10. Bo Nickal blitzes loaded Scuffle field.

Bo Nickal wasn’t always the runaway choice to win 174.  We maybe got an inkling it could happen when to picked apart Zach Epperly, but we needed to see more.  Nickal not only won convincingly, he won a tournament with #1 and #2 at 174 in the field. Bo took the #1 spot and hasn’t looked back.

9. Jimmy Gulibon goes from #1 to unranked.

Gulibon fell out of the rankings about as fast as you possibly can.  It started with a loss to Chishko, then McKenna then after a shaky Scuffle where he lost to two back ups Zac Hall and Cortland Schuyler he was out.  Gulibon showed signs of life at Big 10’s making the finals.

8. Joseph Smith’s redshirt gets pulled.

The saga is more then just Joe, the son of OSU head coach John Smith, starting for the Cowboys.  It’s the arc of the story that makes it more interesting.  Starting the year 4-time PA champ Chance Marsteller was tabbed the starter.  He dropped early matches to Smith and showed signs of being unable to compete effectively at 157.  As time went on, the PA legend Marsteller had to be benched for Smith who made the finals at Reno and the Scuffle falling only to IMAR and Nolf in competitive matches.

7. Kaid Brock pinfalls NCAA Champion Brewer.

How much more dramatic can a debut be?  Brock’s redshirt gets pulled for Bedlam.  Standing opposite Brock was last years NCAA Champion, Cody Brewer.  Brock hits a pass by right away for 2, cuts, and then goes upper body for the pin over the NCAA Champ.  Sadly Brock’s season came to an end when he hurt his knee against Nahshon Garrett at the Southern Scuffle.

6. Kevin Dresser calls out Iowa Coaching staff and NWCA.

The NWCA National Duals garnered more attention than ever this year.  The wrestling was outstanding, but the drama sent this one to new heights.  Unpleased with VT’s spot in the National Duals, Dresser called out the Brands Brothers for allegedly refusing to wrestle Virginia Tech in the National Duals.

5. NC State beats Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye.

The whole point of the Dresser/Brands Orange-gate was that everyone (myself included) felt NC State was a much better match up for Iowa.  NC State went in there and not only won the bonus point battle, but sent the fans heading for the parking lot in the middle of the final match.  

4. Gabe Dean falls to Nolan Boyd.

Dean was in the middle of the Hodge race when Oklahoma State came to Cornell and took down the Big Red.  The whole team looked a bit off to me.  Dean fell in what turned out to be a fairly one sided match. Since that time, Dean has looked as good as ever.

3. Jason Nolf pins Isaiah Martinez.

It wasn’t just that it happened, it was the build up.  We all saw this collision coming for months.  Nolf came out the gates looking amazing, as did IMAR.  So the chatter built more and more as time went on.  Then the match happens, it’s back and forth til the final pin for Nolf.  Their rematch was almost as dramatic in the Big 10 finals.  Round 3 coming this week at MSG?  

2.  Kyle Snyder comes out of Olympic Redshirt.

There aren’t many years where a World Champion coming out of Olympic Redshirt to take on the reigning 2-time heavyweight champ wouldn’t be #1.  This year it is. Kyle Snyder’s change of plans mid-year threw a wrench in the works for the team race as well as the 285 landscape where Gwiazdowski looked to be a runaway.  In only 6 matches, Snyder looks as scary as it gets, having matches that resemble drill-sessions more than competitive bouts. 

Happy New Year, #BuckeyeNation! @Snyder_Man45 will return to #OhioState lineup: https://t.co/0ttxu4K1fN #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/nixcKG0jZJ

— Ohio State Wrestling (@wrestlingbucks) January 1, 2016

1. 1/14/15 - Grapple on the Gridiron:

It was perhaps the most attended match in wrestling history.  Iowa made it happen putting 42,000+ into a raucous Kinnick Stadium in Iowa.  Oklahoma State agreed to the match to add an additional layer.  Depending on the poll these were the #1 and #2 ranked teams in the country, from the two most storied programs in the nation. Then a match went down that delivered high quality wrestling and plenty of incredible moments. It was historic and a runaway for the #1 story of the year.


GRAPPLE ON THE GRIDIRON from DPD Productions on Vimeo.