Introduction and Final X Event Preview
00:00:01
Cokeley Brothers
Welcome back, folks. We are back. We're back with another episode of The Barn Session. It's Reese and I. We're here, ready to talk about some Final X, which goes down tomorrow, which means I'm going to get this up early in the morning for you folks who want to get a little bit of a last-second preview, see what we think about these matchups and and all that.
00:00:23
Cokeley Brothers
Reese, go ahead.
00:00:24
Reese
p.m. Eastern or Central tomorrow?
00:00:28
Cokeley Brothers
Final X starts tomorrow, June 19th at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. And it goes down. There's not a time on this article.
00:00:41
Cokeley Brothers
Cause like, why would we why would we be blessed?
00:00:44
Reese
They don't that don't like making it easy.
00:00:45
Cokeley Brothers
There it is, the schedule. All times are in Eastern. 12.30 is the true third matches, and then 2 p.m. is best of series... Best of three series round one. 5 p.m. is best of so three series round two and three if necessary.
00:00:58
Cokeley Brothers
So if you're going up to the dirty dodge, you're going to want to do that probably before all of this.
00:01:07
Cokeley Brothers
Okay. That settles it.
00:01:09
Cokeley Brothers
All right.
00:01:13
Cokeley Brothers
Well, Reese, I told you before this, like, I haven't really...
Focus on Spencer Lee: Strategies and Challenges
00:01:16
Cokeley Brothers
I haven't really dug into these matchups too much in terms of understanding a deeper sense of the background ah or like researching prior matchups of these guys, but I think I know a decent amount. And so I am still looking forward to these matchups, but I want to hear some of your thoughts. feel like I haven't heard much from you just in our texts. So I want to hear what you're thinking about for this year's final X matchups.
00:01:42
Reese
um Well, I've been listening to a lot of the other podcasts out there their thoughts. um That was a few days ago, so I'm little removed from their thoughts, but it made me think a lot about what I think about the matchups, and I guess starting at 57, I feel like it's Spencer in two matches, like just...
00:02:10
Reese
cut and dry. i don't think Lilladol, I think like Lilladol losing, um or I mean, Spencer losing in the open was like the perfect, was it the open?
00:02:21
Reese
Yeah, it was the open.
00:02:22
Reese
It was, that was the perfect thing for, to happen to Spencer Lee for him to, you know, bounce back and be motivated. And now he's got nothing to lose or he shouldn't feel like he has anything to lose. He should be more motivated than ever to go out there and get a takedown.
00:02:40
Reese
That should be the most like that that's like the most important thing, I think, for him in these matches is to get on top. If he can get on top, there's no way he shouldn't win both of the matches. If he if he can get on top in both of those matches. Because he'll turn them if he gets on top.
00:03:01
Cokeley Brothers
yeah i think at 57 kilos i don't know i don't know if it was like just another day in the office for spencer going into that that finals match at uh the u.s open i think i don't think it's fair to say that spencer lee doesn't expect uh like anything but the best from his opponents. I think he's understood pretty clearly at this point that he is regarded as like a ah high value win, right?
00:03:33
Cokeley Brothers
And so everybody's always going to give him his best look, their best look. And so I am interested to see like what adjustments he's able to make from his experience wrestling Luke, because I'm sure there was a game plan developed by the Penn State coaches and Luke Lillard all to be able to neutralize Spencer Lee's offense is his shots his leg attacks so that he doesn't get a takedown and end up on top.
00:03:59
Cokeley Brothers
So I want to see what the response is. I want to see ah how Spencer can find a way to get to those those leg attacks and get to those takedowns and what that'll look like because I think
00:04:12
Reese
Yeah, hopefully he's healthy too. That's the other thing, I guess.
00:04:15
Cokeley Brothers
his elbow. Yeah.
00:04:18
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, i think his... i think his i don't think the weight is going to be an issue. um And we've seen Luke. Luke is more than happy to let a match.
00:04:32
Cokeley Brothers
go the distance with, with little to no action. ah He's more than happy to let that happen. ah So I want to I do wonder is Spencer going to try and push the subject early and, and, and put points on the board um before getting into that second period or that fifth and sixth minute, or is he going to sort of reserve himself a little bit and, so and kind of strike when the timing's a little bit more, you think it's just right out the gate?
00:04:55
Reese
No way. When has he ever done that? When has Spencer ever reserved?
00:05:01
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. Yeah.
00:05:01
Reese
that That's just not his thing. He's going to go out there and try to score immediately.
00:05:06
Cokeley Brothers
Right. Yeah. I just didn't know if he was looking for something different. If he was going to come in with a different type of game plan that would throw off his opponent.
00:05:12
Reese
i feel like at this point, man, we we know exactly what we're going to get with him when it comes to that first period.
00:05:21
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. I mean, we've seen it. We've seen it as long as we've seen Spencer Lee wrestle. It's ah a fire that burns bright and burns pretty fast.
00:05:31
Cokeley Brothers
So yeah, that's going to be a good match. I do... I think it's either Spencer to in two matches or he doesn't. I don't think he wins a three-match series.
00:05:45
Reese
Think he'll just take the loss too hard?
00:05:45
Cokeley Brothers
I think... Yeah, like I think he really beats himself up on losses. and And a shorter way of saying that is that his mental is his weakest game or weakest part of his game.
00:05:56
Cokeley Brothers
But that's like... It's not as if he... I think he's just really hard on himself when he loses. And so... you know, I think,
00:06:05
Reese
I think his mental, like his, he, his emotions spiral for sure. Like in the Hartunian match, he spiraled.
00:06:12
Cokeley Brothers
yeah. Yeah. And so I, I think, uh, I think he gets this done in two. Um, And yeah, well honestly, i'd be I'd be happy.
00:06:22
Cokeley Brothers
Like, I think both of these guys can go to Worlds and and finish on the podium. But I want to see it for Spencer. You know, fellow class of 2017 guy, you know, and just an overall treat to watch.
00:06:33
Reese
Yeah. Luke will have his turn.
00:06:35
Cokeley Brothers
So, yeah, I think it might come sooner than than we're expecting it to even. So we will see.
00:06:46
Cokeley Brothers
But yeah, that's 57 kilos. Any other thoughts?
00:06:50
Reese
No. um Not really. if Spencer, has I think, like, Spencer wasn't able to get his, like, his head outside, single or his high C or whatever. So if he can get to his high C, I think That's important.
00:07:06
Reese
Or the fireman's even.
00:07:08
Reese
I doubt you can, I don't see him fire him and I don't see him dumping Luladol, but the fire, the high, the high C that's yeah.
00:07:13
Cokeley Brothers
No, nothing.
00:07:15
Reese
you gotta get to that.
00:07:16
Reese
Cause Luladol is too, too crafty otherwise.
00:07:20
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. honest we've we've seen we've seen Luke work on it literally the entire year in just like how he is neutralizing everybody he tries to wrestle.
00:07:30
Cokeley Brothers
And so can Spencer Lee get through that? that it's I think that is the question. That is the answer to look for. So that's
Wrestling Techniques and Matchups: McKee to Forrest
00:07:39
Cokeley Brothers
what I'll be looking for.
00:07:39
Reese
That's one more thing. No more trying to like, I'm sure.
00:07:44
Reese
i I mean, I'd like to think that he learned his lesson, but man, you got to stop trying to will and brute force dudes up like that.
00:07:51
Cokeley Brothers
Just drive someone out.
00:07:54
Reese
Like there's no point. Like you're gassing yourself out and you injured yourself. I mean, that's like been a long time thing with him. Like where he just puts himself in these not good situations, but man, you don't need to like,
00:08:08
Reese
You don't need to double unders and like try to like hike a dude up. And like, well, I mean, you don't need to do that. Little dolls.
00:08:14
Cokeley Brothers
Well, so what would you do? What would you do?
00:08:17
Reese
I'd say don't dig both. I mean, if you are going to dig both of them under, like maybe drive your feet or something. or i don't know. Like you don't have to like plant your feet and like put all of your effort into like trying to bring a dude up and like running them out of bounds.
00:08:34
Reese
Or I don't, don't even think he was, he was his butt was to the out of bounds, right? When he did it, when he hurt his elbow, I can't remember.
00:08:41
Cokeley Brothers
Uh, I, I, no, so like he, he drove real hard and I think when he came down, that's when, uh, Luke cranked and turned.
00:08:50
Reese
That's right. Yeah.
00:08:51
Reese
Yeah. I just don't, don't put yourself in that position to where like, I mean, if you slip one out, I think slip one of one of those arms out and then circle in or circle, just circle towards,
00:09:05
Reese
one side, you know, the the side, the same side that you have the underhook, obviously, and then work work from there.
