First of all, this was no easy task. I choose this time frame because I consider it the same wrestling era. Out of era comparisons are even more subjective that I didn’t go there. There have been so many extraordinary wrestlers over the last 20 years that didn’t wrestle each other there can be no totally objective list. I tried to be objective with my subjective perspective, guys that I liked to watch. I give them the nod in any tie breaker. I tried not to have a recency bias but looking over my honorable mentions I think that there might be some. I included wrestlers that won their last championship after 1999. I’ve adjusted the honorable mention list several times as a looked up past results. I favored guys in the middle weights, tougher competition generally. Also, I didn’t give credit to the 2020 missed Championships. Vecenzo Joseph could have been a 3 time champ but didn’t get the opportunity. Go ahead and pick it apart,.
See Top 10 American Freestyle Wrestlers
Honorable mention (These guys deserve recognition, but didn’t make my top 10 and will likely get bumped in the next 5 years).
Jordan Burroughs, Nebraska
2x NCAA Champ (2009, 2011) 3x AA & Big 12 Champ. 2009, 2009, 2011. 2011 Hodge Winner.
Career Record 128-20 86.5% winning percentage. He is 3rd on my mens freestyle list.
Chris Pendleton-Oklahoma State
2 x NCAA champion (2004, 2005) 3 x All American & Big 12 Champ. Best win: Ben Askren. The Askren killer. Leader of the OSU title winning teams.
Career Record: 118-12. 90% winning percentage.
T.J. Williams-Iowa
2 x NCAA champion 3x B1G Champ (1999, 2001). TJ holds the Hawkeye record for career winning percentage 99.9% winning percentage. Only D1 loss was to Boise State’s Larry Quisel. Lassen Jr college 1997-2nd place. A friend of mine wrestled against him in the Iowa room and never sniffed a point on him in practice.
Career Record: 98-1
Quentin Wright-Penn State
2x NCAA Champ 2011 & 2013 4 x All American
Career Record: 116-23 80% winning percentage. Finished 6,1,2,1.
No one gave him a chance against Kilgore. One of the biggest finals upsets in recent memory gets him the nod in a very crowded field. He might have the lowest winning percentage on the list but he was Aces in March.
Isaiah Martinez-Illinois
2 x NCAA Champ 2015-2016 4 x All American, only the 16th wrestler to win 4 B1G titles. Best win Jason Nolf and Vincenzo Joseph.
Career Record:116-3. Finished 1, 1, 2, 2. 97.5% winning percentage.
2 x NCAA Champ 2015-206 4 x All American. Best win Ed Ruth.
Career Record: 152-7 finished 3, 1, 1, 2. 95.6% winning percentage. 63.75% bonus rate.
I think he came up mentally smaller than Nickal in the finals and that’s made all the difference. One of my favorite wrestlers on this list.
Jordan Oliver-Oklahoma State
2 x NCAA Champ 2011 & 2013. 4x All American. Best win Tyler Graff.
Career Record: 126-6. 95% Career winning percentage.
NCAA finishes 4, 1, 2, 1.
Robbed of a third championship by poor reffing in his finals match versus Stieber.
Joey Davis-Notre Dame
4 x D2 Champ
Career Record: 133-0. I can hear the comments now “a D2 guy”, but I think that if Joey was at a power program that he would have been at least a 2-time champ. My only what if on the list
Brent Metcalf-Iowa
2 x NCAA champion (2008, 2010) 3 x All American. Best win Jordan Burroughs.
Career Record: 108-3 97.5 winning percentage.
The last of the truly dominant Iowa style wrestlers. The most physical wrestler of his time. 1 x Hodge winner. Would have been a 4 x AA if the VT hadn’t punished him for transferring to Iowa with Tom Brands.
Jake Herbert-Northwestern
2 x NCAA champion (2007, 2009) Best win: Mike Pucillo this win gives him the edge over Varner, who lost to Pucillo. 1 x Hodge winner.
Career Record: 149-4 97.5% winning percentage.
Another great ambassador for the sport.
Ben Askren-Missouri
2 x NCAA champion (2006, 2007) 4 x All American.
