:32:52
Ryne
Yeah.
00:32:53
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:32:53
Wyatt
I'm excited to be a part of such a great team. And I think this is a team that's going to make some noise. Now, obviously, I know Zaheep pretty well too. So –
00:33:00
Ryne
Right, right, right, right.
00:33:00
Cokeley Brothers
yeah Yeah, this is...
00:33:01
Ryne
So.
00:33:02
Cokeley Brothers
this is ah I've said it a lot and and other other people in in the space have said it, that this is kind of a, this is a year where there's a big transition for what, who represents the United States at the world level.
00:33:16
Cokeley Brothers
um
00:33:16
Wyatt
yeah
00:33:17
Wyatt
Yeah.
00:33:17
Cokeley Brothers
And you're you're a part of that, right? This is your first world team. um This is ah David Carr, Trent Heidly, PJ Duke, Spencer Lee, technically Olympic team versus world team.
00:33:28
Cokeley Brothers
um Real Woods, ah this is Real Woods, I think first year of freestyle. um And so like,
00:33:33
Wyatt
ah
00:33:33
Ryne
i've been He's only been training it for seven months, I heard.
00:33:37
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. And so like and so that things are very new, right? And so there are kind of... After a shaky Olympic performance, there are like these... uncertain expectations as far as how things go. And so, um, obviously we have, we have great expectations. We know what Wyatt Hendrickson is capable of.
00:33:56
Cokeley Brothers
Um, but, but, um, you know, how do you see, what is your, what are you looking at whenever you are preparing yourself for worlds, um, later on this year? Actually, even before that, are you planning on going to the um, you competing again before worlds?
00:34:13
Cokeley Brothers
Cause I know that there's another ranking series event.
00:34:14
Wyatt
I'm not. there's like There's a couple, and I think for for my training, what's best going to suit me is I'm not going able get enough points, ranking points at these tournaments to really ah have that much of it a change.
00:34:26
Wyatt
I'm honestly not too concerned about seeds because no matter who I go against, I'm going to beat everyone no matter what.
00:34:28
Ryne
Right.
00:34:30
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. Okay.
00:34:31
Wyatt
So it's like, hey, if I get thrown in there, great. like Who cares? So we're not looking at it through that lens.
00:34:34
Cokeley Brothers
okay
00:34:35
Wyatt
We're looking at, hey, training and going to some of these. It's it's long travels, and it might be a good experience, Um, but I think I've done a couple international events and I know what to do and we can kind of simulate that here in Stillwater. So instead of leaving for seven to nine days, do an event, Hey, we can get a grinder of uh, cause when you're, when you're competing for events, you obviously have to lighten up a little bit cause you, uh, that's just, that's the prep where the preparation is backing off, but we can kind of include more training cycles and, um, just use my time better. And I, I love training Stillwater to honest with you. And this is like my,
00:35:10
Wyatt
Not like my comfy place to train, but it's where if I know if I'm here in Stillwater, I'm going to get better. Like, there's no doubt about it. And so kind of the the rhythm and schedule we have that we've already set up for the World Championships is already kind of in place, but that's not on my schedule. Obviously, I'll be going to Olympic Training Center for a couple weeks, doing some training there. um Obviously, the other guys will be there as partners. And we we kind of have the the pathway set up, but I will not be doing any competitions.
00:35:37
Cokeley Brothers
Okay. You guys going to be bringing down any extra training partners like like Trent Hellger? Maybe you say, hey, Trent, come down to Stillwater for for a week. like let's ah Let's get some training in. You guys can be doing anything like that?
00:35:50
Wyatt
Probably. i know we we we have a couple guys we're going to bring in to do like some matches. Because like I said, we're we're gonna we're still going to simulate. We're going do live matches and stuff. We put on the same lights, we do the crowd noise.
00:36:00
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:36:01
Wyatt
We make it you know pretty similar. um
00:36:04
Cokeley Brothers
Mm-hmm.
00:36:05
Wyatt
But I'll see him at the at the OTC, at those camps, which will be nice. So I think we might even try bring in some different guys ah to come wrestle with a little bit. but
00:36:15
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:36:15
Wyatt
Coach hasn't told me who those are. He said, hey, we got matches lined up here here. We'll have some great guys for you to wrestle. If I asked, he'd probably tell me, but I think he's still figuring that out. But obviously the best training partners we can find, they're it's that's the best part i have about about having such a great RTC is it's super, if a guy gets reached out to Coach Taylor, gives him a call, hey, want you come train here.
00:36:23
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:36:36
Wyatt
are you say? No? like This is one of the best training environments you could ask for.
00:36:37
Ryne
Yeah.
00:36:39
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:36:40
Wyatt
like So it's it's very rare when someone doesn't want to come train with us here.
00:36:45
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. i mean I mean, Jordan Burroughs kind of, he put it, he put it much more eloquently than I ever could in terms of what, what has been built within Stillwater within the last year in terms of um even like production wise, you, you can basically grow up in Stillwater and go through each stage of like the wrestling experience.
00:37:00
Wyatt
I
00:37:02
Cokeley Brothers
um They have, they have the youth level. They have a great high school program. They have a great college program. They have a great RTC. um And so you kind of have, everything you need to have in order to be able to be ah world champion, an Olympic champion out down in Stillwater.
00:37:16
Cokeley Brothers
So, um, that makes sense to me.
00:37:18
Wyatt
i agree.
00:37:19
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. Okay.
00:37:20
Reese
um Do you guys, sorry, do you um like, do you or will you be preparing for specific guys like at Worlds like Amir Zareh?
00:37:21
Ryne
Go ahead, Rhys.
00:37:32
Reese
Would you, would that be something like that you would prepare for like that kind of match or coach Taylor would prepare you for?