00:09:09
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, and the adjustment the adjustment that you can make with the new rule set is you don't have to get him up to his feet. Like if you drive him out of bounds on his knees, as long as his... the the what is How do they describe it? Basically, his pinning points go out of bounds. That's a step out, right?
00:09:26
Cokeley Brothers
So you don't have to think about driving him up. Honestly, lock up a a front headlock. like
00:09:34
Cokeley Brothers
and then And then if he pressures back into you, not wanting to go out of bounds, head pinch. Just hit a head pinch. Because guess what, America?
00:09:41
Cokeley Brothers
That's an option. That's an option in the sport is you can hit a head pinch.
00:09:44
Reese
You think he can head pinch the local at all though? I don't think.
00:09:44
Cokeley Brothers
we None of us do it.
00:09:48
Cokeley Brothers
he yeah Luke does have a pinhead, so maybe not. Pinhead Luke. I don't know. I would like to see it.
00:09:56
Reese
You want to see more head pinches.
00:09:57
Cokeley Brothers
Why not, right? I want to see Patrick McKee and Mitch McKee. The head pinch died whenever they stopped wrestling.
00:10:02
Reese
Yeah. mitch Mitch had like <unk>t know his his I don't remember where I saw it, but he like I saw like a video of him showing how he does his head pinch.
00:10:13
Reese
That's the only way I... like Whenever I show someone a head pinch, that's the only way I show it now because it makes sense.
00:10:20
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. And dude, he was so good at it that he would pin people in folk style with it.
00:10:24
Reese
Yeah, that was crazy.
00:10:25
Reese
I miss i miss watching watching that dude.
00:10:29
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, man. And it worked for a reason because it works. Anyway, 61 kilograms. The two youngins, Marcus Blaze, Jax Forrest. The match that we've been looking for since 2021, right? That was the last time they wrestled.
00:10:47
Reese
2024 Olympic trials.
00:10:47
Cokeley Brothers
When did
00:10:53
Cokeley Brothers
I'm thinking Tokyo. I'm thinking in Tokyo. I'm thinking Tokyo. Yeah, I'm thinking Tokyo. I bet. 2024 at Olympic trials.
00:11:01
Cokeley Brothers
um Yeah. Anyway, even still, um what what to think about this, right? We've got Marcus Blaze.
00:11:10
Reese
I remember that match.
00:11:12
Cokeley Brothers
Go ahead.
00:11:13
Reese
I remember that match being like really close and like being like two to one, but somehow it's eight. It was eight to one. I don't remember how it ended up being eight to one, but I definitely remember it being like, it was like, nobody did anything the entire match.
00:11:28
Reese
I don't remember how, I don't know how Marcus scored eight points. Cause I don't remember scoring eight points, but I, if it, if it's going to be like, if if it's anything like that match, um, don't know.
00:11:33
Cokeley Brothers
let let me Let me pull it up. Because I bet you the...
00:11:43
Reese
would give boys the edge for sure. And I think Blaze looked pretty freaking good at the open.
00:11:47
Cokeley Brothers
the heck?
00:11:51
Cokeley Brothers
What is this?
00:11:54
Reese
that that brat those like I feel like that tournament is hard to find, the results are.
00:12:03
Cokeley Brothers
What tournament is this?
00:12:07
Cokeley Brothers
Dude, I did it again. Why am I looking for 2021? Oh my God, dude.
00:12:12
Cokeley Brothers
um So I'm looking up the track wrestling. I'm not looking up the matches because the matches are locked behind a vault. The video is locked behind a vault. For...
00:12:19
Reese
Is there really a vault or did they just destroy him?
00:12:19
Cokeley Brothers
ah for It's like, it's it's it's the, like, is it NBC that has that has the broadcasting rights for the Olympics? Yeah, they they say they don't let you look at any of their stuff.
00:12:30
Cokeley Brothers
So I'm looking at the track wrestling bracket because they should have the scoring record in the match.
00:12:36
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, so it was one to zero. Jax Forrest going into the second period and then admitted it into it, Marcus Blaze hits a two and two.
00:12:48
Cokeley Brothers
i don't know if that take down a turn or what. And then there was a plus four after that without a time, time stamp on it. so I'm guessing that was like a four point move at the end of the match.
00:12:59
Cokeley Brothers
Probably Jack's trying something and Marcus countering it.
00:13:00
Reese
I wonder how I did that. yeah
00:13:04
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. I would love to see how that actually, how that played out.
00:13:07
Reese
I think like one of them beat Liladol earlier. think Blaze beat Liladol.
00:13:12
Cokeley Brothers
Uh, yes, Marcus, Marcus beat Luke two to two or five to one.
00:13:17
Reese
course Liladol would... outgrow 57 and then we could see him at 61. That'd be awesome.
00:13:22
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, I don't think it's ever going to happen. I think he's a 50s.
00:13:24
Reese
I'm kind of shocked that he ended up staying so small.
00:13:25
Cokeley Brothers
He's a lifer.
00:13:29
Cokeley Brothers
i mean, he's just not like... He's not... He still looks like... Dude, he still looks like he could be a high schooler.
00:13:37
Cokeley Brothers
I don't think that's ever going change.
00:13:43
Reese
I said minus that hair. Have you seen his hair?
00:13:45
Cokeley Brothers
Oh, yeah. What is it? Is it going away? Are we losing it?
00:13:52
Cokeley Brothers
That's okay.
00:13:53
Cokeley Brothers
That happens. um Okay. added Added context to this, Marcus Blaze finished fourth at Nationals this year at NCAAs. Jax Forrest wins that bracket, um beating both of the guys that Marcus lost to in Ben DeVino and Aaron Seidel. Then fast flash forward a month after that, we've got Ben DeVino, Jax Forrest, and Marcus Blaze at the U.S. Open. Ben DeVino hands a pretty shocking upset to Jax Forrest in the semis of the U.S. Open and then loses to Marcus Blaze.
00:14:24
Cokeley Brothers
And afterwards, it is revealed to us that Marcus Blaze had the flu at NCAAs.
00:14:29
Cokeley Brothers
He had the flu. So um
00:14:34
Cokeley Brothers
now we've got the matchup actually happening at Final X, and it's going to be a series. We're going to get multiple iterations of it. What I want to know is we've got a big clash in style here where Marcus Blaze is this. He's a vault. It is hard to crack him open. And so what can Jax Forrest throw at this match to so to put points on the board?
00:14:55
Cokeley Brothers
And how is Marcus Blaze going to handle that erratic style? So yeah, that's what i'm thinking about.
00:15:03
Reese
What think is going to happen? I think Blaze is โ I think he's going to remain uncrackable vault, and freestyle is perfect for him, and I just don't see how โ unless Jax figures something else out, I just โ I don't know how he's going to do it.
00:15:19
Reese
Like the Jax โ when Jax wrestled Seidel at NCAAs, he definitely like looked like he figured something else out with Seidel where had adjusted
00:15:31
Cokeley Brothers
Right, right.
00:15:32
Reese
like when Seidel, like, like you remember what I'm talking about, where like Seidel would like drop down, and but he would like time it and then drop down even lower and snag an ankle.
00:15:46
Reese
So maybe if he figures something else, like something like that out, I just don't, I don't see how he beats plays.
00:15:56
Cokeley Brothers
honestly, what David Taylor and company should have done from the last chance qualifier until now, they should have had Jack's training with Seth Gross.
00:16:09
Cokeley Brothers
I think that would have been, that have been the answer, right? Cause Seth Gross has some sort of, some sort of,
00:16:15
Reese
Didn't he, there but you beat he smoked Seth at the open.
00:16:22
Cokeley Brothers
did they wrestle?
00:16:23
Reese
I'm pretty sure they wrestled.
00:16:25
Cokeley Brothers
Oh no, don't tell me.
00:16:25
Reese
In fact, they definitely wrestled.
00:16:31
Reese
He's, think he's, yeah.
00:16:31
Cokeley Brothers
They did?
00:16:32
Cokeley Brothers
i didn't even know Seth was there.
00:16:36
Cokeley Brothers
Shit. Rhys.
00:16:40
Cokeley Brothers
You're destroying my whole worldview right now.
00:16:46
Reese
Yeah, i think I think those days overall Seth โ I mean, Seth beat him one time.
00:16:53
Cokeley Brothers
I know. And lost to him right before then. Not right before, but the year before then.
00:16:58
Reese
Yeah. I mean, he should have beat him in that time, you know.
00:17:02
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. Yeah. Senior men's freestyle, 61 kilograms. Taken forever. I need a Jamie. We need to get good enough at this for Jamie. Yeah, beat him six to one. Shoot.