Career Record: 153-8
Askren may be the most influential wrestler on this list. His funky style messed up a generation of wrestlers that tried to copy this physical freak and couldn’t, but his scrambles have changed the sport forever. 2 x Hodge winner.
David Taylor-Penn State
2x NCAA Champ 2012, 2014 Best win Derek St. John. 4 x finalist. Highest bonus rate on this list. Top 5 all time NCAA Championships team points scored. 2 x Hodge. 3rd highest NCAA team point scorer on this list.
Career Record: 134-3. 97.8% winning percentage. Tied for first in PSU history. I replay matches in my mind 30 years later. I wonder if he still thinks about the Jenkins match? He helped build PSU into the national powerhouse that it remains. A wrestling ambassador, while still in college. He might not have been the first but he helped bring the wide open exciting style into vogue. Making him one of the most transformational wrestlers on the list.
So if you have problems with my honorable mentions maybe you should stop reading now. After compiling my top ten one thing is very clear. The cream of the crop wrestlers coming out of high school is getting better and better. This list could be shaken up quite a bit more if Yianni, Joeseph, Spencer or Lewis have anything to say about it. 2 of top ten were moved to honorable mention in 2019. Crazy. Can you imagine in 2021 “Captain America” and “Spartacus” Retherford might not be considered top 10 since 2000?
7 Universities are represented in the top 10. The thing that jumped out to me is that I didn’t have an Iowa wrestler on this list. It’s getting jammed with Cael Sanderson disciples but that pipeline looks a bit dry right now.
It’s good that all these schools still have wrestling. Fresno State was in contention for two wrestlers on the overall list. Steven Neal just missed out on honorable mention. The possible future challenge to this type of list is how to prioritize the 3 and 4-time champs. I went with NCAA points and strength of competition whereas some might just go with placement. One thing is clear, we are in a golden era for high end college talent. If this group was a dual team I think that they’d destroy the best dual team that you could put together of guys from other eras and I’m not a guy that generally thinks that way about other sports and fantasy match ups.
12. J’ Den Cox-Missouri
3x NCAA Champ, 2015-2017 4 x All American. Best win Morgan McIntosh.
Career record: 136-5. 96.5% winning percentage 54% bonus rate. Finished 1,5,1,1. 2nd fewest NCAA tournament points scored on the list
11. Alex Dieringer-Oklahoma State
3 x NCAA Champ 2014-2016. 4 x All American. Best win- Bo & Isaac Jordan.
Career record: 133-4 97% winning percentage. Bonus rate 68% Finished 3,1,1,1. I don’t think Alex’s best wins match up with higher ranked guys. Scored more team points at NCAA’s than Jones and Abas but the competition level wasn’t as stiff for RInger. 1 x Hodge winner.
10. Greg Jones- West Virginia
3 x NCAA champion 2002, 2004, 2005. Best win Ben Heizer, Greg Parker
Career Record: 126-4. 97% winning percentage. Going into this I thought that I’d have Jones higher. Finishes 1, DNP,1, 1. Fewest NCAA tournament points scored of the top 12.
9. Stephen Abas- Fresno State
3 x NCAA champion (1999, 2001, 2002) Best win: Luke Eustice, Jody Strittmatter, Jeremy Hunter.
Career Record: 144-4. Winning percentage 97%. Abas is ahead of Jones based on his wins. Behind Retherford based on weight class competition and bonus rate.
8 . Kyle Snyder– Ohio State
3 x NCAA Champ 2015-2018 4 x All American. Best wins Nick Gwiazdowski, J’Den Cox
and Adam Coon.
Career record: 75-5. 93.75% winning percentage and a 64% bonus rate. Finishes:2,1,1,1. Lowest winning percentage of anyone in the top 10.
Behind Ruth and Retherford due to number of matches, winning percentage, bonus rate and team points scored at Nationals against a generally weaker weight class. The win over Gwiz might be better than any single win that Retherford has but I’m looking at the entire college career. Based on NCAA finishes Snyder could be #3 or #4 on the list but Retherford and Ruth scored more team points at NCAA’s. He also had a loss to Coon his senior season. I have Coon and Sorenson as equivalent wrestlers. I moved the top 8 a few times before settling on this order. He’s in contention for being the best American wrestler ever but when I look at his college career…he’s not at the top.
