Discussion thread for 74kg (m), 125kg (m), and 53kg (w)

[Jrr277 141]

I think the Parris-Steveson "rivalry" can be summarized by the Mad Men "I don't think about you at all" meme

[Katie 1,076]

8 minutes ago, headshuck said:

Mason Parris might taunt Gable into renewing their rivalry ;)

Parris is probably feeling better about himself after seeing Gable's performance so far.

[Plasmodium 2,225]

Postmortem decision for USAW better be no seeding or bracket placement consideration for non Olympic weights.

That first Lesnar/Steveson cage match is gonna be dynamite!

[The Genius 368]

I just watched Dake's matches and he was visibly breathing heavily from the start of his second match - that was odd. 

Didn't like his antics with the challenges but I presume that was to buy time. 

He looked weak to be honest. He's huge at 74kg and perhaps the weight cut killed him. That and the fact he spent most of his career wrestling at a far weaker non-Olympic weight class so he was never the p4p star that people thought he was. 

Edited August 5, 2021 by The Genius

[Plasmodium 2,225]

Dake is pulled in, BLR beats Chamizo!

[Plasmodium 2,225]

So Dake will have Garzon today and Chamizo tomorrow?

[Katie 1,076]

13 minutes ago, The Genius said:

I just watched Dake's performances and he was visibly breathing heavily from the start of his second match - that was odd. 

Didn't like his antics with the challenges but I presume that was to buy time. 

He looked weak to be honest. He's huge at 74kg and perhaps the weight cut killed him. That and the fact he spent most of his career wrestling at a far weaker non-Olympic weight class so he was never the p4p star that people thought he was. 

Dake was one of the best American college wrestlers ever, and that won him lots of American fans.  He is one of only a handful of four-time national champions, and he beat Taylor -- who also had a lot of fans. 

In my humble opinion, a lot of American fans hype Dake up now because of his incredible college accomplishments. 

Edited August 5, 2021 by Katie

[Jrr277 141]

I wish Gable would remain in the amateur ranks for another decade, but if I were a gambling man, I'd say his next accolade after the Olympics is the 2022 Royal Rumble winner.

[NJDan 1,069]

7 minutes ago, Plasmodium said:

So Dake will have Garzon today and Chamizo tomorrow?

A Cubano sandwich

[NJDan 1,069]

4 minutes ago, Katie said:

Dake was one of the best college wrestlers ever, and that won him lots of American fans.  He is one of only a handful of four-time national champions, and he beat Taylor -- who also had a big following.  In my humble opinion, a lot of American fans hype Dake up because of his incredible college accomplishments. 

Also his two WORLD championships, which are also meaningless and do not justify any hype at all.

[BTC 107]

21 minutes ago, Katie said:

Parris is probably feeling better about himself after seeing Gable's performance so far.

I was thinking the same thing about gwiz and Parris.

[Grecojones 203]

3 minutes ago, NJDan said:

Also his two WORLD championships, which are also meaningless and do not justify any hype at all.

To be fair i think those weights do not translate well into Olympic success. Didn’t the guy who beat Dake have only moderate success at 79? When you aggregate all the talent and then have to change your body cut down or bulk up it changes things a ton.

[Katie 1,076]

21 minutes ago, NJDan said:

Also his two WORLD championships, which are also meaningless and do not justify any hype at all.

A lot of US fans thought Dake was a huge favorite to win a gold medal at 74kg.  I thought he had a chance to win gold, but I did not think his actual freestyle record warranted such predictions.  74kg is simply deeper than 79kg, especially during the Olympics.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Katie

[Plasmodium 2,225]

2 minutes ago, BTC said:

I was thinking the same thing about gwiz and Parris.

Gwiz to Poland?

[CoachWrestling 425]

My problem with the weight cut theory for Dake is how good he looked at the trials. I don't understand why the cut would effect him that much more in the Olympics than at the trials. I think he ran into a buzzsaw and after the 4 he panicked. I don't buy the injury or weight cut excuse. 

Edited August 5, 2021 by CoachWrestling

[wrestlingnerd 2,999]

4 minutes ago, CoachWrestling said:

My problem with the weight cut theory for Dake is how good he looked at the trials. I don't understand why the cut would effect him that much more in the Olympics than at the trials. I think he ran into a buzzsaw and after the 4 he panicked. I don't buy the injury or weight cut excuse. 

