Guest Column, by James Gumina
One of life’s joys is being introduced to something new. This past weekend, that joy came in the form of professional wrestling, as I attended the FinalX and Beat the Streets World Championships qualifier at the Prudential Center in Newark.
I was on hand for both the full slate of wrestling on Saturday and the press conference on Friday morning. As I helped athletes, media, and coaches check in for the press conference, I started to get a feel for the event. The word ‘community’ is often overused, but it truly captured what I felt when interacting with everyone on Friday. The athletes and coaches were friendly with us and one another, and the media members were all extremely passionate about the sport.
The press conference featured some of the athletes with the biggest names and resumes competing in the event, though not always the ones who found the most success on Saturday. They all stressed the importance of growing interest in the sport and being role models for the next generation of wrestling athletes.
“I particularly admired Wyatt Hendrickson’s viewpoint about how his life has changed since upsetting Gable Stevenson in “the biggest upset in NCAA history” this past March.”
However intriguing the press conference was, it paled in comparison to the event itself.
The bouts started at 12:30pm (EDT) with third-place matches, and went all the way through 8:00pm. A raucous crowd of six thousand packed the lower bowl of the Prudential Center from the first bout to the final minute of the last match.
Chatting with people as I walked through the concourse, and noting the massive forearms and slightly cauliflower ears of the fans, it was clear this event pulled in wrestlers, young and old, from across the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut tri-state area. The crowd brought energy, and the wrestlers fed into it, each one of them signing innumerable autographs and filling camera rolls with selfies. I even saw a few wrestlers giving away their shoes to some of the kids in the audience.
It was clear the crowd had some favorites, but the thing they were most loyal to was exciting takedowns. One of the crowd favorites was Yianni Diakomihalis, who cruised to a 10-0 victory in the first round of his best-of-three versus PJ Duke.
The favoritism turned out to be a fickle thing, however, when Duke upset Diakomihalis with a last-second throw in round two and then a pin in round three to elicit two of the loudest crowd pops of the event.
Hendrickson continued his run of greatness with a dominant win in round one, followed by a hard-fought victory in round two. Explaining his strategy after the match, he talked about how he wanted to be aggressive and put on a good show, following it up by saying, “I just love wrestling, I was born for this.”
Some familiar names fell short of qualifying for the world team. After moving to a new weight class, 34-year-old Kyle Dake lost to Zahid Valencia in an exciting match. Kayla Miracle, the 2017 and 2018 US Open champion and current high school teacher, also fell to Adaugo Nwachukwu.
On the other hand, there were a handful of teenagers and high schoolers with outstanding performances. The aforementioned PJ Duke upset Yianni and qualified for the world team, and 19-year-old Audrey Jimenez won her match to qualify for the worlds in Croatia as well.
It was not all wins for the youngsters, however, as 17-year-old Everest Leydecker, a student at the school Kayla teaches, lost in her match to Cristelle Rodriguez, and will now miss out on the chance to celebrate her 18th birthday in Croatia.
But the event wasn’t just about competition. It was also a fundraiser for Beat the Streets, and a successful one at that, raising nearly a million dollars. Beat the Streets is an organization that provides wrestling and educational opportunities to underserved students in the New York City area. It boasts a 100% graduation rate and enrollment rate into college or the military.
Throughout the event, different Beat the Streets students gave their testimonies about how the organization has supported them and will continue to do so. The conjunction of elite-level wrestling and charitable outreach symbolized the true community-first aspect of wrestling.
While I did not walk into the event with any wrestling experience under my belt, I walked out with a newfound appreciation for the athletes, fans, and, ultimately, the sport. It is a tight-knit community that loves the sport and has created a wonderful atmosphere and an impressive, world class event. I am looking forward to seeing the winner compete at worlds in September, and to following many of them on their path to the LA Olympics in 2028.