00:37:40
Wyatt
Based on the past this year, when Gable joined, we never trained anything the way I trained. um and Obviously, he was one of the best wrestlers.
00:37:50
Wyatt
But what the coaches do, they watch film on my opponents. And without me really even knowing, they're just they'll come in one day and going to work on this. Because there were a couple things I realized that Gable did, especially in that last shot. One thing Coach...
00:38:06
Wyatt
Taylor emphasized with me is hiding your ankles. So when I'm shooting and I'm circling the corner, I'm hiding my ankles. As you can see, Gable was trying to reach for my ankles. But since earlier in the season, we kind of, we worked on that because that's what the best wrestlers do.
00:38:18
Wyatt
He couldn't get my ankles. And so it's situations like that where coach Taylor will find stuff that the best wrestlers are doing and just incorporate that into my wrestling just because it's how to be the best wrestler.
00:38:31
Ryne
Right.
00:38:32
Wyatt
But we don't stem that all from one guy. Now, I'm sure i haven't watched any film on him yet, but um'm the coaches have. I'm sure they're going to see what his key moves are, whether it's a chest wrap or the throws, whatever, and they're going to make that cognizant to me.
00:38:46
Wyatt
But I'm not going to really change the entire way I wrestle. Based off that, because if so maybe there's a a smaller guy who or a guy who's not that prestigious that i run into and I'm I'm prepared to wrestle the best guy.
00:39:00
Wyatt
But if there's another guy, don't even make it to him. It doesn't matter. So we take it one match at a time and the coaches do a great job at whoever I wrestle. They're saying, hey, he's going to do this. You need to do this.
00:39:11
Wyatt
They're just like, hey, be cognizant. He's a right leg lead. He snaps a lot. Or, hey, watch this ankle. He'll sweep here. So it's we're not – because you don't want to – I don't want to be thinking that when I'm wrestling. Like, oh, watch out for this.
00:39:21
Ryne
Right.
00:39:22
Wyatt
Watch out for this. no but The professional skiers going down a mountain – doing back country they're not like okay there's 20 000 trees i need to avoid let's i'm gonna i'm gonna dodge this one dodge the tree there they're just focusing on their path not the obstacles so for me the coaches just do a really small they put something head like hey watch out for this and so i'm like okay i'm kind of said that and i'm still gonna wrestle my match but little bit of cautious here i'm not gonna reinvent the wheel and try to change i know how to wrestle the coaches know i know how wrestle my opponent knows how i know how to wrestle
00:39:43
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:39:51
Wyatt
But should be cognizant i cold positions?
00:39:52
Cokeley Brothers
yeah
00:39:54
Wyatt
Absolutely. But I don't think we're going to, we don't do that much crazy, like specific work. Now, if there's someone who, I forgot who it was. and i' I'm not a big, I don't watch wrestling very much. I just do it.
00:40:06
Wyatt
um I'm not a fan the sport. Unfortunately, I love wrestling, but I wrestle enough. i don't need to watch stuff. But ah what's his face from Russia? who' the The big chest wrap guy.
00:40:17
Cokeley Brothers
so july
00:40:17
Wyatt
Like, so yeah, sorry, Sad July, when Coach was a couple things. we Sorry, i I'm brain farting a little bit. but
00:40:23
Cokeley Brothers
You're good. You're good. You're good.
00:40:24
Wyatt
Sad July, whatever, potato, tomato. um Whenever Coach Taylor was training for that, there was a couple days where we came in and I was Sad July and I was doing the the chest rap on him. So, obviously, there's some days when there's someone who's really good at something.
00:40:36
Wyatt
You should probably practice it a couple times. But I guess I'm going to you guys.
00:40:39
Cokeley Brothers
yeah
00:40:40
Wyatt
You guys have watched it. What's his name? Amir is?
00:40:43
Ryne
Amir, sorry.
00:40:43
Cokeley Brothers
Amir Zare.
00:40:44
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:40:44
Wyatt
Amir Zahra, what's his best moves?
00:40:46
Cokeley Brothers
um
00:40:46
Wyatt
What are his best moves?
00:40:46
Cokeley Brothers
i'll leave I'll leave the the expert analysis to the to the coaches that you have. there
00:40:51
Ryne
eight I mean, he's...
00:40:52
Reese
He does like nothing really.
00:40:52
Cokeley Brothers
they know They know wrestling a little bit better.
00:40:53
Reese
He snaps.
00:40:54
Ryne
The biggest thing he likes to do is underhook and push you around. That's really...
00:40:57
Ryne
He's just... He's not even like...
00:40:57
Wyatt
Yeah, okay, yeah that makes sense.
00:40:59
Wyatt
That makes good sense.
00:41:01
Ryne
He's a good wrestler. don't want to say he's not a good wrestler, but like he's not super technical. He's not going to show... He just he wants to bully. He just wants to bully.
00:41:09
Cokeley Brothers
It's a little one-dimensional, maybe.
00:41:10
Reese
He's very boring to watch.
00:41:11
Wyatt
So I'm going to throw something in there.
00:41:11
Cokeley Brothers
Okay.
00:41:13
Wyatt
Having you just said that, that's actually crazy because prior to Final X, the whole entire week we were working on underhooks, clearing underhooks, re-engaging with head position.
00:41:21
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:41:23
Wyatt
That makes sense now.
00:41:23
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:41:24
Wyatt
I think he might have mentioned something like, he's like, some of these foreign, what Coach will say is these foreign guys are going to want to underhook you and drive you out of bounds.
00:41:25
Cokeley Brothers
Well,
00:41:31
Wyatt
like he does He's not saying, oh, he when you wrestle this guy, he's just saying, hey, this is generally a good, this is something that the best wrestlers do, so let's train for it.
00:41:31
Ryne
Right. Okay.
00:41:33
Cokeley Brothers
that's, yeah.