7 . Zain Retherford-Penn State
3x NCAA Champ. 2015-2018. Best win Logan Stieber, Brandon Sorenson
Career record: 126-3 Nearly 97.7% winning percentage. Finished 5,1,1,1. Retherford didn’t have the competition that Ruth faced. That isn’t his fault but also led me to rank him behind Ruth. Bonus rate, points scored at nationals and overall winning percentage put him in the top 5. He’s been pushed out by former teammates. 2 x Hodge winner. Retherford is 11th on the all time NCAA team point list with 93.5. If Zain took a freshman redshirt I think that he’d be in the undefeated group. He was 93-0 in his final 3 years. Finals match ups- Sorensen, Lavion Mayes, and Perry.
Career 53 falls and 42 TF’s & majors wins.
6. Ed Ruth-Penn State
3x NCAA Champ 2012,2013,2014 4 x All American. 4 x B1G Champ. Best win: Gabe Dean
Career Record: 136-3 Nearly a 97.8% winning percentage. Highest in PSU history. I have Ruth ahead of Retherford because of his 3,1,1,1 NCAA placements, slightly higher winning and bonus percentage and scored one more team point than Zain at Nationals. Ruth is 10th on the all time NCAA team point list with 94.5. Ruth did have a loss his senior season to Gabe Dean. Career 46 falls and 58 TF’s & majors wins. Finals wins versus Storley, Hamlin and Sheptock.
5. Jason Nolf- Penn State:
3 x NCAA Champ 2017, 2018, 2019 4 X All American NCAA Finishes 2, 1, 1 ,1
Best wins: Isaiah Martinez
Career Record: 117-3. 97.4% winning percentage 60 falls Bonus rate 86.8%. Scored more points at NCAAs than Stieber and Sanderson. Nolf is 7th all time with 98 points. Nolf lost to 2 wrestlers during his career. IMar a two-time champ and an injury default to JVB. His competition wasn’t as tough as Stieber or Nckal’s but maybe that’s because some guys changed weights because of him. His performance at 2019 NCAAs versus Hidley influenced me to put him behind Nickal.
4. Bo Nickal- Penn State:
3 x NCAA Champ 2017, 2018, 2019 4 X Finalist NCAA Finishes 2, 1, 1 ,1 3 x B1G champ at 3 different weights.
Best wins: Gabe Dean, Myles Martin (3 NCAA titles) 1 x Hodge winner.
Career record: 115-3. 97.5% winning percentage. 77.1% Bonus Rate. 59 pins. Bo pinned everyone ranked in the top 5 his senior season. Nickal is 8th all time in NCAA team points with 95. Nickal and Stieber have wins over 3 national champions is impressive. Nickal has big wins.. Nickal’s ability to attack above and below the waist was unique in this era. Lastly he competed at 3 different weight classes during his career.
- Logan Stieber– Ohio State
4x NCAA Champ 2012-2015 Best Wins Jordan Oliver (I thought Oliver had the takedown), Tony Ramos, Zain Retherford and Ashnault- Wins over 4 national champions is impressive. Scored more team points at Nationals than Dake. 3 of his 4 career losses were to national champs (Oliver, Ramos, Zain). 1 x Hodge winner.
Career Record:119-3, 97.5% winning percentage. Career 50 falls and 46 TF’s & majors wins. 80% bonus rate.
Stieber’s dominance helped Ohio State become a National powerhouse and showed top Ohio high school kids they could stay in state and become monsters unlike previous generations.
- Kyle Dake- Cornell
4x NCAA Champ 2010-2013 Best wins-David Taylor x 2, Frank Molinaro 1 x Hodge winner.
Career Record:137-4, 97% winning percentage. Giving up a stalling point in the national finals is at least one demerit. Some have Stieber over Dake due to bonus rate. Its true that Dake has a lower bonus rate and points at nationals than Stieber but he is the only wrestler to win all titles at different weight classes. While his body changed a lot he evolved to stay at the top. This is unique in a similar fashion as Sanderson. Career 44 falls and 39 TF’s & majors wins. What if Dake had taken a Finger Lakes redshirt? Everyone else on this last took a redshirt season. Dake may have #1. Finals matches in order- Marion, Molinaro, St. John and Taylor.
