Spencer 2026 World Team

[Comment123]

Am I correct in that Spencer has to wrestle at the Open in April since he didn’t medal last year? Was under the assumption he’d be in at final X but forgot about the process in place with medaling at previous worlds to earn that.

if he does, do we think he gets in another event before then like the Dan Kolov in a couple weeks? Always felt Spencer was at his best the more active he is

Will be interesting to see who registers for 57kg, specifically thinking about Suriano since he was at the OTT a few months back I believe.

 

[vhsalum]

He doesn't HAVE to wrestle in the open. Because there was no medalist, there will be a WTT at 57kgs. So he could wait for that. But yes, he is not in Final X.

The more active spencer is, the better. But that cut is no joke.

Spencer's only challenger currently is Lilledahl. 57kg sucks right now.

 

[kingstown]

Spencer looked really good at that last tournament. Hopefully he can keep his health through this entire cycle. Peak Spencer Lee is too much for anyone in the world. I wonder if Nick Bouzakis will join the 57kg mix? 65kg could be really wild by the next OT. Jax,Blaze,Vito, and ADS will be up there battling with all of the established 65kg. guys. We need the 10 weights back. It sucks that so many guys are tweeners.

 

[vhsalum]

Yes. Bouzakis will be at 57kg.

You want 10 weights? #dropgreco

 

[TherealGrip220]

He doesn't HAVE to wrestle in the open. Because there was no medalist, there will be a WTT at 57kgs. So he could wait for that. But yes, he is not in Final X.

The more active spencer is, the better. But that cut is no joke.

Spencer's only challenger currently is Lilledahl. 57kg sucks right now.

Spencer looked really good at that last tournament. Hopefully he can keep his health through this entire cycle. Peak Spencer Lee is too much for anyone in the world. I wonder if Nick Bouzakis will join the 57kg mix? 65kg could be really wild by the next OT. Jax,Blaze,Vito, and ADS will be up there battling with all of the established 65kg. guys. We need the 10 weights back. It sucks that so many guys are tweeners.

Spencer looked very healthy at the last tournament, no sucked in face and eye sockets and looked well rested. Spencer in this form will make all of these "top" contenders look like child's play.

I still get a good chuckle when I think about how everyone says his loss in the NCAA's against the Purdue kid was this gigantic upset. Spencer was about at 50% during that last run and that kid was just in the right place at the right time. Of course I give the young man credit for going out there and letting it rip, but again im looking forward to him making everyone understand there is nobody at 57/125 and probably never will be anyone at SL's level if he is actually healthy.

 

[vhsalum]

Spencer looked very healthy at the last tournament, no sucked in face and eye sockets and looked well rested. Spencer in this form will make all of these "top" contenders look like child's play.

I still get a good chuckle when I think about how everyone says his loss in the NCAA's against the Purdue kid was this gigantic upset. Spencer was about at 50% during that last run and that kid was just in the right place at the right time. Of course I give the young man credit for going out there and letting it rip, but again im looking forward to him making everyone understand there is nobody at 57/125 and probably never will be anyone at SL's level if he is actually healthy.

Agreed. Spencer has been the best 57kg wrestler in the world since 2018. Hope he can put it together this time.

 

[SpacemanSpifff]

Yes. Bouzakis will be at 57kg.

You want 10 weights? #dropgreco

How about we drop synchronized swimming instead?

Wrestling is a classic sport…I can’t believe they have reduced it to 6 weight classes for the Olympics. I hope there is active lobbying to get this changed.

 

[vhsalum]

How about we drop synchronized swimming instead?

Wrestling is a classic sport…I can’t believe they have reduced it to 6 weight classes for the Olympics. I hope there is active lobbying to get this changed.

Honestly, I'm not going to poo poo synchronized swimming. Chicks have literally died to perform in that sport. It's impressive what they can do and the mindset it takes to compete in it.

I don't care how classic greco is. And I personally LOVE competing/practicing it. It's dead. It's a broken sport and completely unwatchable.

We're never going to get more weights with inequality in gender medals. Women get 10, men get 10.

 

[kingstown]

Spencer looked very healthy at the last tournament, no sucked in face and eye sockets and looked well rested. Spencer in this form will make all of these "top" contenders look like child's play.

I still get a good chuckle when I think about how everyone says his loss in the NCAA's against the Purdue kid was this gigantic upset. Spencer was about at 50% during that last run and that kid was just in the right place at the right time. Of course I give the young man credit for going out there and letting it rip, but again im looking forward to him making everyone understand there is nobody at 57/125 and probably never will be anyone at SL's level if he is actually healthy.