First match, he looked sucked out. Hard to deny that he was barely moving. Second match, I agree. He overlooked the guy and tried to big brother him and got mauled, end of story. Very bad all around: match strategy, mental strength, poise. Looked like a total rookie out there, and I'm a big fan. He is very lucky Chamizo got handled too, and now we'll see what Dake is made of. Can he gut it out and still have a decent Olympics? Bronze is very attainable and very valuable to his career.

[Jrr277 141]

7 minutes ago, CoachWrestling said:

My problem with the weight cut theory for Dake is how good he looked at the trials. I don't understand why the cut would effect him that much more in the Olympics than at the trials. I think he ran into a buzzsaw and after the 4 he panicked. I don't buy the injury or weight cut excuse. 

Same. Olympic weight classes are the same from 2016 and doing a quick Google search shows Rob Koll announcing the Dake move to 74 kg in September 2019. It's not like someone showed up in his room the day before and surprised him with a 10 lb weight cut

 

[dman115 513]

Two words....Gable Steveson!!!!

[Katie 1,076]

Just watched Geno-Zare.  Geno looked vulnerable until Zare got tired. 

Geno is obviously big and strong.  I can't wait to see him face Gable.

[iha 18]

4 minutes ago, wrestlingnerd said:

First match, he looked sucked out. Hard to deny that he was barely moving. Second match, I agree. He overlooked the guy and tried to big brother him and got mauled, end of story. Very bad all around: match strategy, mental strength, poise. Looked like a total rookie out there, and I'm a big fan. He is very lucky Chamizo got handled too, and now we'll see what Dake is made of. Can he gut it out and still have a decent Olympics? Bronze is very attainable and very valuable to his career.

That's mostly how I see it. Not sure he overlooked the guy but his style of power moves and throws can easily backfire, especially if he was sucked out. You cannot give a up a 4 point move in the Olympics. And he does not have a style where he can wear a guy down like Taylor and just keep hitting offense. Once he was in the 4 point hole it was going to be very tough, and he flailed. It reminds me of the match he lost at 79kg a few years back where he gave up points early and did not seem to have an offense. His style requires that he controls the flow of the match, and once its lost he struggles. Hopefully he can medal. Obviously the guy he lost to is very good.    

[wrestlingnerd 2,999]

Just now, iha said:

That's mostly how I see it. Not sure he overlooked the guy but his style of power moves and throws can easily backfire, especially if he was sucked out. You cannot give a up a 4 point move in the Olympics. And he does not have a style where he can wear a guy down like Taylor and just keep hitting offense. Once he was in the 4 point hole it was going to be very tough, and he flailed. It reminds me of the match he lost at 79kg a few years back where he gave up points early and did not seem to have an offense. His style requires that he controls the flow of the match, and once its lost he struggles. Hopefully he can medal. Obviously the guy he lost to is very good.    

I say he overlooked him because if they wrestle again, Dake will never try to open up scoring with a 4-pointer the way he did. You do that to a guy you know you can beat or in desperation mode. He learned a tough lesson. I agree Dake needs to control the match or he's in trouble against the most elite, of which Kadzimahamedau is very clearly one.

[headshuck 2,587]

Congratulations in advance to Gable Steveson on his Bronze medal - a nice early Christmas gift for him from the IOC.

Glad Dake/Sidakov are separated. We got the Yazdani/DT final, we can get the Dake/Sidakov final and hopefully Sadulaev and Mohammadian are separated also so we get the top guys meeting in the final across the board. 

 

Steveson re-gifted the Christmas present.

[Katie 1,076]

6 minutes ago, wrestlingnerd said:

I say he overlooked him because if they wrestle again, Dake will never try to open up scoring with a 4-pointer the way he did. You do that to a guy you know you can beat or in desperation mode. He learned a tough lesson. I agree Dake needs to control the match or he's in trouble against the most elite, of which Kadzimahamedau is very clearly one.

I think that's right.  It reminds me of the 2013 WTTs where Dake went out aggressively against JB and got teched (0-7).  Next match Dake came out way more defensively and took it to OT. I think Dake will adjust next time he wrestles Kadzimahamedau.  But that's part of the problem of being a world champ.  None of your opponents will overlook you, while you may occasionally get caught overlooking an opponent.

[BTC 107]

Calling it now like I did after his ncaa final, Gables bringing home the hardware.

[The Genius 368]

15 minutes ago, headshuck said:

Steveson re-gifted the Christmas present.

I deserved that.