Really going to miss Cali. Could always count on him for action and points. Could always count on him to be there, never took a match off for rest or injury. I never knew who his back up was for the three years he was here. Sounds like he is going to continue wrestling, cant wait to see him in freestyle for the HWC.
Mikey Caliendo - 4x AA 2x Finalist
- Thread starter maxpain
- Start date
The Notebook as a fav movie should disqualify anyone from winning the Hodge….
If not for Mitchell, I think Caliendo would at least be a 2x NCAA champ...maybe 3x champ.
I agree. I don't think Mikey intentionally snubbed Messenbrink. I just think he was zoned out. He had his hands in his pockets just looking ahead when MM reached out. I can't imagine how it felt to be so close to reaching your dreams while reflecting on the thousands of hours of work that goes into this sport only to go up against one of the all time greats and fall short. I am sure he wanted his last match to be more competitive and that hurts deeply. I will always be proud of this young man for his great ability and his great heart.
I agree, Caliendo is national champ good, but he was in the wrong weight at the wrong time.
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In all seriousness, what difference does it make? With one you have to kiss the *** of a 14-16 year old and most likely his parents' as well. For several years. With the older wrestler, more of a chance you are just recruiting him. I just don't think getting a 5th year guy is the way to go, but recruiting someone like Caliendo when you still get 2-3 years with him is just fine.
Crazy heh? You could tell he loved being out there too. To this day I still think Patrick Kennedy is actually a 165 lber, but his last 2 years were outstanding for him at 174. Gonna be tough to replace those guys and Drake. Thanks for the memories boys.
Oh I think he did intentionally snub him and rightfully so. MM was being self indulgent and MC wanted no part of that. I am the king and kiss my ring kind of thing. Easy to be a gracious in victory.
I agree. And it's entirely plausible that PK is at 165 and potentially a finalist at that weight if not for Caliendo. Either way, those two going at it every day in the room made them better.
I'll miss those guys!
I believe those 2 guys helped each other greatly to what they became in the room and probably outside the room. They are both quiet and reserved and we may never know how much they helped each other.
Personally, I would have been disappointed if Mikey would have shook his hand.
90% of those 90% are Penn State fans and what they think matters not to me. Pretty sure MC feels that way too.
I'm absolutely going to miss Mikey. The dude worked his tail off every single day and it showed on the mat. Dude gave it his all. He will be missed. I'm hoping his sticks around the HWC for a while. He will be a good one to have in the room.
On the podium stuff...GMAFB. Mesenbrink is a guy with two entirely different personalities. On the mat, the dude is ruthless (and I mean that as a compliment). If you've got a weakness, he's going to attack it. He wants to wrestle you harder than anyone else has wrestled you. He's a perfectionist and he doesn't just want to win, he wants to dominate. He's been called out (going back to high school) for being overly aggressive after the whistle. That's one of the things that pissed Burroughs off if people remember that match. The dude hates to lose, and if you can find video of his losses he does the handshake blow by. There's nothing gracious about his actions when he loses. He doesn't cross the line, but he's not exactly a guy that accepts it as a part of things.
When he wins, he tries to be extremely gracious. It's weird how fast that switch turns for him. I don't know if he does it on purpose or even if he realizes that he does it, but a lot of the stuff he does post-match (comments, gestures, etc.) comes off as performative bs. Do I think he intentionally waited to congratulate guys until they were getting on the podium? No. I think it was a spur of the moment decision on his part. However, Caliendo's college career just ended in a loss and the dude was clearly somewhere else mentally. Mesenbrink can turn the switch off quickly, but I don't think Caliendo can. Would it have hurt anything if Mikey had shaken his hand again (for whatever reason, 3/4 of the people I see commenting on this don't follow wrestling and don't realize that you have to shake after the match)? Probably not. Does that mean that Caliendo was obligated to do so? Also no.
On the podium stuff...GMAFB. Mesenbrink is a guy with two entirely different personalities. On the mat, the dude is ruthless (and I mean that as a compliment). If you've got a weakness, he's going to attack it. He wants to wrestle you harder than anyone else has wrestled you. He's a perfectionist and he doesn't just want to win, he wants to dominate. He's been called out (going back to high school) for being overly aggressive after the whistle. That's one of the things that pissed Burroughs off if people remember that match. The dude hates to lose, and if you can find video of his losses he does the handshake blow by. There's nothing gracious about his actions when he loses. He doesn't cross the line, but he's not exactly a guy that accepts it as a part of things.
When he wins, he tries to be extremely gracious. It's weird how fast that switch turns for him. I don't know if he does it on purpose or even if he realizes that he does it, but a lot of the stuff he does post-match (comments, gestures, etc.) comes off as performative bs. Do I think he intentionally waited to congratulate guys until they were getting on the podium? No. I think it was a spur of the moment decision on his part. However, Caliendo's college career just ended in a loss and the dude was clearly somewhere else mentally. Mesenbrink can turn the switch off quickly, but I don't think Caliendo can. Would it have hurt anything if Mikey had shaken his hand again (for whatever reason, 3/4 of the people I see commenting on this don't follow wrestling and don't realize that you have to shake after the match)? Probably not. Does that mean that Caliendo was obligated to do so? Also no.