It was a giant upset. There were no public personalities predicting it. I'm not sure what the betting odds were at the time, but I was very surprised when it happened. It was right up there with Hendrikson beating Steveson last year. Shane Sparks always reminds us that every wrestler can be beat. I will be surprised if Mesenbrink loses this year, but there is no doubt in my mind that it can happen. Health is just part of the sport, and a less than healthy Spencer had Teched guys as good or better than Ramos. He looks great right now! If not for the stupid chicken sh_t grounding rule he would already have an Olympic Gold.

 

[BroncHawk]

How about we drop synchronized swimming instead?

Wrestling is a classic sport…I can’t believe they have reduced it to 6 weight classes for the Olympics. I hope there is active lobbying to get this changed.

Get rid of the equestrian events. Unless they want to revive chariot races. I can get behind that.

 

[vhsalum]

ChariotGet rid of the equestrian events. Unless they want to revive chariot races. I can get behind that.

Dear God, YES!

 

[dt21]

breakdancing

 

[InTheCircle]

Spencer looked really good at that last tournament. Hopefully he can keep his health through this entire cycle. Peak Spencer Lee is too much for anyone in the world. I wonder if Nick Bouzakis will join the 57kg mix? 65kg could be really wild by the next OT. Jax,Blaze,Vito, and ADS will be up there battling with all of the established 65kg. guys. We need the 10 weights back. It sucks that so many guys are tweeners.

At least we get 10 weights for The World Championships. Even if they could add 2 weights classes at the Olympics it would help. I’d prefer 61kg and 79kg.

65 will be nuts for sure, add in Mendez, Stanich, Siedel and Bartlett

 

[PUR158]

How about we drop synchronized swimming instead?

Wrestling is a classic sport…I can’t believe they have reduced it to 6 weight classes for the Olympics. I hope there is active lobbying to get this changed.

This was in the last olympics....and they are talking about cutting wrestling.

 

[Babbahganoosh]

Honestly, I'm not going to poo poo synchronized swimming. Chicks have literally died to perform in that sport. It's impressive what they can do and the mindset it takes to compete in it.

I don't care how classic greco is. And I personally LOVE competing/practicing it. It's dead. It's a broken sport and completely unwatchable.

We're never going to get more weights with inequality in gender medals. Women get 10, men get 10.

You think it is broken and unwatchable.
Worldwide it is much more popular than it is here. From an Olympic perspective there are more countries that war medals in Greco than freestyle (not a big thing to me) but to the powers that be in UWW they want as many countries getting medals…

if put to a vote, more countries would vote out freestyle because many more countries know they have a better shot at winning medals in GR than in Freestyle.

UWW (Russia), former Russian states, Iran and the USA account for 90+ percent of the medals but a small percentage of the represented countries.

 

[InTheCircle]

You think it is broken and unwatchable.
Worldwide it is much more popular than it is here. From an Olympic perspective there are more countries that war medals in Greco than freestyle (not a big thing to me) but to the powers that be in UWW they want as many countries getting medals…

if put to a vote, more countries would vote out freestyle because many more countries know they have a better shot at winning medals in GR than in Freestyle.

UWW (Russia), former Russian states, Iran and the USA account for 90+ percent of the medals but a small percentage of the represented countries.

Except for 65kg

 

[vhsalum]

You think it is broken and unwatchable.
Worldwide it is much more popular than it is here. From an Olympic perspective there are more countries that war medals in Greco than freestyle (not a big thing to me) but to the powers that be in UWW they want as many countries getting medals…

if put to a vote, more countries would vote out freestyle because many more countries know they have a better shot at winning medals in GR than in Freestyle.

UWW (Russia), former Russian states, Iran and the USA account for 90+ percent of the medals but a small percentage of the represented countries.

Ok. I knew someone would say this commie, nordic-socialist propaganda bullsh$t

Factually, none of what you are saying is true.

Worldwide, greco is NOT more popular than Freestyle. Not by ANY metric. Not by number of countries that train it, not by the number of participants, not by number of participants that compete at worlds, not by number of people that watch it. And it has NEVER been the case. There has never been a time that more countries competed in Greco than Freestyle. The stands are never as full as they are for FS, with one exception - and that's the Nordic countries. The Nordic countries are the only countries that have more participants in greco than FS.

Greco spilled out this lie that it is more popular "worldwide" - even in the face of the facts. It's nauseating and stupid. Flo has access to the worldwide data, not just the US - and Greco is FAR behind FS in terms of numbers of persons who watch/consume it. So argue with ya momma on this, cuz the world has been consistent.