00:17:16
Reese
Yeah, and it was not clarified.
Injuries and Young Wrestlers: Woods and Bassett
00:17:18
Cokeley Brothers
No, the one point that Seth Gross scored was at the end of the match for a caution. Step out, take down. One point for passivity, another take down. My goodness. Okay. All right.
00:17:30
Cokeley Brothers
um so maybe maybe they shouldn't have done that maybe they didn't i don't know but there there is something to there's two things that you can do you can either play the game you can play the shot clock point game with marcus blaze do a better job of holding center and showing that you're taking more risks without overextending yourself and try and win that two one shot clock match um which sucks and is kind of risky it's more of just like turning the match into a coin flip or you can go out there and try and and sort of catch marcus on his heels or get him off balance in some way so so somehow get to sort of an angle to get to a leg attack or just open create some sort of opening um
00:18:15
Reese
You think like he'd benefit from Jackson benefit from him, like creating as many flurries as possible. You think that would be good for Jack's?
00:18:24
Cokeley Brothers
I think i think the yeah the more scoring opportunity the more scoring positions, the more positions where like raw wrestling acumen comes into play benefits Jax more than it benefits Marcus.
00:18:38
Cokeley Brothers
But Marcus isn't necessarily lost in those positions. I think he is still very capable of navigating them. I just don't think he's quite as good as Jax is. That's what I think.
00:18:51
Cokeley Brothers
So with that,
00:18:54
Cokeley Brothers
Give me Jackson three.
00:18:57
Cokeley Brothers
like and um Like a like a a ah best of three series to to rival Frank Molinaro or Aaron Pico in 2016. Really? They're
00:19:08
Reese
That's not happening, but I will.
00:19:10
Cokeley Brothers
good. yeah
00:19:12
Reese
Yeah. Have you watched those matches?
00:19:13
Cokeley Brothers
really they're good
00:19:15
Reese
Yeah, those are is this wrestling has just changed so much since then that those types of matches are so rare now. I mean, maybe Woods and Bassett, that's more likely to be one.
00:19:33
Reese
They're, they're more like open. Less de defensive.
00:19:37
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. Yeah. yeah i I think, ah yeah, that's a good point is that it's not going to be as much of a just knock down drag out slugfest.
00:19:44
Reese
Nobody's getting, read nobody's getting double egged and bombed. Like that's not happening.
00:19:50
Cokeley Brothers
Dude, that was such... What a treat, man. What a treat that that was.
00:19:55
Cokeley Brothers
That whole bracket. I think...
00:19:56
Reese
um That was the greatest bracket of all time, in my opinion.
00:19:59
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, i i I went back and and watched some Aaron Pico wrestling because he was he wrestled at RAF. And I was just like, just just take me down memory lane a little bit. Let me let me relive some of these some of these moments.
00:20:15
Cokeley Brothers
And yeah. Yeah. um Who do you got? Jacks Forrest, Marcus Blaze.
00:20:21
Reese
I got Blaze. I'll do Blaze in three about that. i was gonna I was thinking more Blaze in two, but I'll do Blaze in three.
00:20:25
Cokeley Brothers
Okay. All right.
00:20:30
Reese
um I've been pretty like historically pro Blaze when it comes to picks on this podcast.
00:20:30
Cokeley Brothers
All right.
00:20:37
Cokeley Brothers
Dude, ahll I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what. i might I don't know if ill if I'll put myself down as a Marcus Blaze fan, but I will be a Joey Blaze fan. Because if you want to talk about people that I've interviewed that have like like have won me over with their personality and their like perspective on the sport, Joey Blaze, awesome.
00:20:59
Cokeley Brothers
Very awesome guy. um Sucks that he wrestles for Purdue, but I'll i'll get i'll get past that. I'll figure out a way around that.
00:21:08
Reese
You can separate the person from the, from the yard.
00:21:13
Cokeley Brothers
it's yeah Yeah, I love listening to Kanye.
00:21:19
Cokeley Brothers
maybe not new age Kanye, but graduation. Do you want to do 65 kilograms or weight?
00:21:27
Reese
Yes. as Well, I mean, are we going to, are we going to, are we going to do a podcast?
00:21:33
Cokeley Brothers
No, I don't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't, the prediction markets aren't looking good on doing another one before then.
00:21:39
Cokeley Brothers
Um, so Bowen to,
00:21:47
Cokeley Brothers
Bowen too.
00:21:49
Reese
That's it? That's all you got?
00:21:51
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, I definitely think... I mean, ah the the all of the not all of the talk, I don't think. I think the those the smart people are definitely saying that Real Woods has a chance and and very much should be like considered as a tough matchup for Bo Bassett.
00:22:07
Cokeley Brothers
ah But I think with this delay, the injury to Real's knee, and...
00:22:14
Reese
you think the what do you think Who do you think the delay benefits more? Real or Bo? Because I know what I think.
00:22:21
Reese
and I think it's real.
00:22:23
Cokeley Brothers
You think it's real? I mean, i think it would be, it definitely benefits real in the fact that if he tried to wrestle tomorrow, I don't think he'd be able to walk if he's got a...
00:22:31
Reese
No. I think this screws up. Bo did not see this coming, and this completely screws up his schedule and his his whole like practice
00:22:43
Cokeley Brothers
Like peaking.
00:22:44
Reese
his ability to peak when he wanted to peak and his future schedule. Like, you know, there was things he wanted to do after this, after five likes that he probably, we don't know what, what he's going to, when he's going to do it or if he's goingnna be able to do it or, or what, know?
00:23:01
Cokeley Brothers
Right. I think, um, I think you're right. I also think Bo Bassett is the personality type that yes, this does like, maybe he did have some, some real American freestyle matches lined up to, to do between now and then, and or some, some international events that he was going to go to, or like,
00:23:19
Cokeley Brothers
maybe some college related stuff that he was getting, getting set up for with Virginia tech. But, uh, I think in terms of the actual matchup, I think Bo Bassett is sort of the personality type and the wrestling style that doesn't get faced by this.
00:23:35
Cokeley Brothers
It's that machine gun mindset. You're still just gonna be pulling the trigger all the time anyway. So, and this just gives you more time to get even better.
00:23:43
Cokeley Brothers
So I, uh, yeah, I, I,
00:23:45
Reese
above you think Technically, how do you think the match goes? Like, what do you think? Like, it's going to lopsided or what?
00:23:56
Cokeley Brothers
i think I think the first... I'll say the first match is is touch and go. I think Real Woods is going to find a way to so to slow things down. And that is going to I think that's going to be evident in Bo's ability to consistently put up points, especially going into that second period. ah But I think...
00:24:20
Cokeley Brothers
Bo is still going to find a way. I think it's going to look, honestly, it might look very much like the Jack's forest real, uh, Vito Rougeau series last year, where i was like, this is a dodgy first match.
00:24:30
Cokeley Brothers
And then the second one, things are just going to, the floodgates are going to break open. And, and this is it. Um, especially if like, this is like a significant issue with reals knee and he's going to be out for a little bit, even after final X, um,
00:24:44
Cokeley Brothers
um and It's going to be hard for him to gear to to get things into peak ability.
00:24:52
Cokeley Brothers
So, yeah, I think Bowen too.
00:24:56
Reese
I guess I'll, I guess you kind of like have made me, I was going to say Bowen 3. Fuck fuck I'll say Bowen 3. Bowen 3 matches, Real gets one somehow, one way or the other.
00:25:03
Cokeley Brothers
Okay. Yeah.
00:25:06
Reese
I kind of, I want Real to win personally, just because, you know, want I want the the older dude get another shot or whatever and
00:25:16
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, I, I,
00:25:16
Reese
you know i like I like seeing guys like, you know when someone like Bo or, you know and this has been the case with any young dude, especially like when they're 19 or 20, they'll get on a crazy heater.
00:25:29
Reese
and people you know when when the When the popular opinion is like, this dude is going to go on to be the next you know insert legend, like my natural instinct is to be like,
00:25:43
Reese
whoa, pump the brakes not so fast.
00:25:45
Cokeley Brothers
Pump the brakes. Pump the brakes.
00:25:49
Reese
Usually, right too when it comes to those that those. Those don't pan out very often. um Bo, I think obviously Bo is going be great, but I do think like he's going to take his lumps.
00:26:03
Reese
He's not gonna he not going to make a a world team every single year at 65. He said he said that said himself, like, um he he has no plans of like getting, like moving up any weight.