If he would have given one of those limp wristed fake handshakes you see all the time at the end of matches it would have gone viral too. It's so easy to be gracious when you have just climbed the mountain and you're the one at the top of the world. If he doesn't make the World or Olympic team and the winner tries to shake his hand on the podium again, right after he beats him, I hope the camera is rolling there too.
MM wrestles with the Brands brother's intensity and mentallity. He is just able to flip the switch when not competing and act like a nice civil human. Brands didn't do that. They were just as ornery off the mat as on and just as intense. Dude kept MC from winning 2 titles. I wouldn't have any interest in being chummy with him either. Big nothing burger and I am sure neither guy gives a crap about it now either.
I mean look at the handshakes after he lost to Carr (FS and College) or against Burroughs. Completely "because I have to" and not exactly gracious...not that it is expected to be necessarily. It's a whole lot about nothing IMO.
MC is a freaking stud. I love watching him. He brought the heat every time he stepped on the mat. He could have tried grabbing fingers and backing to the edge. He could have done the keep it tight and hope to win in a late flurry but he didn't. MC wrestled one way and that was send it. I love his mentality, toughness and I believe him to be a high class person. The handshake is a nothing burger. He wasn't in the head space so what. He didn't throw headgear, he was gracious walking off the mat. I love that he tried the side headlock go for broke hail Mary move. He tried. He was a most worthy competitor. I hope MC gets into coaching. He and Kem would be a hell of a duo for the middle and upper weights.
And most people will never realize how close that headlock was to making things veeeeeeery interesting too. Perhaps a little less muscle from Caliendo and we'd see how good MM is getting off his back.
The only other thing I wish is that Caliendo had gone for more throws, especially against MM.
Fwiw I think that's something TNT need to work on with their guys. More feet to back. More go big or go home moves.
I know I'm forgetting some, but the last big throw I truly remember is Kaleb Young tossing Steve Bliese to end the 3rd and that was back in 2019.
He had too much momentum and they rolled all the way thru it. He was damn close to catching him, but more important was it showed they had a game plan to try something different and big to catch MM, which was probably his only chance of beating him.
You are correct - that move was so close to hitting.
Marinelli and Joseph had a few between them.
I was thinking of those two, but had my data off. The last time those two battles was Jan 2020.
Those guys were f*cking fun. They just went for it and were 100% content with the "go big or go home" result.
Either way, a long time ago too.
I think that makes your point when anyone struggles to remember one in the last several years. Seems to me Williams maybe had something big that led to a pin early this past season.
A number of years ago my son had a not so great seed at states and went up against a 3X state champ in Ohio and he knew it could get really ugly. He was down 12 to 6 and knew he only had one chance. He was a Russian Tie guy and he tried a big move patented by Carey Kolat and nearly took the champ straight to his back but he rolled through but it was fun to watch. It was fun to see Mikey go for the big move. As far as the grabbing fingers stalling, I really appreciate the guys who go out and attack. I don't remember a year where I saw so much finger grabbing at Nationals each time taking a number of seconds off the clock till fingers got cleared. I know hand fighting is key but I hate constant finger grabbing. Mikey wrestled. I think that's why MM respected him so much.
Mikey epitomized what we want at Iowa. Loved to watch him wrestle and heartbroke for him that he didn't get what he wanted.
I always say MM does what Mikey does, just better. It's the answer to why guys don't shoot in matches or play the edge against better guys. Mikey could try and do that but that's just not who he is and 9/10 times, it works for him. Messenbrink is just that guy that's built to beat him just like David Carr always gives MM fits. Long arms, quick feet, great head hands defense and a stellar reshot. MM has to respect it so it slows him down. We saw the same thing play out in the 141 finals and even with Ferrari in his quarters/semis matches: Two goers renowned for their offense being very careful even though Mizzou was in on some shots.
As for the medal stand, Mikey had the 1,000 yard stare going so I don't even think he was aware. Luckily, Mitch had the row of medal stand cameras going to show his outstanding example of true sportsmanship. Reminds me of the time Bo Nickal was picking guys he just pinned up off the mat. NGL, made me tear up a little.
I always say MM does what Mikey does, just better. It's the answer to why guys don't shoot in matches or play the edge against better guys. Mikey could try and do that but that's just not who he is and 9/10 times, it works for him. Messenbrink is just that guy that's built to beat him just like David Carr always gives MM fits. Long arms, quick feet, great head hands defense and a stellar reshot. MM has to respect it so it slows him down. We saw the same thing play out in the 141 finals and even with Ferrari in his quarters/semis matches: Two goers renowned for their offense being very careful even though Mizzou was in on some shots.
As for the medal stand, Mikey had the 1,000 yard stare going so I don't even think he was aware. Luckily, Mitch had the row of medal stand cameras going to show his outstanding example of true sportsmanship. Reminds me of the time Bo Nickal was picking guys he just pinned up off the mat. NGL, made me tear up a little.
Those were fricking awesome!!! Alone worth the price of admission; you just knew someone was going to their back!
This kind of level-headed and mature response will not be tolerated on wrestling forums : )
Caliendo. He stays out of the upper body ties that Marinelli excelled at and wins it with leg attacks.
Eierman tried with Nick Lee but took the worst of it.
As a fan it’s a blast to watch. But the team that has been on top doesn’t have it as a staple so maybe that says something about whether it’s worth the time.
Oh yeah, and Caliendo is among my favorites, and I don’t care about that handshake thing.