Also, when UWW was created, Greco was almost dropped. It was truly a win-win for everyone - as NGOs would be able to spend less, but at the same time invest more. And we would have had equality in medals (10 -10) between womens and mens. And every one (re: the vast majority) were on board. Then Karelin threw a hissy fit and UWW figured they didn't have the optics to fight him publicly. So instead, we had to go 6-6-6 because of it. 6 medals is on us for keeping a sport that has low participation numbers worldwide and is completely irrelevant.

 

[Comment123]

He doesn't HAVE to wrestle in the open. Because there was no medalist, there will be a WTT at 57kgs. So he could wait for that. But yes, he is not in Final X.

The more active spencer is, the better. But that cut is no joke.

Spencer's only challenger currently is Lilledahl. 57kg sucks right now.

Whatever happened to Matt Ramos wrestling for another country? Surprised he doesn’t try for a spot on team usa if overseas isn't working out

 

[vhsalum]

Whatever happened to Matt Ramos wrestling for another country? Surprised he doesn’t try for a spot on team usa if overseas isn't working out

If he's still doing it - its not an fast process. And UWW is making it harder every year. The giant Masoumi has trasnferred to Azerbaijan, but won't be able to compete until 2027

 

[HollisterHawk]

I bought my US Open tickets a couple of weeks ago crossing my fingers he's going to register. If he wins the Open he doesn't have to compete at team trials the following month. Competing at the Open gives you two chances to make the team.
I've never seen Spencer or ADS wrestle in person. Anyone else plan on going?

 

[Corby2]

I bought my US Open tickets a couple of weeks ago crossing my fingers he's going to register. If he wins the Open he doesn't have to compete at team trials the following month. Competing at the Open gives you two chances to make the team.
I've never seen Spencer or ADS wrestle in person. Anyone else plan on going?

I will be there. I expect Spencer to wrestle

 

[Useto]

Get rid of the equestrian events. Unless they want to revive chariot races. I can get behind that.

Or jousting

 

[T8KUDWN]

I will be there. I expect Spencer to wrestle

Same here and yes Spencer will be wrestling.

 

[BroncHawk]

jousting

 

[Sett1997]

This was in the last olympics....and they are talking about cutting wrestling.

Idiocy.

 

[ChicagoHawk2020]

Same here and yes Spencer will be wrestling.

I’m more curious about Buchanan.

 

[T8KUDWN]

I’m more curious about Buchanan.

Still a month out, but as of now I would lean towards Buchanan not wrestling at the Open.

 

[vhsalum]

Still a month out, but as of now I would lean towards Buchanan not wrestling at the Open.

So then no attempt to make a World Team again???

(there will be no WTT for 92 or 97)

 

[Corby2]

So then no attempt to make a World Team again???

(there will be no WTT for 92 or 97)

He will go if he's able obviously

 

[T8KUDWN]

So then no attempt to make a World Team again???

(there will be no WTT for 92 or 97)

There are some things you can't control and like Corby said, if he is able, he will be there.

 

[vhsalum]

He will go if he's able obviously

There are some things you can't control and like Corby said, if he is able, he will be there.

 

[vhsalum]

I really liked his chances to actually challenge Snyder.

 

[bman546]

Rumor is they may cut more wrestling weight classes for 2032. It is done to spread out medals and medal counts..

My philosophy: If your sport's biggest event is NOT the Olympics, then you're gone (exceptions: Basketball, baseball, and Winter Olympic Hockey). The obvious one that fits this is soccer/football. We have the World Cup every 4 years already.. nobody cares about Olympic soccer.. even if they do, shut up, you have the World cup, soccer is cut from the Olympics..
Tennis, Golf, Surfing - no kid ever picked up a racket or golf club dreaming of being in the Olympics. They dream of winning Wimbledon, US Open, etc. same goes for Golf, The Open, US Open, The Masters etc.. Rugby gone as well.. Rugby has its event already..

Get rid of X Games events like BMX Freestyle, Trampoline Gymnastics, Skateboarding, etc.

Get rid of the events that are for those that are not good enough to make the real event.. or are now past their prime:
3 on 3 basketball? BARF, If you were good enough you would be on your country's 5 on 5 team, so shut up.. I know there are aspects of the game that may take a unique skill or teamwork, but every person in the Olympics playing 3 on 3 wishes they were once good enough to play on the 5 on 5 team. Get out!

Flag football will be unique to the LA Games, and let's hope it ends there. Again, every one of these players WISHES they could make an NFL roster.. it's another offshoot sport for those that were never or no longer good enough to make it in the real thing.

Synchronized diving... If you were a good enough diver, you would not be doing synchronized diving and all of the versions of it, co-ed etc.. Yes you are very skilled at diving, just not skilled enough. Bye, Bye..