00:41:38
Ryne
right
00:41:39
Cokeley Brothers
And it's underhooks and and driving pressure from underhooks. It's ah it's the MO for an Iranian wrestler. So um David Taylor was very familiar with that when he was dealing with Yazdani.
00:41:46
Wyatt
Yeah.
00:41:49
Wyatt
Yeah.
00:41:49
Cokeley Brothers
So you'll have you'll have someone who's pretty familiar with how to navigate that position in your corner.
00:41:55
Wyatt
Thank goodness.
00:41:55
Cokeley Brothers
um Yeah, so I mean, that that makes sense to me in terms of like, you just need to worry about getting better wrestling. Now, how you get better and like what positions you're working on, you can leave that to the coaches.
00:42:06
Cokeley Brothers
That makes total sense to me. um So yeah, that checks out.
00:42:11
Ryne
Well, and every guy's different. You know, there are guys who like to, who will watch film and game plan and kind of like, they're good at switching up.
00:42:17
Wyatt
Yes, absolutely.
00:42:19
Ryne
Everyone's different. Like, and that's, yeah.
00:42:19
Reese
Thank
00:42:20
Wyatt
Everyone's different, yeah.
00:42:22
Ryne
I know like, uh, um, Chris, Chris Perry, man, he like, when he was competing, he would, he would like when he wrestled Andrew, how his senior year lost him the first two times.
00:42:23
Cokeley Brothers
um
00:42:32
Ryne
And then basically like, the next two times he wrestled at big 12s and then at uh the ncaa championships he was he changed his style of wrestling to better suit andrew howe and he took out andrew howe so i mean you know that's just kind of how it is and but then there's guys like you or got you know guys like spencer lee who they don't they don't need to switch up their game plan because it's it's going to work on everyone so
00:42:46
Cokeley Brothers
yeah
Skills, Coaches, and Matches
00:42:59
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of something that works on everybody, you have a pretty good gut wrench. Pretty good. You're at least pretty like good from the top position as a whole.
00:43:09
Cokeley Brothers
um Chael Sonnen said that nobody could gut him. Do you think you could?
00:43:15
Ryne
Oh, yeah.
00:43:15
Wyatt
so
00:43:16
Ryne
Chael Sonnen.
00:43:17
Cokeley Brothers
Chael Sonnen?
00:43:19
Ryne
He's a talking head now, but he's big UFC guy.
00:43:19
Cokeley Brothers
You don't know. Dude.
00:43:21
Wyatt
Oh, yeah, yeah, of course.
00:43:23
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:43:24
Ryne
You got him.
00:43:24
Cokeley Brothers
see You think you could gut him?
00:43:27
Wyatt
Don't know who he is, but yes, I can get him.
00:43:28
Ryne
You got him.
00:43:29
Cokeley Brothers
Okay. All right. Yeah. We'll make sure that he knows.
00:43:32
Wyatt
I really don't watch wrestling, guys. I really don't.
00:43:34
Cokeley Brothers
I mean, that dude, you, if you.
00:43:34
Wyatt
I just go out there and put my shoes on.
00:43:34
Ryne
He's a UFC guy.
00:43:37
Wyatt
Oh.
00:43:38
Ryne
i older
00:43:38
Wyatt
i was
00:43:38
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:43:39
Ryne
Older UFC guy. Now he's a talking head. mean, he's a good dude.
00:43:41
Wyatt
Oh, yes.
00:43:42
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:43:43
Wyatt
I know. i Sorry.
00:43:43
Ryne
Yeah.
00:43:44
Wyatt
Yes, yes, yes, yes. I know what we're talking about now. Yeah, he went to Iowa practice.
00:43:46
Cokeley Brothers
yeah
00:43:47
Wyatt
He said that, yeah.
00:43:48
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, a yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:43:48
Ryne
Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes.
00:43:50
Cokeley Brothers
But it's it's funny that you're like, i don't I don't know who this or that is because like Vito Rujo was the exact same way. I'd be like, man, we're going to this open.
00:43:57
Wyatt
I mean, yeah, I mean.
00:43:58
Cokeley Brothers
Like we're we're going to the open. You've got this guy. He's like ranked at this number. He's like, who is he? but you He wrestles for what school? And I'm just like, oh God, you don't know. You really don't know. That's crazy.
00:44:07
Wyatt
Yeah, I've gotten a lot better this year.
00:44:08
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:44:09
Wyatt
i wrote Like, i mean, I knew heavyweights, but now I think because of like the circuit I'm in of world wrestling, like and these, a lot of these guys are my teammates after meeting Joey McKenna, nosesy all these guys. i kind of, um I hear who they talk about more, but sorry.
00:44:19
Cokeley Brothers
no
00:44:22
Wyatt
Yes. I'm super good at faces. absolutely terrible at names but yes I have seen that video and I do think I I think I could get him I think obviously the people who have tried to get him are probably a little smaller but I mean if I get that tight if I get it exactly where I want it like I know I'm turning a guy so I think it's just a matter of fact getting to that position which I think I could I could get I'll have to give him a call
00:44:28
Ryne
Thank
00:44:28
Cokeley Brothers
Go
00:44:46
Ryne
maya My last question, Sammy, real quick. My last question here is, is you know, we've you've kind of um touched on a little bit of, you know, David Coach Taylor, Coach Kennedy.
00:44:49
Cokeley Brothers
Go ahead.
00:44:56
Ryne
and ah Without getting into like the exit of Coach Gilman, like how did he – was he influential in your mindset or your training or anything like that while he was there? And and also have you got to work with Coach Ward since he's arrived at Stillwater?
00:45:13
Wyatt
So first up first, I'll talk about Coach Ward. So Coach Ward, I actually just finally sat down and had a decent talk with him yesterday.
00:45:19
Ryne
Okay. Okay.