00:26:17
Reese
class He's like 65. This is the weight for me. Like, i'm not going to try and get bigger and go 74 or whatever. Like 65 is where I want to be. And so I think like nobody holds 65 for very long, typically.
00:26:33
Cokeley Brothers
That, that would be like, if he were able to, let's say he makes this world team and next year's and the Olympic team, and then does it for an entire additional cycle after that, that would be a way to cement yourself in like legacy in the U S yeah.
00:26:46
Reese
Yeah. Nobody's done that.
00:26:50
Cokeley Brothers
and I'm not even talking about like performance at worlds. I would assume in in in that many trips, you're going to get at least one world medal.
00:26:54
Reese
Just, just holding the spot down.
00:26:59
Cokeley Brothers
um If not several, maybe even a world title.
00:27:02
Cokeley Brothers
God, man, imagine, it dude, ah because like I'm excited by the idea of like a Bo Bassett versus Amuzad or a Bo Bassett versus versus a Kotaro Kiyuka.
00:27:12
Cokeley Brothers
I'm excited by those types of matches just because I was like, man, what... what like when you mix these two ingredients together, what kind of, what do you get? but What, what, what pops out?
00:27:22
Cokeley Brothers
Um, so that's exciting to me, but like, you're right.
00:27:24
Cokeley Brothers
65 kilograms is just as just absolute meat grinder, buzz sob away class that has chewed up and spit out some, it's incredible wrestlers. And it is, it is, it is, you know, been ruthless.
00:27:38
Reese
There's going to be guys at 61 and 65 now like Mendez, Marcus Blaze, et cetera, that are going to be wrestling for a spot on the World Olympic team.
00:27:51
Reese
at 65 and so I just don't i don't think there's any way you can anybody's gonna hold down the spot for more than two or three years.
00:27:59
Cokeley Brothers
no, man, we're going to do 2020 is going to be a freaking treat. Goodness gracious. Oh man. Oh man. Oh man. Anyway, we're getting ahead of ourselves.
00:28:11
Cokeley Brothers
Uh, yeah. Well, maybe we'll be to episode one 10 by then we're on. I think this is one Oh four. So, um,
00:28:20
Cokeley Brothers
uh, yeah.
00:28:23
Cokeley Brothers
ah definitely I I'm not going to be sad if Real Woods wins. I think i'm because I am a little bit... I'm i'm at that point. i'm I'm on the other side of the fence now where it's like I like it when the older guy wins. I like to see i like to see the older generation get And...
00:28:39
Cokeley Brothers
and I think, uh, I think real woods deserves an opportunity to show that his world bronze medal last year. Wasn't like fluky or wasn't, you know, something that just happened for, from luck or whatever.
00:28:53
Cokeley Brothers
So I would like for that opportunity to be given to him, but it's probably gonna be a bow and two probably going to put that down. So, um, I should write these down actually, but anyway, 70 kilograms,
00:29:14
Reese
I don't know, man. i want i want to see like a an exciting match.
Rutherford, Lovett, and Strategic Match Planning
00:29:20
Reese
Actually, I think like Ridge is going to surprise a lot of people. um and i think like zane if zayn's gonna wrestle if Zane at a similar level that he wrestled at the Open like and doesn't finish his shots efficiently, then we're going to have some It's going to be some, you know, 7 to 10 type scores, I feel like, or, you know, 10 to 8 or, i don't know. There are going to be multiple takedown, multiple exposure type matches for sure because, you know, if Zane takes a shot and gets exposed and may be turned, then he's going to have to come after Ridge and,
00:30:07
Reese
And I'm sure Zayn is going to adjust and get some takedowns of his own. Then Ridge will have to adjust. And, you know, ideally that would be the match that we would get.
00:30:18
Reese
Otherwise, it's probably going to be Zayn just cold calculated two to zero, two to one, you know, that kind of match. Nobody gets a takedown period, which Ridge has been known to also shut down too.
00:30:31
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, how much...
00:30:36
Cokeley Brothers
How much rust do you think Zayn still has to knock off? Because this feels...
00:30:39
Reese
Probably not that much anymore.
00:30:39
Cokeley Brothers
I mean, dude, this... I don't know. This just feels like such a... Like, Zayn woke up one day, took a look at the entries, and was like, let me go make a world team.
00:30:50
Cokeley Brothers
Let me hang on, everybody.
00:30:51
Reese
That's what he did.
00:30:52
Cokeley Brothers
Let me pause my life. Let me put my life on pause. Let's go make ah let's go make a freaking world team. ah And it just...
00:30:57
Reese
Yeah. Now he's had like two months, right? to train and get back into...
00:31:03
Reese
It's been like how many months? It's been like a month and a half, two months since the Open.
00:31:07
Cokeley Brothers
Is that really? oh since, since, ah last chance.
00:31:13
Cokeley Brothers
Um, no, he wrestled at the last chance.
00:31:14
Reese
or is that when Okay, either way, whenever he decided, it's been months since then, so he's had time to knock the rest off.
00:31:25
Cokeley Brothers
Okay. I do. I mean, there There's ah there is ah an extra element to it where getting your your matches in, and I guess you're you're going to get that in the Penn State room, so it's probably not going to be probably not going to matter as much.
00:31:41
Cokeley Brothers
so Okay. With that, you think... Zane Rutherford, he'll be, he'll be ready to like compete to the best of his ability, um, for what kind of wrestler he is these days.
00:31:56
Cokeley Brothers
Uh, and so I guess it just begs the question of like, what, what version of Zane Rutherford do we see? Do we see this guy who just kind of locks things down as, as much as possible to remove the variants of these wrestling positions that maybe Ridge Lovett has an advantage in,
00:32:14
Cokeley Brothers
And then like I say, maybe because Zane is still not necessarily crafty, but he will have, he will find a way to like have his way in wrestling positions and make it difficult to counter, uh, and expose him in those positions.
00:32:31
Cokeley Brothers
I think this is a Zane in two situation. I don't think Ridge Lovett is, is ready for this caliber.
00:32:35
Reese
okay you so You think he kind of shuts it down.
00:32:39
Reese
He kind of locks locks it down.
00:32:41
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, i think I think it is i think it is a a youth versus experience situation where where Ridge is like rid will show some promise, but it's you know give it another year or two.
00:32:43
Reese
That's kind of where I'm at.
00:32:53
Cokeley Brothers
um And then Ridge, fill into 74 kilograms and let it rip there. Love to see that.
00:33:00
Reese
You say Rachel Shotson promised what is he? He's 25. He's kind already...
00:33:06
Reese
he's kind of already Yeah.
00:33:06
Cokeley Brothers
ah Yeah, I think he's 25.
00:33:09
Cokeley Brothers
But what, this is his first full season internationally.
00:33:15
Cokeley Brothers
Because I don't think he didn't really do any freestyle when he was in college.
00:33:15
Reese
Yeah, I mean, but also, yeah, he did. He made junior teams and U23 teams and whatnot.
00:33:25
Reese
He made a U23 team for sure. I'm pretty sure he at least wrestled at junior world or like the junior trials or whatever. I'm i'm almost certain.
00:33:37
Reese
I know he wrestled.
00:33:37
Cokeley Brothers
Oh, it looks like it yet it looks like he might have wrestled. No?
00:33:51
Cokeley Brothers
Nebraska's Ridge Leavitt had the kind of breakout performance that took the 2022 NCAA tournament back in March that he'd been waiting to have, blah, blah, blah, blah. The Cornhusker star is back and ready to replicate that type of performance on the freestyle stage at the U23 World Team Trials.
00:34:05
Cokeley Brothers
I don't think he made the team, though. think he lost took to Cole Matthews. He did. He lost Cole Matthews. Reese, he lost to Cole Matthews.
00:34:16
Reese
Okay, but he also is like a six-time Fargo champ. Yeah.
00:34:20
Cokeley Brothers
Oh, yeah, yeah. No, like, freestyle is not a new thing for him. I just think, like, you you take, I don't know. i Maybe you're right. Maybe you're right. Yeah, did wasn't it a,
00:34:34
Cokeley Brothers
Or no, it wasn't him. There was somebody who had like taken every single place at Fargo except for like seventh or something like that. i don't think it was him, though. I think he was the one who was like a seven-time champ or something.
00:34:46
Cokeley Brothers
OK. Well,
00:34:51
Cokeley Brothers
um' so I'm really trying to figure out like what I think is going to happen in this match or like what the result is going to be. I think it's Zayn in two.
00:34:59
Reese
Yeah, me too. I'm i'm i'm definitely like more inclined to think that Zane shuts it down. and And Ridge plays right into that sometimes where he like just doesn't get his office offense going.