(exception beach volleyball - though they were all traditional volleyball players first and usually transition to the $ of beach volleyball when their career is winding down, the sport has a following and tv ratings are good.. I wonder why? )

I am also concerned that they will add beach wrestling to the Olympics... Why? We have FreeStyle and Greco-Roman already which have been in the Olympics for 100+ years... Beach Wrestling could be a factor in reducing weight classes as well in FreeStyle and Greco-Roman. Besides, sorry guys, if you ever go to watch Fargo, the people entering Beach Wrestling there are probably those that got eliminated quickly in their FreeStyle/Greco bracket, thus proving my point.. If you want to beach wrestle, have at it, just don't put it in the Olympics.

Before you comment, "You forgot breakdancing.... " Breakdancing has already been removed.

 

[UndercoverHawk]

Why does wrestling care about the Olympics? The Olympics clearly doesn’t care about wrestling, and NBC gives no prime time coverage to wrestling. Just say FU and do the worlds every year like normal. If you wanna do a mock Olympics every 4 years where you have to qualify for the world championships then so be it. But just leave and have 10 weights every year. Problem solved.

 

[TheREALSpooner]

Why does wrestling care about the Olympics? The Olympics clearly doesn’t care about wrestling, and NBC gives no prime time coverage to wrestling. Just say FU and do the worlds every year like normal. If you wanna do a mock Olympics every 4 years where you have to qualify for the world championships then so be it. But just leave and have 10 weights every year. Problem solved.

Prime time TV coverage is an archaic issue given all the available live coverage today.

The Olympics raises the profile of the sport every four years. Can’t afford to not be part of it.

That said, GR is an afterthought even in the Oympics. It should probably go.

 

[HawkAlum2002]

The last time NBC tried to give Olympic wrestling it's flowers it propped up David Taylor with video ads and bumpers during sports shows, I think he even appeared in the crowd on WWE, and then he proceeded to not even make the team and all that money in advertising was flushed down the toilet. Reminded me of "Dan vs Dave" back in Barcelona 1992 when Dan didn't even end up qualifying for the decathlon after the biggest ad campaign of it's time.

 

[Libertylover]

Honestly, I'm not going to poo poo synchronized swimming. Chicks have literally died to perform in that sport. It's impressive what they can do and the mindset it takes to compete in it.

I don't care how classic greco is. And I personally LOVE competing/practicing it. It's dead. It's a broken sport and completely unwatchable.

We're never going to get more weights with inequality in gender medals. Women get 10, men get 10.

What the big deal adding 4 weights? The Olympics don’t make enough money to buy medals for 4 weight classes. Drop break dancing, cut back on the various kiaking, skate boarding , mountain bike events, and put wrestling and weight lifting back in prime time instead of those “sports”. Two of the most classic Olympic sports deserve prime time. I don’t know why everyone drools over swimming and gymnastics, because other than Olympics, they are lucky to dry flies to their collage events. All these X games sports just draws interest from the niche of people who do those activities. College wrestling out draws all of them .

 

[UndercoverHawk]

Prime time TV coverage is an archaic issue given all the available live coverage today.

That’s not the point. The prime time tv is bringing the sport to a wider audience. The only people watching wrestling on the specific stream are the die hard fans and they would be watching regardless of it being in the Olympics.

If the Olympics isn’t bringing in any new viewers then how much is it really elevating the sport? If wrestling was no longer in the Olympics and you polled random people throughout the world and asked if wrestling was an Olympic sport you would get an overwhelming majority still say yes.

 

[Libertylover]

It was a giant upset. There were no public personalities predicting it. I'm not sure what the betting odds were at the time, but I was very surprised when it happened. It was right up there with Hendrikson beating Steveson last year. Shane Sparks always reminds us that every wrestler can be beat. I will be surprised if Mesenbrink loses this year, but there is no doubt in my mind that it can happen. Health is just part of the sport, and a less than healthy Spencer had Teched guys as good or better than Ramos. He looks great right now! If not for the stupid chicken sh_t grounding rule he would already have an Olympic Gold.

Agree, that Japanese guy would have been stalled out in college, since Spencer wasn’t wrestling for the Hawkeyes

 

[Libertylover]

That’s not the point. The prime time tv is bringing the sport to a wider audience. The only people watching wrestling on the specific stream are the die hard fans and they would be watching regardless of it being in the Olympics.

If the Olympics isn’t bringing in any new viewers then how much is it really elevating the sport? If wrestling was no longer in the Olympics and you polled random people throughout the world and asked if wrestling was an Olympic sport you would get an overwhelming majority still say yes.

Even us hard core fans don’t want to watch at 3:30am, especially on a work day.