00:45:19
Wyatt
But he's still in the transition of getting his family here and moving all that stuff. And so he's been in the room. I've i've met with him. I've talked to a couple times. But I haven't had the opportunity to like really bond with him over wrestling in the wrestling room yet.
00:45:31
Wyatt
um But um i he's awesome. I mean, stopped and tried to talk to him for 15 minutes during and in between camp stuff just because I was like, I want to talk to him like we haven't had a chance to talk to him. So that's good there. But also Gil and I do we had a great relationship.
00:45:46
Wyatt
Um His, he has a lot of tough love. So sometimes I'll be getting a little, you know, I'll be whatever it was. The rest of them couple of funny instances where was just like, Oh, Oh brother. You know, we're just kind of getting chirpy with each other, but it's all out of love.
00:45:59
Wyatt
And he did really, he's he's really big about ancestral stuff and um your heritage, which I absolutely loved. So we, ah he'd always tell us stories. He'd always bring in with us some motivation stuff and,
00:46:13
Wyatt
They'd always bring in some scriptures on some days. um I think I loved Coach Gilman. We'll still stay in contact. not Now that I say that, I probably still haven't reached out to him in a while to see he's doing.
00:46:25
Wyatt
But, um no, there's no bad blood there.
00:46:26
Cokeley Brothers
Thank
00:46:27
Wyatt
I think just the way that Oklahoma State's going, the the vision of technique, I think it's just Coach Gilman obviously feels really strong about what, like, hit wrestling, being a tough wrestler, being a grind wrestler, which is awesome.
00:46:31
Ryne
Thanks.
00:46:39
Wyatt
And everyone's different. But I think it's just, I think maybe, he He sees he can do better stuff maybe somewhere else um where he maybe can implement his strategies a little bit more intensely, I would say, because Coach Taylor is the head coach and he wants to do what he wants to show.
00:46:56
Wyatt
and obviously the other coach's input is really important, but I don't think there's really a problem. But maybe in the future it would have been maybe a little bit of – if you have one coach that's telling you one thing, and another coach is telling you something.
00:47:08
Cokeley Brothers
Thank
00:47:08
Wyatt
That's a conflict of interest right there.
00:47:09
Wyatt
And so I think down the road, maybe there would have been some problems, but I mean, coach Gilman's awesome. He was a great coach while he was here. That's another small guy who is super tough. I grabbed ahold of his leg and it's straight live.
00:47:20
Wyatt
He's trying, he's jumping over me and I'm like, Oh my gosh, like what did I just get myself into? But, um, No, I'm i'm excited for for Coach Board to be here. Obviously, he wrestled here at Oklahoma State.
00:47:33
Wyatt
Wayne was the head coach at Army, and now he's back. So we both have an understanding of what it's like to be in the wrestling world at the academies, which is ah that's a bonding thing we have that no one else on the team has.
00:47:43
Ryne
Yeah.
00:47:45
Wyatt
so
00:47:45
Ryne
That was the, that whenever they hired coach Ward, I was like, Oh, that'll be cool for Wyatt to kind of have another Academy guy in there.
00:47:50
Wyatt
Yeah.
00:47:52
Ryne
So.
00:47:52
Wyatt
Yeah.
00:47:53
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. Okay. I want to get into final X a little bit. You had two matches, match one, quick and easy. ten out tech fall. Match number two. I'm sweating the entire time and you guys put up, you guys put up 34 points.
00:48:07
Wyatt
ah
00:48:07
Ryne
Yeah.
00:48:10
Cokeley Brothers
um Just tell me about your experience at final X. What was it like?
00:48:15
Wyatt
Yeah, I mean, nothing crazy about wrestling. ah The one thing I noticed was i like being a little nervous before I wrestle. I think every wrestler should be because being nervous and being excited is the same thing. It just depends how you determine how you go about it. um The second match, I was a little bit too comfortable. I think we obviously saw that. When I was warming up, I wasn't really i didn't really have any ah butterflies. i was like, huh, don't know. Usually, I'm a little bit more...
00:48:42
Wyatt
ah that and not because it does For me, that doesn't mess me up. It just keeps me on my toes. and um
00:48:47
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:48:49
Wyatt
I was on my heels when when I was wrestling against Trenton. He did a great job. i mean He needed to make some adjustments and he made them. Whenever I was hitting my fakes, he utilized that. and ah we like We both would shoot at the same time, but he'd shoot a little bit first and he got to my leg many times. and um Had some great throws, um even though they weren't like the most beautiful four-point throws.
00:49:10
Cokeley Brothers
yeah
00:49:10
Wyatt
he He threw me and he scored. And then I stood up like an idiot, like it was folk style. He was huge really fast, though. So, I mean, he ran behind me, and I didn't really know where he was at.
00:49:18
Cokeley Brothers
yeah
00:49:21
Wyatt
i thought i was off to my side. I was going stand up in circle. But I stand up, and then I'm going through the air getting fived. So, I mean... wrestling one's perfect i make some mistakes and trent's a great wrestler obviously obviously i can't just say oh i made mistakes he earns most of those points he's a great wrestler he had some good shots and i think it made for a really entertaining match but uh like i said even though throughout that whole match after those mistakes i wasn't ever worried was gonna lose that match i knew i was gonna win i just was just there's like there's always there was time on the clock there was time on the board if there's time on there then i'm i'm gonna be scoring again so
00:49:41
Cokeley Brothers
and was
00:49:50
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:49:54
Wyatt
I mean, it was fun.
00:49:54
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:49:56
Wyatt
Obviously, ah what ah ah another 10-0 victory. be ah Pretty cool and really awesome. Yeah, but I think, regardless, I think it was a pretty sweet match. I think it was pretty entertaining, and that's what it's...
00:50:06
Ryne
He's off. Alright.