- Cael Sanderson- Iowa State
4 x NCAA champion (1999-2002) Best Win John Trenge and Daniel Cormier
Career Record: 159-0 100% winning percentage. Career 61 falls. I couldn’t find other bonus wins info. Competed in two different weight classes. Doesn’t have the highest bonus rate in the top 5 but he’s the only undefeated 4-time champ and scored the most NCAA team points in history. One of the highest match totals on the list. May not have had the toughest competition, but the discipline to be focused each and every time is unmatched. Did I mention a 100% bonus rate his senior season. 3 x Hodge winner.
See Top 10 American Freestyle Wrestlers
Another way to look at it. Here are the top 20 point scores at the NCAA Tournament since 2000.
- Cael Sanderson- ISU-107.5
- Logan Stieber- Ohio State- 103.5
- David Taylor- PSU- 99
- Jason Nolf-PSU-98
- Bo Nickal-PSU-95.5
- Ed Ruth- PSU- 94.5
- Zain Retherford-PSU- 93.5
- Kyle Dake- Cornell- 93
- Alex Dieringer- Okie State- 93
- Jake Herbert- NW- 90
- Kyle Snyder-Ohio State- 89
- Ben Askren-Mizzou- 89
- Mark Perry- Iowa- 87.5
- Jake Rosholt- Okie State- 85
- Steve Mocco- Iowa/Okie State- 85
- Jordan Oliver- Okie State- 83.5
- Isaiah Martinez- Illinois- 82.5
- Stephen Abas- Fresno State- 82
- Johnny Hendricks- Okie State- 82
- Jake Varner- ISU- 82
- Stephen Abas- Fresno State- 82
- J’Den Cox- Missouri- 80.5
- Troy Nickerson- Cornell- 70
24. Greg Jones- West Virginia- 67
I can’t believe you left off Cole Konrad? Undefeated his last 2 seasons. 153-13 is pretty impressive. You’re wrong.
It is a tough list. I hear you.
Cole Konrad-Minnesota
2 x champion, (2006, 2007) 3 x finalist. Best win Steve Mocco- 4 x finalist-who isn’t on the list either. Generally weaker competition for the big guys didn’t let them do well in my rankings.
Career Record: 155-13. 92% winning percentage
I’m a sideliner person but I worked at the the university of Iowa you guys are the best when it comes to pain and winning, All you guys and females are good because Iam not going to ever do anything that hard, football, basketball, baseball, soccer, golf might have a chance
No one is wrong. Be cool dude.
Pat Smith isnt on this list? He was the first to win four.
Pat was a great collegiate wrestler but he is outside of the time frame that I used. I chose the year 2000 till today because I (very subjectively) consider it the same era of wrestling style. Out of era comparisons are even more subjective and I didn’t go there. Pat wrestled from 1990-94. He would make any all time list.
Dud Kyle Snyder really have 5 losses? I only count 3. Freshman finals, JDen and Coon.
On my way out the door to coach but off the top of my head Kyven Gadson x2 ,Morgan McIntosh and Adam Coon. I think that there is one more. I’ll follow up later
Burak
What about Pat Smith?? He’s the only 4Xer not on the list; not even honorably mentioned?
Pat was a great collegiate wrestler but he is outside of the time frame that I used. I chose the year 2000 till today because I consider it the same era of wrestling style. Out of era comparisons are so subjective that I didn’t go there. Pat wrestled from 1990-94.
Dave Taylor is in the top ten! Winning Percentage, top three points scored and his infuence on the sport is immeasurable…. Kids still wanna wrestle like DT.
All of what you say is true and if he had won a 3rd championship he’d be on top of the 3 timers.His NCAA points scored is amazing in its own right. He lost to Bubba J who only made one other NCAA final and was ultimately dominated by Brent Metcalf in that final. As much as I liked to watch DT, I can’t put a two timer on the list.