00:35:14
Reese
like I mean, I just don't see how... i have a hard time seeing Ridge breaking through headhands. And i'm like yeah, I really only see him scoring a lot. like Maybe he can get one or two like like one or two situations where he breaks through and like gets to like a boot scoot to a leg or or something like that.
00:35:41
Reese
um Other than that, it's just going to, he's going to have to score off of like Zane's own attacks. Like that's, that's the only way I see it happening and I just don't see it happening.
00:35:53
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, i think I think this is going to be a game plan gap. I think Zane and the Penn State, the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club coaches are going to come up with a game plan for this.
00:36:03
Cokeley Brothers
And Zane's going to have some answers. um Yeah, that's my read on this situation. So give me Zane in two.
00:36:15
Cokeley Brothers
Give me Zane in and sprinkle in just a little bit of controversy.
00:36:20
Reese
Yeah something something
00:36:22
Cokeley Brothers
Just a little bit of controversy.
Analyzing Green vs. Carr: Experience vs. Form
00:36:25
Cokeley Brothers
Okay. 74 kilograms. James Green, David Carr. Man.
00:36:37
Cokeley Brothers
What to think about this. James Green finally doing what he should have done literally 10 years ago and wrestling up a weight class, filling into his into his frame and and embracing like what I think his wrestling style is better for, which is a bigger, stronger weight class.
00:36:57
Cokeley Brothers
ah But he's he is older. He's up there in age. And he's got David Carr, who, if this was last year, I would say pretty handedly this goes to David Carr. It just does not seem like David Carr is the same David Carr in the year 2026 as he was in 2025.
00:37:15
Cokeley Brothers
So i I'm apprehensive. I mean, man, Jaden James damn near beat David Carr. It was close.
00:37:27
Cokeley Brothers
What do you think?
00:37:27
Reese
Yeah, people are like way, I feel like, man, I'm shocked by how, like, what's the word I'm looking for here? I've had such a, I've been like brain farting on words so much lately, and I don't know why.
00:37:41
Reese
um People are not disregarding, but like, they just don't, they're not considering, what's it?
00:37:47
Cokeley Brothers
Discounting? Discounting? Yeah.
00:37:51
Reese
No, something like that, though. They just are not giving James Green the credit he deserves. They're just like not even considering him like as a possibility to to make this team.
00:38:05
Reese
like I don't know, man. yeah after it's but i mean Especially after what he did at the Open, I'm shocked that people aren't... And like how David Carr has looked. like what What makes people think that Carr is just going to kind of work...
00:38:19
Reese
I mean, he there's there's just no way that he, like, handedly beats James Green. That doesn't happen. Like, nobody does that to James Green.
00:38:28
Cokeley Brothers
not this way or not, not this or so I mean, seven, yeah, not even 70 kilograms. Like he lost to Yanni in a close match.
00:38:35
Reese
Definitely not at 70. No.
00:38:39
Reese
i just don't I just don't get it.
00:38:43
Cokeley Brothers
dude, I think, I think this is a gritty matchup. I think this is a matchup that is going to come down to some late match heroics. And I,
00:38:55
Cokeley Brothers
i here's Here's my expectation for why I think people are giving David Carr sort of the next topic treatment ah and not and and they're not considering James Green for this matchup.
00:39:08
Cokeley Brothers
I think it's because of the perceived potential at Worlds. i don't I think they most people would would say that David Carr has a much higher chance of meddling at Worlds than James Green does. Yeah.
00:39:22
Cokeley Brothers
which I don't know if I necessarily agree ah for, for many reasons. One, I think one of them has been to worlds and has meddled and one of them has been to worlds and hasn't meddled. um Now I do. Yes. You've got to consider the timelines, but even still, David Carr does not look like what he looked like last year.
00:39:41
Cokeley Brothers
And I don't know if that's a peaking situation.
00:39:41
Reese
And I don't know if that's what we're doing to the exam.
00:39:45
Cokeley Brothers
I don't, I don't know what's coming at what's playing into all of that.
00:39:45
Reese
Certainly, it's right, but it's just trying to say,
00:39:48
Cokeley Brothers
That's just what I see.
00:39:51
Cokeley Brothers
um man this is a three match series for me but i don't know who to give you give it to i'll say i'll do david karen three i'll do david karen three
00:40:25
Reese
Yeah, it's hard to pick against David Carr.
00:40:30
Cokeley Brothers
i and i here i would I would love for James Green to prove me wrong. I love nothing more than like ah this because this it was just sort of be like ah like a a comeback story a bit. And so I would love for that to happen.
00:40:42
Cokeley Brothers
I think that's a great, that'd be awesome for the sport. But you give David Carr a month and a half to prepare for one opponent. that dude is going to find every advantage he can get.
00:40:55
Cokeley Brothers
He is a masterful game planner. And I think that's one of the, like, it it very much benefits him um to be able to have that skill. Because a lot of people talk about just being able to beat somebody with their wrestling, regardless of what their opponent's style is. I just want to go out there and be the better wrestler.
00:41:13
Cokeley Brothers
David Carr will use whatever advantage he can find against you in these matchups. and And he will utilize that. And so... Yeah, I think he gets it done.
00:41:25
Cokeley Brothers
But I think it takes three matches.
00:41:31
Reese
Man, yeah. Yeah, this one's just too hard pick, man. Too hard for me call. I'm just going โ I'll go David in โ I'll do David in three also.
00:41:43
Reese
i think that's probably what's going happen. That feels right because dave based on the way David's wrestling, he's like โ he's just going to play it as close as possible.
00:41:53
Reese
And James Green does the exact same thing.
Haynes vs. Marsteller: Style Clash
00:41:55
Reese
And David does it a little bit better than James does, I think.
00:42:00
Reese
where he's able to pull those there.
00:42:00
Cokeley Brothers
I don't know why they do that, but they do do that.
00:42:05
Cokeley Brothers
Okay. Dude, I'll tell you what. There's like one more match in here to pick that to like easily pick. The rest of these are nail biters in my mind.
00:42:18
Cokeley Brothers
79 kilos. Chance Marsteller Levi Haynes.
00:42:24
Reese
Yeah, that one, but I kind of know I want to pick there. I got a good idea who of who I want to pick there. And I feel like pretty confident in that pick. And it's not just bias. It's confidence too.
00:42:35
Cokeley Brothers
Can I talk to me? Talk to me.
00:42:37
Reese
It's Chance Marsteller. That's who I'm picking because how, and I've heard other people talk about this. what How is Levi, how does he score?
00:42:50
Reese
I mean, maybe he, Maybe he gets to a couple of takedowns, based like on his on his high sea But, bro, he's not going to get a whole lot of opportunities. And Chance is going to get to his attacks one way or the other.
00:43:05
Reese
Like, Levi is not impenetrable. Like, he can โ he does give up, you know. He does give up his legs. And he's never wrestled anybody like Chance either.
00:43:14
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, he... yeah ah Yeah. I think the closest... This is just from a body-shaped perspective. The closest reference that is that that Levi Haynes has competed against is the Russian that he wrestled last year. Usmanov.
00:43:33
Cokeley Brothers
Just a stout, blocky, strong, hard-to-get-by, hard-to-get-around MF-er.
00:43:42
Reese
That's, are you just, I feel like you're just saying that cause he's, cause he's a redhead too.
00:43:43
Cokeley Brothers
Now he did win that match.
00:43:50
Cokeley Brothers
I actually didn't even think about that fact.
00:43:53
Reese
He is redhead, right? I'm pretty sure he is.
00:43:54
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, I think so. Or maybe it's Strawberry Blonde. I guess they both are.
00:43:58
Reese
It's, it's something.
00:44:01
Cokeley Brothers
um I don't know. I think, but I do agree with your assessment that Chance Marceller is going to find a way to Levi's legs.
00:44:15
Cokeley Brothers
But what gives Levi the advantage is you're talking about how's going to get to that high crotch? I don't know if he necessarily needs to because Penn State's also very good at go-behinds.
00:44:29
Cokeley Brothers
and I don't know if that's really going to work on Chance Marsteller.
00:44:35
Cokeley Brothers
I don't know. this is a tough This is a tough thing to, like, I don't even, it's not even necessarily, like because this could be a two-match series. Like, one of them could win it very win it very handedly. um It's just just a, it's a clash.
00:44:47
Cokeley Brothers
Not necessarily, a like, super different styles, just they are very much themselves in their own ways, and I don't know who is going to win over the other one.
00:44:57
Cokeley Brothers
It's very tough.
00:45:04
Cokeley Brothers
give give me Give me... Yeah, give me Chance Marcella in three. Give me Chance Marcella in three. Because I also think about...