00:50:08
Wyatt
I'm on the world team. had a super entertaining match with great wrestler. What more could ask for?
00:50:12
Cokeley Brothers
yeah Yeah.
00:50:12
Reese
Thank you.
00:50:13
Cokeley Brothers
If there's, if there's one guarantee that people can have when Wyatt Hendrickson steps on the mat, it's going to be entertaining.
00:50:18
Cokeley Brothers
That's,
00:50:18
Wyatt
Yeah, you know you don't know what to expect.
00:50:19
Wyatt
10-0 20-14? Yeah. twenty to fourteen
00:50:22
Cokeley Brothers
Right, exactly.
00:50:22
Wyatt
but the
00:50:23
Cokeley Brothers
So, well, yeah, so go ahead
00:50:24
Ryne
No, you see there's a moment in the match where ah he's driving you to the out-of-bounds line, and you and you kind of kick out a little bit, and he steps out of bounds, and you look at you can look at Trent, and he's got this smirk on his face. Like, how did that happen?
00:50:38
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, no, I want to, I want to, I actually, I want to get into that.
00:50:39
Ryne
How did that
00:50:42
Reese
Thank
00:50:42
Cokeley Brothers
What was that? i don't understand what you did there. Because like we've seen, we saw, there's a there's a video, I can't remember, of like ah of like a Russian doing something like that a long time ago.
00:50:45
Ryne
happen?
00:50:48
Ryne
Magic.
00:50:51
Wyatt
Yep.
00:50:52
Cokeley Brothers
And then there's there's a video of Yanni doing it to Molinero back in 2019. But a heavyweight? That doesn't really make any sense to me. So just kind of help me understand that a little bit.
00:51:01
Wyatt
So a lot of people, whenever they drive you out, the first time he drove me out, he was smart.
00:51:01
Cokeley Brothers
Because I don't get it.
00:51:06
Wyatt
He did it really slowly. But whenever people rushed to push you out, so in 20, in the, well you you when I was at U20s, think it was in 2021 in Ufa, Russia.
00:51:17
Wyatt
I think it's actually, so if you go to my reels on Instagram, I'm pretty sure it's there somewhere, but the Russian was pushing me out. I was hopping. He was pushing me, was pushing me, was pushing me. Then he tried to trip and I whipped my leg over and I actually threw him out for four off of when he had my leg up.
00:51:31
Wyatt
So that's the first time i just kind of realized that, hey, I can use someone's momentum against them.
00:51:31
Cokeley Brothers
I feel like, yeah.
00:51:37
Ryne
Yes.
00:51:37
Wyatt
And he was just driving me out. So I was being, was my mad IQ. I was paying attention. i was getting closer. i was getting closer. And he kept trying to push me out. And so i was just like,
00:51:48
Wyatt
well I just redirect his momentum because a heavyweight, you know, if they're trying to drive me out like that, their moment and he knew it. Like, soon as he went, he's like, oh, shoot, you know.
00:51:57
Ryne
Yes.
00:51:57
Wyatt
if you're it's like i felt It's like a bull. Like, you're running at the red flag. Oh, ole! It goes out of the way you run by.
00:52:01
Cokeley Brothers
That's yes, exactly.
00:52:02
Ryne
yes
00:52:03
Wyatt
So that's kind of what I'm thinking.
00:52:04
Cokeley Brothers
Yes.
00:52:05
Wyatt
I'm just like, hey, if I can, because if it doesn't work out, I'm giving up one. It's not a big deal. But if I do get it, it looks pretty sweet.
00:52:09
Ryne
Right.
00:52:10
Cokeley Brothers
um
00:52:12
Ryne
It looks sweet.
00:52:13
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:52:13
Ryne
It looks sweet.
00:52:14
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. i mean, like, there were This was probably one of the craziest Final X events that they've had that has ever happened.
00:52:21
Wyatt
Ah.
00:52:22
Cokeley Brothers
um And like there were a lot of highlights that people um put out on social media, but like nobody put that out there. And I'm like, that nobody and i don't I don't know if people understand just exactly just how insane that that was.
00:52:33
Cokeley Brothers
um in terms of like Because yeah, it's one point in a 34-point match, but it's just the way it happened was crazy.
00:52:39
Ryne
The athleticism was unreal.
00:52:40
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:52:43
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:52:43
Ryne
Unreal.
00:52:44
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:52:45
Ryne
I get annoyed with the people online who are like, how did he go from 10-0-ing Trent Hilger to letting him score 14 points?
00:52:45
Cokeley Brothers
Um,
00:52:51
Ryne
like And then you it's like, these people don't think. It's not like Trent Hilger's not training with nobody.
00:52:56
Reese
Oh.
00:52:57
Ryne
He's got Hayden Zillman.
00:52:58
Wyatt
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:52:58
Ryne
He's got Gable Seafson. He's got all these other guys in the Minnesota room that are that are working with him too. So it's like, you these guys that you're wrestling, they're not slouches.
00:53:09
Ryne
i don't So I don't know why people are thinking like, you know These guys can't score points. It annoys me.
00:53:15
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, absolutely. Rhys, do you have anything?
00:53:17
Wyatt
that
00:53:21
Reese
No, I mean, I was just going to follow up with that with what Ryan was saying. I think, you know, i think you do what a lot of wrestlers wish they could do. ah Like, you know, go out there and let it fly, put on a show for the people, make it exciting.
00:53:34
Reese
um You know, Spencer Lee talked about that after his his series. You know, he over and over and over again, he he goes out there and he wants to score points. But, you know, for some reason, he he'll he'll hang back in a lot of his matches when he gets that lead.
00:53:51
Reese
Um, and you know, a lot of wrestlers wish they could put on a show for the people, for the fans. Um, and you're somebody who can actually, i mean, I feel like you do it pretty on a pretty consistent basis. So that's cool.