David Taylor would have been a 3-timer had he not lost 5-4 to a 4-timer in Kyle Dake when Dake was a senior and Taylor a junior. Talyor is a glaring miss. I mean do you think Dieringer could have fared better against Dake? No way.
The loss to Dake isn’t the issue for Taylor. It’s the loss to Bubba Jenkins that drops him down the list. Taylor and Dake are the same age. Dake didn’t take a redshirt or FLWC year.
Snyder got pinned – as a freshman – by Kyven Gadson. And that was after losing to Burak and McIntosh. You ranked him??
Jenkins was a NCAA finalist as a Sophomore. Gadson wasn’t.
Saying that the loss to Bubba Jenkins is what’s preventing you from ranking Taylor is just plain disingenuous, and inconsistent with your rankings.
For the sake of discussion lets say that the Gadsen and Jenkins matches are similar. Both are finals match losses that were kind of shocking (being pinned). I know Jenkins and Gadsen fans won’t agree. So we’re tied. After that I’d take Snyder’s finals wins (Coon, Medbery and Gwiaz) over Taylor’s (Hatchett and Caldwell). It’s not Taylor’s fault that his weight class didn’t provide the same difficulty that Snyder faced but it does build Snyder’s case to be ranked ahead. On top of that Snyder has a win over J’den Cox also my the list. Yes Snyder has worse losses than Taylor. Taylor scored more team points at NCAA’s. He almost single-handedly made wrestling more exciting but Snyder has better wins and more titles. Beating Gwiaz and Cox is a big deal. So I have him ranked higher.
That said, I’d rather watch a Taylor match because of his pace and style. Bottom line is that you may genuinely disagree. There are some objective and subjective criteria in here, so if you disagree, post your list.
Bo “Who knows wrestling” Nickal will be there after this year.
I don’t want to count my Nickals to soon but he should be near the top of 3 timers.
Jones was 1,DNP,1,1
Fixed it, thanks. Right years, wrong order
Metcalf was only a 3x AA. Lost a year after leaving VT.
That’s right. Fixed
Mocco won at two different powerhouses!
How about eric Guerrero? 3x ncaa champ!
Guerrero was a great wrestler, 3 timer and was 117-13 during his time at Oklahoma State.
But he is just outside my time frame of the year 2000. He competed 1996-99.
Where is Jason Nolf?
I’m working through the edits give me a couple of days
Great job on this! thank you.
Gabe Dean, Myles Martin and Kollin Moore have 3 NCAA titles amongst them, not 4.
Dean-2, Martin-1, Moore-1, so far.
Moore hasn’t won one yet.
You are right
“Captain America”, Kyle Snyder was out winning GOLD for the USA! Beating the BEST competition in the WORLD! Lack of college matches? Really! 2,1,1,1! At unl he was always giving up 50 lbs or more to some of the world’s best heavy wrestlers. Otherwise good lineup. I would have added a couple others in place of other honorable mentions.
I really like Snyder. I said that he’s in contention for being the best American wrestler (everything combined) ever but when I look at his college career the body of work isn’t as strong. Other influences: Kyven Gadson pinned him at nationals, the others above him may have losses but weren’t pinned in the finals of the championship tournament; I took that into consideration with David Taylor’s rank on my list. Snyder also has fewer NCAA team points than the guys above him, 4.5 less than Retherford. That’s worth an extra win at NCAAs.
In case you are connected to Snyder I think that his strength coaches are doing him a disservice now in limiting his rotational flexibility and strength.
Absolutely, agree.
Nice work. You back up your research. Thank you.
I like it…… good job
Very informative. Thanks
In 4-5 years I’m interested to see where Aaron Brooks is on this list
What about girls?
I generally don’t follow women’s wrestling very closely. If you want to do the research and post an article please reach out to me. I would be glad to publish it for you.
Great article & love the website, outstanding job. I find it so hard to choose between whose better considering everyone on that list is such a phenomenal, generational talent/athlete. In my opinion, Nick Gwiz NCSU heavyweight,should be ranked higher up considering he lost his final collegiate match to Snyder. I think Kyle Snyder should be #1-3. David Taylor was the most exciting. It’s so hard to choose.