00:45:16
Cokeley Brothers
Go ahead. Okay.
00:45:17
Reese
Same, same chance, Marcelin three.
00:45:20
Cokeley Brothers
Okay. I think about... like Chance Marcella has some some wins under his belt.
00:45:31
Reese
Yeah. Especially like domestically.
00:45:35
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, that's what I was thinking about more so than his international wins. And
00:45:44
Cokeley Brothers
i think he i i think he does a very good job of being ready for his opponent. um and we'll we'll And we'll see that. We'll see that here. um he and He and David Carr were training with each other.
00:45:56
Cokeley Brothers
I'm sure JB was in the room wherever they were. Yeah. Yeah. That's going to be exciting. Also, speaking of that sidebar, Jordan Burroughs is back.
00:46:10
Cokeley Brothers
Jordan Burroughs is back.
00:46:13
Cokeley Brothers
Dude, Jordan Burroughs and Ben Askren wrestling. What is this? ah Beat the streets in 2018 or whatever, 2017, whenever it was. When was that? When did they wrestle each other?
00:46:26
Cokeley Brothers
Ben Askren and Jordan Burroughs.
Legendary Matchups: Burroughs, Valencia, and Dake
00:46:30
Cokeley Brothers
Madison Square Garden beat the streets. It was 2019.
00:46:34
Reese
I think it's 2019 because that was, this that's the same year that Ben got need. Pretty sure.
00:46:42
Reese
Is either 2019 or 2018, but I'm pretty sure it was 2019.
00:46:46
Cokeley Brothers
I thought Ben Askren got in need when I was in high school.
00:46:49
Reese
Really? That might make more sense actually, because I was up.
00:46:53
Cokeley Brothers
No, that was 2019.
00:46:55
Cokeley Brothers
Oh my goodness. Yeah. I could have sworn I was at like junior duels camp when that happened. Wow.
00:47:04
Reese
we were at a Farrio camp in Baker.
00:47:10
Reese
That's where I was.
00:47:12
Reese
Oh shit, that was 2017.
00:47:12
Cokeley Brothers
I wasn't there though.
00:47:17
Cokeley Brothers
No, wait.
00:47:22
Reese
I didn't really went...
00:47:22
Cokeley Brothers
I think I was cause I was having my back issues.
00:47:25
Cokeley Brothers
I was, i was, I was, was, was, I was, I was.
00:47:26
Reese
Yeah. You were coaching?
00:47:29
Reese
We were all coaching. Oh yeah, all three of us coached that year.
00:47:30
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. We were all coaching. We were all coaching.
00:47:33
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. Crazy stuff. Crazy stuff, man. Okay.
00:47:37
Reese
Yeah, cause because Ben Askren was at Fargo.
00:47:39
Reese
Remember that? And you could see it in his eyes.
00:47:42
Reese
You could see, i've not just remember seeing him. Cause that was like, yeah, like, well, like a week after. And he like, i could see in this, his eyes, like he looked like he was still back, back in that ring.
00:47:58
Cokeley Brothers
right, yeah.
00:47:58
Cokeley Brothers
what a story that guy has. There's going a documentary about him out one day. like a
00:48:03
Cokeley Brothers
Not like a flow doc, like ah like a documentary. um That'll be great. Anyway.
00:48:12
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, Jordan Burroughs is back. Wrestling in Real American Freestyle, I think, on their one-year anniversary, whenever that is. Is that in July or August? August, maybe? Or maybe September?
00:48:24
Cokeley Brothers
i don't know.
00:48:26
Cokeley Brothers
Real American Freestyle. They're going back to Cleveland for their one-year anniversary, I'm pretty sure. But anyway, 86 kilograms. Zahid Valencia.
00:48:39
Cokeley Brothers
Kyle Dake.
00:48:43
Cokeley Brothers
We've seen these two wrestle each other before. um Now, it's kind of a... ah Sort of a a rendition of 74 kilos where... so he Valencia does not look like the same guy that that that he was last year.
00:49:01
Cokeley Brothers
Now, that can that can be That can look different. I think he can be closer to that version, that world champ version for this matchup than he has looked at the ranking series and against Parker Keck eyes in a real American freestyle.
00:49:16
Cokeley Brothers
um Cause like when he wrestled Aiden Sinclair, he looked, he looked sharper for sure. ah
00:49:26
Cokeley Brothers
Kyle Dake getting older, took that loss to Kadeev, but I don't know. I just can't, I can't rule the guy out.
00:49:38
Cokeley Brothers
I can't give me this is, this is another three match series. I think this is the year of the three match series. And that's probably just my like uncertainty. And, and it's, it's probably more so a situation where like the, the winner will be decided from the first matchup and the second one will just be a formality.
00:50:00
Cokeley Brothers
But I don't know. This is gonna be scrappy, I think. I'm not talking about just this specific matchup. I think the whole card is going to be scrappy.
00:50:05
Reese
Jimmy, I need you to stop for a second. And i've this whole time, if I seem like I've been a little distracted, that's because I've been trying to figure out Ridge Lovett's freestyle tournaments.
00:50:19
Reese
And he did, he competed in 2020 at UWW juniors and he won He beat Cole Matthews, but at all this, I don't know, chat GBT, chat GBT is also saying that he lost to Cole Matthews in U 23s.
00:50:27
Cokeley Brothers
You did?
00:50:36
Cokeley Brothers
So I know he, I know Cole Matthews won you 23s because that was at 65 kilos and he was like,
00:50:43
Reese
So yeah, so he beat Cole at in 60 at 61 kilos too. That's crazy.
00:50:51
Cokeley Brothers
but that was in 2020 for juniors for you 20s.
00:50:55
Cokeley Brothers
Okay. Okay.
00:50:56
Reese
Yeah, but i don't, I, so I guess they must've, that was in like November, 2020 when they wrestled that tournament. I don't even remember. Like, what was that even for?
00:51:06
Cokeley Brothers
What? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This was,
00:51:16
Cokeley Brothers
don't, I don't remember, man. I don't remember at all. Yeah. I remember where this was. This was, um, this was, this might've been in at Nebraska, uh, they, they held a national tournament. They just held like, I think you 23 and you 20 nationals or something like that in 2020, but it wasn't for a world championships. It was just to like have a tournament.
00:51:36
Cokeley Brothers
This was in November, um, because college wasn't doing any of their stuff in 2020 until, uh, until the second semester when they just did duels.
00:51:45
Cokeley Brothers
Um, yeah. Yes.
00:51:48
Reese
So he did win that. That much is true. And be cool, Matthews, evidently, which is weird. So he lost Cole Matthews.
00:51:58
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, the 2022 The reason I remember that is because that was the year that Yanni also made one of his world teams at 65 kilograms. And initially, Yanni was like, I'm going to go wrestle you twenty three worlds as well. And so Cole Matthews was like, oh, okay, shoot, that sucks. And then eventually, Yanni was like, never mind.
00:52:15
Cokeley Brothers
So then Cole Matthews went as our rep. um Yeah, anyway, 86 kilograms, Reese, now that you're back back with us.
00:52:25
Reese
Yeah, I just knew I actually remember that Ridge had won something. And I was like, yeah I gotta figure out what it was. Anyway.
00:52:36
Reese
Yeah. um What is it a six?
00:52:40
Cokeley Brothers
So he'd Valencia, Kyle Dake.
00:52:44
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. We just did chance and the other guy, Levi.
00:52:50
Reese
Well, what you think? What you thinking?
00:52:54
Cokeley Brothers
I'm thinking ah
00:53:01
Cokeley Brothers
Kyle Dake in three.
00:53:11
Cokeley Brothers
What, that Nittany Lion, you think I'm cheering him on?
00:53:18
Cokeley Brothers
I mean, that's the wrestling club he's a part of.
00:53:23
Cokeley Brothers
No, I said Kyle Dakin 3.
00:53:25
Reese
Oh, oh, oh, oh. I thought you were... Okay. yeah you're Yeah, you're rooting for him. Yeah. You're rooting for Kyle Dake. You always have, for whatever reason... and Because you guys were in the same practice room for a little while.
00:53:39
Cokeley Brothers
Just a little while.
00:53:40
Cokeley Brothers
Just a little while. Yeah. Maybe.
00:53:44
Reese
That's probably what it is. but I get it. I get what you're... I mean, if your thought process is anything like mine, I'm thinking Dake's had a whole 365 more days to get to to acclimate to the kilos.
Snyder's Dominance and Future in Wrestling
00:54:00
Reese
And you know i think he's probably like better than he was last year for sure. And I think this matches, it's been a long time since he's had to, or since Zahid's had to wrestle him. I think Zahid's a little less prepared than he was a year ago, I'm assuming. And so I think it'll probably be closer for sure than it was last year.