00:54:06
Wyatt
So it was exciting.
00:54:06
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:54:07
Ryne
Always, always.
00:54:07
Reese
Yeah.
00:54:07
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:54:08
Ryne
Mm-hmm.
00:54:09
Cokeley Brothers
ah I have a couple quickfire matches here. um First, who's somebody that you wish you could get a rematch with?
00:54:20
Cokeley Brothers
You have anybody like that?
00:54:23
Wyatt
um I guess I wish I could go back and re-wrestle Greg Kirklevey in the semifinals of ah two years ago.
00:54:35
Cokeley Brothers
No.
00:54:35
Wyatt
of 2023, I think, or 2024 would have been. that That's a match I wish I could get back just because i had never... so so I'm sure you guys saw. I took him down.
00:54:47
Wyatt
that's when it was two-point takedown still.
00:54:50
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:54:50
Wyatt
But he took me down. i took him down. And then ah I got lazy when i was on top. i I sat on my ankle, and he did a sweet move. did a reversal. And then he rode me out the rest of the periods.
00:55:03
Wyatt
And when I was, usually I escape, I can just throw myself out. But that was a wrestler where he's really, really good at, ah if I do something wrong, he's going to capitalize on it. and I just tried to gram B out a couple times, ended up on my belly, and I felt how heavy he was.
00:55:21
Wyatt
if I would have just been smart and done a simple stand-up, I would have been a lot better off. But... That's a match where I lost. I wish I could get back. and even you cause i think what happened is I even wore myself out after he rode me, so I should have chose neutral if guys know what match I'm talking about because was already kind of tired, and Coach was like, I believe you can get up.
00:55:38
Ryne
I...
00:55:40
Wyatt
and If I had energy, I definitely could have, but i mean after him riding me for a couple minutes, i was pretty i was pretty he exhausted me pretty good. so I'd change up a couple things just to give me a better shot at winning that match.
00:55:52
Wyatt
If there was a match, it'd definitely be versus Greg in the semis a couple years ago.
00:55:56
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, I feel like I remember us being in the stands saying, pick neutral, pick neutral, please.
00:55:56
Ryne
i
00:55:56
Reese
that's
00:56:00
Reese
our Our dad was beside himself.
00:56:01
Ryne
Oh, I was watching with Coach Barry Davis, and he was like, he was yelling, pick neutral, pick neutral, and he went down, and he goes, I wouldn't do that.
00:56:01
Wyatt
Yeah.
00:56:01
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:56:10
Wyatt
ha
00:56:12
Ryne
He's a good guy.
00:56:12
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:56:12
Wyatt
You live and you learn. You gotta learn hard way sometimes.
00:56:13
Ryne
Yeah, he did. I mean, and you did.
00:56:15
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:56:16
Ryne
Eventually, you got that one back. so
00:56:18
Wyatt
I did, yeah
00:56:19
Cokeley Brothers
did
00:56:19
Ryne
The one I want to see you get back real bad, because I'm not really a huge fan of of Iowa State, is Younger.
Music, Hobbies, and Personal Life
00:56:28
Cokeley Brothers
Uh...
00:56:28
Wyatt
Oh, yeah, that's like that's a good one, too. Well, so matches like that, so i a lot of people don't know, but I actually tore my MCL on my knee the last duel of the season.
00:56:39
Wyatt
And that entire sequence of when he scored on me is, I was afraid to kick him because my MCL, I hadn't had anything done to it. was still kind of trying to heal. It was super taped up. It was numb.
00:56:51
Wyatt
But to do a kick, you hear you trip him. But instead, i obviously, since my neat this knee was hurt, Instead of tripping him, I like, i'll I don't want do this. So I did it with my back leg.
00:57:01
Wyatt
And that's when he got that big reversal and back points.
00:57:02
Ryne
Yep. yeah
00:57:05
Wyatt
But that's true.
00:57:05
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:57:06
Wyatt
i think if I would have, obviously injuries, I don't make any excuses. But I think mentally that injury affected me more than it did physically. Just because i didn't have that confidence training going to that match. But that's actually, that i agree with that one actually more. I wanted to wrestle Bastida a lot this year.
00:57:24
Wyatt
just because of i i I know I'm a better wrestler than him, and I don't really need to prove that, but ah obviously when he decided to not wrestle, i mean, I'm not one to talk crap, but I just think he was obviously, I mean, Gable's there, i'm there, there's a lot of great wrestlers this year, and i think he saw it as an easier route to maybe...
00:57:35
Ryne
Yeah. see it.
00:57:44
Ryne
yeah
00:57:45
Wyatt
do it next year when there's no one doing the it's wide open, but obviously I don't know everything.
00:57:48
Cokeley Brothers
Wait for the field to clear out.
00:57:49
Wyatt
he could have had an injury that you didn't want to deal with or something. So obviously I'm saying that, but that could not be the truth. Cause I don't know the truth, but for my perspective, I wish he would have stayed in because I wanted to wrestle him and and beat him.
00:57:56
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:57:57
Ryne
i
00:58:01
Ryne
I'll say it.
00:58:01
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:58:01
Ryne
I live an hour away from Ames and I'll say it. He can drive up here and whoop me. I don't care. The dude was scared. He was scared of you. He was scared of you.
00:58:07
Ryne
he was scared of Gable. he was scared of Greg.
00:58:08
Wyatt
Maybe little, maybe a little coward, but I mean, like I said, I don't know the story, so I'm not gonna
00:58:12
Ryne
Yeah. I'll say it then.
00:58:12
Wyatt
Sorry.
00:58:13
Ryne
I don't care.
00:58:14
Cokeley Brothers
um what ah What kind of music do you listen to pre-match?
00:58:20
Wyatt
i I usually listen to ah soundtracks of movies. Oppenheimer's my favorite.