I really like Snyder. He’s in contention for being the best American wrestler (everything combined) ever but his college career the body of work isn’t as strong. Other influences: Kyven Gadson pinned him at nationals, the others above him may have losses but weren’t pinned in the finals of the championship tournament; I took that into consideration with David Taylor’s rank on my list. Snyder also has the lowest winning percentage of the top 10 and fewer NCAA team points than the guys above him, 4.5 less than Retherford. That’s worth an extra win at NCAAs.
In case you are connected to Snyder I think that his strength coaches are doing him a disservice now in limiting his rotational flexibility and strength.
Kyle Drake should be number one you win for national titles atfor different weights and you have two-time champs and three-time champs ahead of him this must be a Penn State survey bolshit.
Drake didn’t make the list but it was close. Dake did, at #2. You should work on your reading & drinking skills
WHAT ABOUT KURT ANGLE 6x NCAA
Kurt won 2 NCAA D1 Titles, 1990 & 1992. If you’re thinking of Carlton Haselrig, he won 3 D1 & D2 titles but he didn’t wrestle a D1 schedule during the season. He was on my honorable mention list for a while but has been bumped off
Hey Mike
Flo ranked the PSU guys very differently than you did. David Taylor was #1 and Retherford was #5.
I generally don’t listen to the Flo podcast Dave but I downloaded this episode to listen. It seems to me that National Championships and points scored at the NCAA’s weren’t a consideration or part of in their ranking metric. Almost everyone loved to watch Taylor wrestle but he only won 2 Championships. He was favored in the Jenkins match and made a mistake. Taylor did score a ton of points and team points at NCAA’s.
The fun of rankings is also the point of debate, what criteria do you use. Can anyone really be right in this debate? It’s about your perspective.
I like your list. Takes guts to make a list like this knowing that no matter what, you will get dozens of people telling you that your opinion is wrong whcih is hilarious. My comment doesn’t have to do with your order, only on Dake and anyone that may argue against him being #2 (saying he should be lower) I am uncertain what the word “dement” means in your context, but I am guessing you mean it as like a blemish or something. In that case when it comes to Dake giving up a stalling call in the finals, I think they is irrelevant. It was in the Taylor match where they nailed him for stalling twice in 30 seconds which was crap. When have you ever seen officials call stalling on someone twice in a national final in a 30 second span? Also, there is no way they make those two calls, especially that late in a huge match if it would have anyway possibly changed the outcome of the match. It was 5-2 at that point with 39 seconds left in match (with riding time locked) neither had been warned. He was riding and had a half nelson in when they surprisingly warned Dake for stalling. Not wanting to get called again , Dake gave up the excape after that aking it 5-3 with riding time. Then less than 30 seconds after the first stall, they called it again with 5 seconds left in march as they were in their feet making the final score 5-4.
One last thing i’d say that was so impressive about Dake’s NCAA performances, may not have been his team points, or even individual points, but the points scored against him.
As a freshman, yes he gave up 6 total points in 4 matches (which is still amazing). His sophomore season, as a 4 seed, he gave up only one single point in 5 ncaa tourney matches! That was in the final against Molinaro when the official awarded Molinaro a point for …you ready… Dake illegally moving Molinaro’s knee in a direction it shouldn’t go in while riding him 😂Keep in mind Molinaro wasn’t even showing discomfort at the time. That was it..only point he gave up that entire tournament. His junior year at NCAAs, same thing..he gave up one single point which was in finals. In 5 matches he had 3 falls, 2 which were in a minute… a 4-0 semi and 4-1 final. His senior year.. yep again, he only gave up points in the final vs Taylor who was arguably the most transendent scorer of all time. Taylor got a takedown early, then Dake gave up a late escape and stalling as mentioned above. That means in his final 3 NCAAs, dake gave up only 2 pts off of anything that wasn’t penalty related or escape. Insane! His last 15 NCAA matches to give only one takedown, 2 escapes and 2 penalty points..wow. To shut out everyone those 3 years in round 1 , prelims, quarters and semis, crazy ness .