00:54:24
Reese
Dake's probably not going to get tired like he did last year. Zahid's probably, based on the way he's been wrestling, i'm mean, I'm sure Zahid will be ready. He'll be โ he's always the type of guy who's, you know, who shows up when it matters.
00:54:38
Reese
But he still gets tired and those in those times, you know. Like he'll still get tired, you know, in the in the major events. I don't know. Yeah, it's tough. it's I'm also kind of like leaning maybe towards Dake.
00:54:57
Cokeley Brothers
One thing that that has been a conversation point with Kyle Dake is, dude, we get it.
00:54:57
Reese
But will I pick him?
00:55:06
Cokeley Brothers
You have world-class defense, but we miss your ah we miss your offense. We miss your ability to attack the legs. And sort of an...
00:55:16
Reese
This is not the guy that you want him to make resurgence.
00:55:20
Reese
you know so He is not the guy who he's going to start bringing the offense back to.
00:55:27
Cokeley Brothers
Dude, so you know what's interesting? ah this i'll give This is going to be a little bit of a sneak peek into the Aiden Sinclair interview that I did. Aiden told me, because he's like, I did a... He said that he like dove deep in the breakdown of Zahid Valencia's shot defense and like how Zahid works.
00:55:50
Cokeley Brothers
And his offensive output is so high and his positional movement is so...
00:55:59
Cokeley Brothers
diverse that it is very difficult to get to his legs. But once you get to his legs, things are a lot simpler. And right.
00:56:08
Reese
least now. That's not what it was like when he was in high school.
00:56:10
Cokeley Brothers
I know in high school, well, it's been a while. It's been a long time. It's been, it's been 10 years or more than 10 years. Um, or just 10 years, whatever.
00:56:24
Reese
I mean, he was good. He was good in college when people got when guys got in on his legs, too.
00:56:29
Cokeley Brothers
I know. But I think what Kyle Dake needs to do, his key to victory, is have some leg attack that you can use to score. You might only need it once, but you need it at at least once in each match.
00:56:48
Cokeley Brothers
um If you rely just on your defense, I don't think it's going to work against Zahid.
Final Thoughts and Event Excitement
00:56:54
Cokeley Brothers
That's what I think.
00:57:00
Reese
I think Zahid in two.
00:57:00
Cokeley Brothers
Yep, that's what i think.
00:57:02
Reese
That's what I'm going to go with. I don't think he can win in three.
00:57:04
Cokeley Brothers
You're going Zahidin too?
00:57:05
Reese
i think if it was going to go three matches, it's going to go Kyle Dake because Kyle Dake going to be very excited. And he's going to do the Kyle Dake thing that he likes to do. He's going Kyle Dake all over the place.
00:57:19
Reese
And Zahid, yeah, I definitely i can't imagine if I were Zahid going into a third match, especially if I just lost the second match. and i there's just I just don't see it for Zahid. I don't see how he's gonna how he would pull that third match out. So I'll go Zahid in two.
00:57:37
Reese
Just purely off of things the he's probably like I think like shown it this past year, but I think Zahid's like really, really good. and he He obviously, you know He can blank the world when he when he really needs to. He can tech everybody in the world.
00:58:07
Reese
think I'm just going to go Zahid because that makes sense to me. He's won a lot. Kyle Diggs won a lot. Zahid's won a lot. Give me Zahid. I guess probably mostly because you picked Diggs.
00:58:20
Reese
That's probably the main reason. And also because i was kind of already feeling Zahid. I picked Zahid last year. i feel like why why there's nothing really that makes me like feel like I should flip to Dake other than the things I said earlier you know with Dake having a whole extra year to adjust the weight and also Zahid not looking very good in a lot of matches.
00:58:49
Reese
But yeah, I'm going Zahid. going Zahid.
00:58:51
Reese
I think Zahid's going to be similar to like their US Open match, you know, a year ago. think the two matches will be similar like similar to those matches.
00:59:04
Cokeley Brothers
Okay. I'm not going to debate you on any of that. I think it's very possible.
00:59:10
Cokeley Brothers
Let's bump on up to 97 kilograms. 92 was already wrestled. Trent Heidly won it in two over Mike Machiavelli, fellow Wolfpack. Wrestler and UNC State. And ah yeah, so that spot has already been decided.
00:59:27
Cokeley Brothers
um 65 kilograms is on delay. And then I think two delays in women's freestyle and one match has already been decided due to injury. So 97 kilograms.
00:59:40
Cokeley Brothers
ah Kyle Snyder versus Stephen Buchanan. There has been a lot of buzz about Stephen Buchanan, but I think it has been snuffed by his performance at Pan Am's. So
00:59:53
Reese
Kyle Snyder's looked really, really good too.
00:59:55
Cokeley Brothers
Kyle Snyder in two, dude, Kyle Snyder in two.
00:59:58
Reese
No, I said he's looked really, really good is what I said.
01:00:02
Cokeley Brothers
And I'm, I'm concurring that by saying Kyle Snyder in two.
01:00:03
Reese
nothing Yeah, yeah. Yeah, i't I don't know what else to say.
01:00:07
Cokeley Brothers
The dude is a dog.
01:00:09
Reese
i think like when I picture the match in my head and I picture like the Kyle Snyder that we saw like against maybe like someone like Isaac Trumbull, like their match wasn't really that lopsided.
01:00:23
Reese
And like Snyder, like when he would get in on Isaac's legs, there'd be some weird exchanges.
01:00:30
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
01:00:30
Reese
So if I picture something like that, Steven's kind of big, like he's a big dude. He's definitely bigger than Kyle. If I, if I pictured like them getting in like wrestling situations that Steven could maybe like capitalize on, i just don't really know what those would be.
01:00:47
Reese
Cause he's not like Trumbull. He's not like super comfortable with guys in on his legs. um and I just don't know how i just don't know what where Buchanan could put Snyder like positionally. I don't know where he could put Snyder like to like get in a real advantage.
01:01:07
Cokeley Brothers
yeah i just i just don't yeah like buchanan when he wrestled yazdani yeah like the things that worked for buchanan against yazdani he was bigger than him or at least he was ah more of a true 97 than yazdani was uh
01:01:16
Reese
You don't wear him out, too.
01:01:33
Cokeley Brothers
Now Buchanan was able to wrestle through being super tired, but I just don't see him getting through the wall, the iron wall. That is Kyle Snyder.
01:01:46
Cokeley Brothers
You got to be able to do so much to Kyle Snyder or make a position. It's so difficult for Kyle Snyder. um Like, for example, one of the things that Tezudinov is really good with against Kyle Snyder is Snyder will get to that snatch single and start to drive it up, but Tezudinov will bend his leg at the knee and then make that lock so heavy that Kyle Snyder has no choice but to put the leg down.
01:02:11
Cokeley Brothers
I don't think Stephen Buchanan can do that. i don't think he's got the size for it. um I just... I don't think he has many, if any, answers to Kyle Snyder's defense and offense.
01:02:24
Cokeley Brothers
um Will that change within you know the next year or two?
01:02:32
Cokeley Brothers
well I'm thinking of a shorter time frame than that, but...
01:02:35
Reese
Well, that's how that's, that's what that's what it's gonna have to take. Cause I don't think anything's changed with Snyder's plan to continue wrestling. think he's gonna keep wrestling till he's literally 40,
01:02:50
Cokeley Brothers
Not older than that, maybe. um
01:02:52
Reese
maybe you're older.
01:02:55
Cokeley Brothers
No, you're right.
01:02:56
Reese
He looks so old out there. God, he already looks old.
01:03:01
Cokeley Brothers
don't look that old.
01:03:02
Reese
He's looked the same for like the last five or six years, but yeah. Yeah.
01:03:06
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. um
01:03:10
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, dude. It's Snyder and 2. And this is probably the most... Like... airtight, cut and dry, lock it down.
01:03:22
Cokeley Brothers
Same rep that we've had for the last 11 years match. Like just put Kyle Snyder back in and let's move on. Now, if Stephen Buchanan wants to surprise us all, I'm not mad about it, but I am very surprised.
01:03:42
Cokeley Brothers
I may be a little mad about it because what the heck, man, there's so many people have tried for so long and you just come in and do that.
01:03:49
Reese
I don't think this is the year. i don't think this is the year. Maybe when Brooks comes back.
01:03:53
Cokeley Brothers
this is the year.
01:03:55
Reese
But until then. Snyder and Tito.