00:58:27
Cokeley Brothers
Okay.
00:58:27
Wyatt
It's just instrumentals. It's really smooth. As a kid, I used to listen to hype height music, but I found that with that, I exhaust myself and I get myself too excited.
00:58:34
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
00:58:39
Wyatt
and i i get I burn out before I step on the mat.
00:58:39
Cokeley Brothers
no
00:58:42
Wyatt
so I listen to use Oppenheimer. It's like the same routine. I'll listen to Oppenheimer or... ah
00:58:50
Ryne
Hans Zimmer.
00:58:50
Wyatt
ah Inception.
00:58:50
Ryne
You like the Hans Zimmer?
00:58:52
Wyatt
ah love Hans Zimmer. Everything Hans Zimmer.
00:58:53
Ryne
Yeah.
00:58:54
Wyatt
So yeah, Inception's Hans Zimmer. So I listen to Hans Zimmer a lot. And then my last song, my so my mental cue, which is also of my walkout songs, Copperhead Road. My mental cue is listening to Copperhead Road.
00:59:05
Ryne
Okay.
00:59:06
Wyatt
So the last thing I always listen to is Copperhead Road before I wrestle a match.
00:59:11
Cokeley Brothers
okay
00:59:11
Wyatt
whether it's a duel, whether it's at a tournament, just because that's like my cue and that's my rhythm that just sets me up to like, all right, it's good it's go time. You know, that's like the the pre-whistle.
00:59:21
Wyatt
Like it's the same thing.
00:59:22
Ryne
Yep.
00:59:22
Wyatt
Hey, it's about time to go out there and battle.
00:59:25
Ryne
Yep. Our dad loved that you picked Copperhead Road as your walkout song.
00:59:26
Cokeley Brothers
Nice.
00:59:29
Ryne
Loved it.
00:59:30
Wyatt
Had to.
00:59:31
Ryne
Loved It's
00:59:32
Wyatt
a lot of people like this, this guy Irish. I'm like, no, it's just a good song.
00:59:36
Ryne
a great song.
00:59:37
Cokeley Brothers
Uh.
00:59:37
Ryne
Just a great song.
00:59:37
Wyatt
Steve Earl, baby.
00:59:40
Ryne
Yeah.
00:59:40
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, i always I always like to hear what people listen to because it always varies. um Some people will listen to like club music. Some people will listen to instrumentals.
00:59:50
Wyatt
Yeah, I'm move different.
00:59:51
Cokeley Brothers
some people are Some people are like, I like to listen to Disney soundtracks just to keep me in ah in a very light lighthearted.
00:59:56
Reese
That's crazy.
00:59:57
Wyatt
Let it go. There you go.
00:59:59
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. um
01:00:02
Ryne
I listened, I used to, my freshman year high school, I listened to Alan Jackson's ah Remember When a lot, a lot.
01:00:03
Cokeley Brothers
So...
01:00:09
Ryne
Just because like, I would feel my heart rate rate, or like rise. And that song always just brought me back down for some reason.
01:00:16
Wyatt
yeah
01:00:16
Ryne
and I wrestled better. And I don't know. I like that song too, so.
01:00:19
Cokeley Brothers
No. No. So the people, the social media people kind of have gotten a little bit of insight into like what you like to do outside of wrestling. But are are there any like hobbies or interests that people like might not expect from you?
01:00:35
Wyatt
I think most stuff's pretty self-explanatory. i think what I've gotten into recently is pickleball a lot. I bought like a cheaper paddle at Walmart, like a $20 paddle, and i play I broke the handle off because I'm getting into it.
01:00:46
Wyatt
So I went head... I'm actually going to play with my wife later. said, we're going to go play some pickleball, but I dove in headfirst. I went and bought... I splurged on an expensive paddle that I can spin and do a bunch of fun stuff, but obviously that I love.
01:00:59
Ryne
That's awesome.
01:01:02
Wyatt
Um... I'm a big, so I bought a house up here. i like doing housework. I feel like a dad. I care about my grass. I get mad when people don't take their shoes stepping into the house.
01:01:13
Wyatt
don't get really mad, but I'm just like, hey man, it's weird.
01:01:13
Cokeley Brothers
No.
01:01:14
Reese
Oh, interesting.
01:01:16
Wyatt
I like working around the house though. I've actually taken a lot of pride in my back my backyard. And, um, I, I do have to have some help. Obviously I had some people come out and some concrete. i got a big slab the patio now.
01:01:29
Wyatt
Uh, we're putting in a gazebo. We're going to make a little trail down to a fire pit. So I don't know. I'm kind of coming in touch with my, with my, with my dad's side, I guess you would say it.
01:01:38
Ryne
Yeah.
01:01:39
Wyatt
But, um, yeah, like we're doing some gardening stuff, but I mean,
01:01:39
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. Perfect.
01:01:44
Wyatt
It's all, i don't know, I connect, so I'm to loop this in a little bit. So I'm a big man, obviously I'm a man of faith, and the best way I connect with God is through nature. And my back the back side of my house butts up against the cattle property with trees and open grass. I'm at a city limits, I'm on half an acre here.
01:02:04
Wyatt
And I just wanted to make that our little place, me and my wife, both of us. Like that's where we do our devotionals. That's where we pray in the morning because it's just peaceful out there. And we have a small, uh, cover patio, but we were just talking one day couple of weeks ago and i was like, you know, let's just, let's, we spend a lot of time out here. We should put some money into this and make it awesome.
01:02:25
Wyatt
Then I went over to a coach Zoe's house. So here our RTC coach and his back there. He had a patio, like a gazebo or a, ah but in a path and i was like, we are doing this.
01:02:36
Wyatt
i loved it. So I think it's great that we're going to make that more of a little thing. That's something that we can do together. Obviously we got to water our flowers and our grass and our relationship and spend time with each other.
