Greatest wrestler ever?

[EmbraceTheGrind]

Sanderson for folkstyle and Karelin for Grecco and Medvid for freestyle?

 

[dsdoubled]

A few things that should always be remembered in this debate/discussion.

1. In my opinion, wrestlers that competed during the days of the USSR had it a bit easier than those that had to contend with Russia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Belarus etc.

2. Domestic competition. Winning world medals is all the more impressive when you had to beat 1-2-3 studs just to earn the spot.

3. How many weight classes? Fila and eventually UWW have changed the number of weight classes many times. Guys who won medals in Rio 2016 did so with only 6 weight classes. That means much more competition domestically and internationally.

4. Who did/didn't show? Im a huge fan of all the US wrestlers from the 1984 games. But USSR, Iran, Cuba, and any other communist countries were not there. This mattered more in FS than in GR bc GR also has powerhouses from Scandinavian/Nordic countries. Most of the 1984 guys went on to prove they were indeed the best of the best but case in point, to win his Olympic gold Lou Banach defeated an American (Joe Atiyeh) who was wrestling for Syria. Granted, Atiyeh was an NCAA DI All American (8th place) but not near the level of the Communist wrestlers Banach would've faced.

 

[dirtroller]

Folktyle: Cael Sanderson
Freestyle: Buvaisar Saitiev
Greco: Aleksandr Karelin

 

[RightToBareKnuckles]

all natty?

 

[IGotAHugePeckah]

all natty?

horse meat diet

 

[dsdoubled]

all natty?

Hes always claimed natty.

 

[Jack Stevonovich]

 

[grapplejuice]

Folktyle: Cael Sanderson
Freestyle: Buvaisar Saitiev
Greco: Aleksandr Karelin

THIS

 

[karma2burn]

Louden Swain.

That dude can't hold his mud

 

[shunyata]

Aleksandr Karelin. Twelve times European-, nine times Worldchampion and three times Olympic gold medallist. Was undefeated in more then 12 years.

Surprised Karelin was that late in the thread.


Kids these days, no hespect.

 

[Te Huna Matata]

Cael, John Smith, and Dan Gable (surprised how long it took for his name to come up). I guess you have to throw Kyle Dakes name into the hat when it comes to Folkstyle. 4 titles in 4 weight classes with no redshirt year; doesn't look like he'll be as dominant in the international styles though.

In terms of International Success, Jordan Burroughs might end up being the best of the bunch. He's on a huge win streak and a super late bloomer, the guy only won state once in high school.

This looks funny in retrospect.

 

[updowniri]

In the international styles:
Alexsandr Karelin for Grecro-Roman
Buvisar Saittiev for Freestyle
(both Russian)

The best american style wrestler (folk style wrestler) is Cael Sanderson
The best american wrestler at the international styles is John Smith who wrestled freestyle

America always had a strong wrestling culture but was bad at international wrestling for quite the time for what ever reason. Our team is picking up though. We have 6 active world champions on our freestye team with a lot of upcoming talent and depth. Our greco team sucks except for our heavyweight who has potential to medal but probably wont be able to win it all.

 

[dirtroller]

In the international styles:
Alexsandr Karelin for Grecro-Roman
Buvisar Saittiev for Freestyle
(both Russian)

The best american style wrestler (folk style wrestler) is Cael Sanderson
The best american wrestler at the international styles is John Smith who wrestled freestyle

America always had a strong wrestling culture but was bad at international wrestling for quite the time for what ever reason. Our team is picking up though. We have 6 active world champions on our freestye team with a lot of upcoming talent and depth. Our greco team sucks except for our heavyweight who has potential to medal but probably wont be able to win it all.

"Bad" is a relative term. They usually placed top 5 in the world or top 10 at worst. Recently they've solidified themselves as top 3 or 4 in freestyle.

 

[updowniri]

"Bad" is a relative term. They usually placed top 5 in the world or top 10 at worst. Recently they've solidified themselves as top 3 or 4 in freestyle.

Ok, Bad as in not what we could have been. Definitely not nearly as good as our current freestyle team.