01:04:00
Cokeley Brothers
I haven't seen that dude in forever. I didn't see Carter Starachi forever until earlier today when I saw that he was training with Bo Bassett and Melvin Miller and Keegan Bassett.
01:04:13
Reese
He was at the White House too, apparently.
01:04:17
Reese
That's what I heard.
01:04:17
Cokeley Brothers
Is he making the transition? Is he getting back? Is he getting in the ring?
01:04:21
Reese
they Yeah, I don't know. Maybe.
01:04:24
Cokeley Brothers
He must be.
01:04:25
Reese
But Bo Nickel was also there, so.
01:04:27
Cokeley Brothers
Bonico fought.
01:04:29
Reese
Yeah. So maybe he was there to support Bo.
01:04:31
Cokeley Brothers
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That makes sense too. um Okay.
01:04:41
Cokeley Brothers
probably Maybe the matchup that I'm the most excited for. 125 kilograms, Wyatt Hendrickson versus Mason Paris.
01:04:49
Reese
That's the match what you're most excited for? Is that what you said
01:04:51
Cokeley Brothers
I might be, dude. I mean, i think this is i think it's definitely going to be the most fun series to watch.
01:04:57
Cokeley Brothers
These two dudes just go out there and, i don't know, do absolutely insane shit when they wrestle each other. And so I think that's going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be nerve-wracking because I want to see Wyatt Hendrickson win, but... they two have they've They've wrestled each other this year and they've split matches, right? It was a tech and a tech, right?
01:05:20
Cokeley Brothers
I mean, man, what more could you ask for?
01:05:26
Cokeley Brothers
Give me three more matches. So give me Wyatt Hendrickson in three.
01:05:31
Reese
That's what I want.
01:05:33
Cokeley Brothers
All right.
01:05:33
Reese
think that's what everybody wants.
01:05:35
Cokeley Brothers
think everybody just wants, hey, hey, even if the series is decided after two, just go put it on the line for a third just for shits and giggles.
01:05:42
Cokeley Brothers
You know, just just give us just give us a good time.
01:05:47
Reese
We'll get a good time one way or the other.
01:05:49
Cokeley Brothers
One way or the other. We'll get our good time.
01:05:54
Cokeley Brothers
Uh, what was that? What's the bit from sunny when they're at the thing they're at the, like the business expo or whatever, you know what I'm talking about?
01:06:04
Cokeley Brothers
Dennis. Oh yeah. That is what it is.
01:06:06
Cokeley Brothers
That's too crass. Nevermind. um
01:06:10
Reese
Sometimes it's only the guy who gets off.
01:06:15
Reese
Some women just don't know how.
01:06:21
Cokeley Brothers
All right, man. Closing thoughts.
01:06:25
Reese
Um... I don't really have any closing thoughts other than, uh, this probably, I mean, man, the, the bummer with the the real woods thing really sucks because i still kind of feel this way regardless, but this is, I mean, this with real woods, it would have been like far and away the best final X and it's still probably just going to be the best final X.
01:06:51
Reese
This is like easily the most toss ups we've ever had. I would say, I mean, I would have, you'd
01:06:56
Cokeley Brothers
That's what it feels like for sure.
01:06:58
Reese
it's been like what, what eight years now? This is like the eighth year or ninth year for final X. Um, so you'd have to go back a ways to, to know for sure, but this feels like the best year for sure.
01:07:11
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. The year with. i Burrows I'm are. And fix and Gilman.
01:07:23
Reese
Yeah, that was 2019.
01:07:23
Cokeley Brothers
and code Okay, so that that wasn't the same year as like Cologne and Garrett.
01:07:24
Reese
think twenty eighteen
01:07:30
Cokeley Brothers
I don't know. The 18 and 19 final Xs were also fire.
01:07:34
Reese
I think those are the first ones, yeah. Like the 2018, 2018, I know Fix, that was the first time and Fix lost to Gilman in two.
01:07:44
Reese
And then the next year, Fix beat him in two or three or whatever.
01:07:48
Cokeley Brothers
I think it was three.
01:07:48
Reese
And I don't even, I can't really remember what the rest the card was like, but I'm sure it was great.
01:07:55
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, 2019. Patrick Downey won by injury default.
01:07:58
Reese
Yeah, that's not great.
01:08:00
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, but it's still very, it's still like, man, the Lizard King made a world team. We, that was was 2018?
01:08:07
Cokeley Brothers
Was it 2018?
01:08:09
Cokeley Brothers
twenty eighteen was it twenty eighteen
01:08:10
Reese
I think it was 2018.
01:08:13
Reese
No, no, no. I'm wrong. Because 2018 was the first year David won it, right? Yeah.
01:08:21
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cause 2017 he crashed out losing to Jaden Cox.
01:08:27
Reese
He had valid. valid Valid. The most valid crash out ever, dude.
01:08:31
Cokeley Brothers
Ballad crash out.
01:08:34
Reese
Man, dude, the people I was with watching that, they were, I couldn't, Nick Flynn was pissed.
01:08:44
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, man. It was, uh, yeah.
01:08:49
Reese
Tommy Williams was like, what the he They cannot allow this.
01:08:49
Cokeley Brothers
And then,
01:08:53
Cokeley Brothers
And then the tweets, the David Taylor tweets while it worlds.
01:08:55
Reese
i would That was, oh my God, dude. fact That was back when like Twitter was crazy. Twitter still was crazy, but it was really crazy back then. And Flo had comments on the website.
01:09:07
Cokeley Brothers
On there.
01:09:07
Reese
Flo was so good back then.
01:09:08
Reese
Oh my God. I miss that so much.
01:09:11
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah, man.
01:09:12
Reese
It was crazy, crazy times.
01:09:13
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. Crazy times.
01:09:15
Cokeley Brothers
It was, it was. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. um I had one thing. Oh, yes. ah True third matches will also be going down. you got Austin DeSanto versus Ben DeVino. Joey McKenna, Bo Bartlett. Landon Rabideau will be taking the win over Caleb Henson via injury default or medical forfeit, whatever whatever the term is. You got Evan Wick, Patrick Kennedy, Parker Keckisen, Aiden Sinclair. I've got that one penciled down. And Dustin Plott, Seth Shoemate.
01:09:52
Cokeley Brothers
So, yeah. Um...
01:09:56
Cokeley Brothers
and that's that and women's wrestling will be happening also so we just you don't want to you don't want to have us give our thoughts because we just don't have that many yeah we are not subject matter experts and you know what for that i'll i'll apologize i'll give my uh yeah
01:10:06
Reese
That would be insulting to the women for us to...
01:10:16
Reese
Me too. I apologize. But you know what? it's ah hard the right you know it's hardness It's hard.
01:10:23
Reese
When you get older, you get the older get, the harder it is to stay stay in the know and it like care as much about it as you did 10 years ago when all the guys wrestling were people that you kind of grew up around.
01:10:40
Reese
you're We're aging out and it's tough, but we'll, we'll do it for the people. We'll continue to care. Just, you know, it'll mostly be men.
01:10:51
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. Like, I don't even know who Elena Evaldi is when I'm sorry about that. I should know she's going for, she's wrestling Cristel Rodriguez for a world team. I don't even know who that. I don't know she who who will she is.
01:11:02
Cokeley Brothers
Shame on me.
01:11:05
Cokeley Brothers
Amanda Martinez.
01:11:14
Cokeley Brothers
Uh, yeah, man, I gotta be better about that, but, um, man, maybe, maybe Helen Marulis will make her twenty second world team or however many freaking world teams she's made.
01:11:25
Cokeley Brothers
Um, maybe anyway, thank you for watching. We're going to wrap it up here and, uh, I gotta going have to get this out. I'm going to have maybe I'll just schedule it to what?
01:11:41
Reese
but What were you going to say?
01:11:42
Cokeley Brothers
I was going to say work on it tonight and then schedule it to upload early tomorrow morning. That's probably what I'm going to do
01:11:48
Reese
That's a good idea.
01:11:48
Cokeley Brothers
Or I'll just upload it like a week from now and then people will get our thoughts.
01:11:50
Reese
and and it's like, yeah.
01:11:54
Cokeley Brothers
No, I'll do that. I'll be a could a good little podcaster.
01:11:57
Reese
Poked it everywhere. Eight times.
01:12:01
Cokeley Brothers
Yeah. All right. Thank you everybody for tuning in for you're and you're in the hour and 12th minute of a stream of consciousness from from two ah two idiots.
01:12:16
Cokeley Brothers
Thank you. Die hard. Despite the fact that I said I don't have much to really run off of research wise for these matchups. That's okay.
01:12:27
Cokeley Brothers
Hope you have enjoyed and I hope you have a good one. And goodbye.