01:02:42
Ryne
Yeah.
01:02:46
Wyatt
And that's, that's a good way we both connect is through doing some gardening work. But I mean, everything else I like working on my motorcycles, my four wheeler, I rebuilt most of half of the backside of my four wheeler actually in season this year.
01:03:00
Wyatt
I started a project. If you guys ever worked on something, if you have bolts everywhere, i don't want to forget where they go. So I took everything apart and refixed it.
01:03:06
Cokeley Brothers
now
01:03:07
Wyatt
And then it was like 12 o'clock and I was like, I have to put this back together or else I'm going to be pissed if I forget tomorrow morning.
01:03:13
Ryne
Nope.
01:03:14
Wyatt
So end up staying up at like 2.30, putting all together.
01:03:16
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
01:03:17
Wyatt
But I mean, used to want to be an engineer, so I'm just kind of like a self-taught engineer, I guess. I like doing most of this stuff on my truck by myself just because it gives me that sense of fulfillment. Like, I'm doing this stuff.
01:03:28
Wyatt
I'm learning. And if the apocalypse happens... I'm to need to know how to work on my stuff.
01:03:32
Cokeley Brothers
Be ready.
01:03:33
Wyatt
The mechanic ain't going down the road, but no fishing hunting.
01:03:35
Ryne
nope
01:03:35
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
01:03:36
Wyatt
i haven't done much archery recently just because it's been out of season. I've been super busy, but, uh, really anything under the sun. i love it.
Dedication and Wisdom in Wrestling
01:03:45
Wyatt
I always do everything.
01:03:45
Cokeley Brothers
no
01:03:46
Wyatt
So,
01:03:47
Ryne
That's awesome.
01:03:47
Cokeley Brothers
Awesome. ah any Anything else, brothers?
01:03:52
Ryne
I'm good.
01:03:53
Cokeley Brothers
You guys good? Okay. Wyatt, this is your moment to plug anything that you want to plug.
01:03:59
Wyatt
I'm going to say two things. Two things. So recently a question I've been asked is like as the follow-up question is if there's one piece of advice you could give to yourself 10 years ago or you could give to anyone right now that wants to develop a wrestler and I feel like they're hitting a standstill is I would say it's super important to focus when you're in the wrestling room and make that time valuable.
01:04:24
Wyatt
So when you're in the wrestling room, if you're in there and you're not mentally there, it doesn't matter. If you're sitting there thinking about dinner, thinking about your girlfriend, thinking about something else, you're in the wrestling room, but you're not getting any better. You're not focused on doing anything really. So the first thing is ah and whenever you're at practice, give wrestling your full attention. You have 24 hours in a day.
01:04:44
Wyatt
An hour and a half of focused, dedicated time to wrestling is not too much to ask. And if you want to be a great wrestler, that's what it's going to take. And so that's the first part of it. And the second piece is another piece of advice is there's no substitute for hard work.
01:04:57
Wyatt
And me growing up wrestling, i was never great at the technical aspect of stuff, but I knew how to work hard. When I first saw success, I was losing matches most of the time and I'd have to wear them down so much where I would be able to be tired and I'd just start turning them or I'd pin them.
01:05:16
Wyatt
And having a foundation of hard work is really important because in this era of technology and products, protein shakes, all this stuff, a lot of kids,
01:05:26
Reese
Thank
01:05:27
Wyatt
are wanting to find a shortcut.
01:05:29
Ryne
Yep.
01:05:29
Wyatt
They're wanting to find a cheat code and they're forgetting that there's no substitute for hard work because it's obviously hard work. It's super simple. It's super basic. It's not really bunch of glory behind it, but that if you want to be the best, you got to put in that hard work. So all these kids,
01:05:43
Wyatt
hey, what wrestling shoes do you wear? What supplement do you take? Or what do you do this? I'm like, that's great, but you guys shouldn't be worrying about that unless you're doing everything else right in the wrestling room.
01:05:50
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah.
01:05:53
Wyatt
If you're going and having dedicated practice and working hard, then we'll talk about that stuff. But until you have that foundation, stop trying to find a shortcut. Stop trying to find a cheat code. Because that tells me is that you're not willing to do the hard work and you don't want you want to find a shortcut to be a champion.
01:06:09
Wyatt
without putting in the hard work and that's just there's no way it's going to happen there's eight steps on the podium and there's a reason that only one person steps up to the top so that's what I like to kind of leave with for uh anyone watching this that and that's that's the best best place to start is right there it's not any special move it's not any special sauce it's just good old-fashioned hard work
01:06:17
Cokeley Brothers
yeah
01:06:29
Cokeley Brothers
Hard work. Love it.
01:06:30
Ryne
I think of this visual, this meme that I see a lot. There's two booths set up. It's one booth that says people who want to be the best. And then the other booth has ah people willing to put in the work to be the best.
01:06:43
Ryne
Right.
01:06:43
Wyatt
It's one person, yeah.
01:06:44
Ryne
And then, then there's only one person there. There's a line on the other one. Like that that visual is so powerful to me.
01:06:48
Wyatt
Yep.
01:06:51
Ryne
So.
01:06:52
Wyatt
That's exactly what it is, yes.
01:06:53
Ryne
Yep.
01:06:55
Cokeley Brothers
Awesome. Well, hey, we're going to wrap things up here. I got i got to go to my my dentist appointment. And so thank you, everybody, for listening.
01:07:02
Ryne
consultation.
01:07:03
Cokeley Brothers
This was great. Wyatt, very insightful. Lots of wisdom. ah It's awesome to see. Super excited for you at Worlds.
01:07:09
Wyatt
Okay.
01:07:09
Cokeley Brothers
So ah yeah, thank you, everybody. Have a good day. Goodbye.