Who's the best Wrestler America has produced?

Jack Handy jr

Jack Handy jr

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My Choice is Mark Schulz what say you and why?



Danny Mack "Dan" Gable (born October 25, 1948) is a retired American Olympic wrestler and head coach. He is best known for his tenure as head coach at the University of Iowa where he won 15 NCAA team titles between 1976 and 1997. He is also famous for having only lost one match in his entire Iowa State University collegiate career 2 time NCAA champion – his last – and winning a gold medal at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany, while not giving up a single point.[1] October 25, 2013 was recognized as Dan Gable Day in Iowa



Mark Philip Schultz (born October 26, 1960) is an American Olympic and 2-time World champion freestyle wrestler and a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame,[1] the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame, the California Wrestling Hall of Fame, and the San Mateo Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame. Additionally, he was promoted to the rank of black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by Grandmaster Pedro Sauer on January 23, 2016



Cael Norman Sanderson (/ˈkeɪl/ KALE; born June 20, 1979) is an American college wrestling coach and current head wrestling coach of Penn State University. He is considered one of the greatest American amateur wrestlers in recent history. A 2004 Olympic champion in Athens, Greece, he went undefeated in four years of college wrestling at Iowa State University (159–0), winning four consecutive NCAA titles (1999–2002). He is the only wrestler in NCAA Division I history to go undefeated in official matches with more than 100 wins



John William Smith (born (1965-08-09) August 9, 1965 (age 50)) is a winner of the AAU Sullivan Award which honors the outstanding amateur athlete in the United States. He is a 4-time World Champion, 2-time Olympic Games champion, 2 time NCAA champion and is currently the head coach of wrestling at Oklahoma State University



Tom Brands (born April 9, 1968 in Omaha, Nebraska) is an American former Olympic wrestler and is currently the head wrestling coach for the University of Iowa. He won a gold medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics.[1]

An intense competitor, Brands' wrestling career with the University of Iowa included a record of 158-7-2 and an undefeated season in 1991 where he was 45-0. He was a four-time All-American, three-time NCAA Champion, three-time Big Ten Conference Champion, and Outstanding Wrestler at the 1992 NCAA Tournament. His brother, Terry, was also a standout at Iowa



Kurt Steven Angle (born December 9, 1968) is an American professional wrestler, actor, and retired amateur wrestler. While at Clarion University of Pennsylvania, he won numerous accolades, including being a two-time National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Heavyweight Wrestling Champion. After graduating college, Angle won a gold medal in freestyle wrestling at the 1995 World Wrestling Championships. He then won a freestyle wrestling gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Angle is one of only four people to complete an amateur wrestling Grand Slam (junior nationals, NCAA, World Championships, Olympics).[5] In 2006, he was named by USA Wrestling as the greatest shoot wrestler ever and one of the top 15 college wrestlers of all time.[6] He was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2016 for his amateur accomplishments.







Hon mentions Pat smith 4X NCAA champ Jordan Burroughs 2 time NCAA champion. World Champion, Olympic Gold Medalist, Kyle Dake 4X NCAA champ.
 
I'd go with kurt angle just from the entertainment I got out of him in the WWE years, lol

in all honesty that is a killers row. anyone could pick any of those wrestlers have a really strong argument.
 
It's
1. John Smith
2. Baumgartner
3. Burroughs

Schultz's only Olympic title came when the Soviets were not present. The others were not as dominant and have less medals

If you're just doing NCAA
1. Cael.. obviously
2. Dake

Everything else is just pedantic
-gable was unscored on in 72 but only had 2 world titles
-Angle was not dominant
-Brands has less titles than Smith and Burroughs
-Sanderson only had the one title

Mark Schultz was good, no amazing but bjj guys tend to idolize and inflate his accomplishments because he hit an illegal Kimura and grappled Rickson
 
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jack36767 said:
It's
1. John Smith
2. Baumgartner
3. Burroughs

Schultz's only Olympic title came when the Soviets were not present. The others were not as dominant and have less medals

If you're just doing NCAA
1. Cael.. obviously
2. Dake

Everything else is just pedantic
-gable was unscored on in 72 but only had 2 world titles
-Angle was not dominant
-Brands has less titles than Smith and Burroughs
-Sanderson only had the one title

Mark Schultz was good, no amazing but bjj guys tend to idolize and inflate his accomplishments because he hit an illegal Kimura and grappled Rickson
Click to expand...


I have to disagree with Angle Not being Dominant bro. I re-read his Bio and he's one of the Few wrestlers that has the Grand Slam

Junior National Title

NCAA Title

World Champion

Olympic Gold Medalist.

I think his Pro wrestling accomplishments, and persona have so overshadowed his amateur persona and accomplishments that he's not mentioned as much as Schulz Brand,Smith.
 
Jack Handy jr said:
I have to disagree with Angle Not being Dominant bro. I re-read his Bio and he's one of the Few wrestlers that has the Grand Slam

Junior National Title

NCAA Title
World Champion

Olympic Gold Medalist.

I think his Pro wrestling accomplishments, and persona have so overshadowed his amateur persona and accomplishments that he's not mentioned as much as Schulz Brand,Smith.
Click to expand...
Kurt Angle won most of his big matches on ref decisions, or by very narrow margins.... He was an amazing wrestler, and I'm not talking about what he won I'm talking about how dominant he was when actually wrestling. There is a difference between what you won and how dominant you were. Gable and and Brands had the most Dominant Olympic tournaments with only 1 point scored on both of them combined.. they still have less world/Olympic titles than Smith and Burroughs

Nothing about what I said about him was based on his pro wrestling persona and my high school coach showed me matches of his before I saw Schultz, Brands, or Smith.. I have reasons for what I said.. not just stats on Wikipedia. Including film study, people who trained with him and saw him wrestle in person...

The wrestler who doesn't get enough credit (in the US) is Buamgartner

And honestly the amount of Junior titles doesn't matter to me. The US in general places too much emphasis on what it's athletes do before they're competing against other grown men and peaks/burns out its athletes too early most of the time. I care more about the fact Burroughs has two NCAA titles and 4 world titles than Angles Grand Slam
 
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Cael Sanderson says John Smith, so I trust him. I really like Dan Gable though.
 
mattemate said:
Cael Sanderson says John Smith, so I trust him. I really like Dan Gable though.
Click to expand...
Smith had 4 world and 2 Olympic titles,
Gable had one world and one Olympic
,both had 2 NCAA titles and one runner up. Smith wins there

Gable had the edge in coaching
 
jack36767 said:
Kurt Angle won most of his big matches on ref decisions, or by very narrow margins.... He was an amazing wrestler, and I'm not talking about what he won I'm talking about how dominant he was when actually wrestling. There is a difference between what you won and how dominant you were. Gable and and Brands had the most Dominant Olympic tournaments with only 1 point scored on both of them combined.. they still have less world/Olympic titles than Smith and Burroughs

Nothing about what I said about him was based on his pro wrestling persona and my high school coach showed me matches of his before I saw Schultz, Brands, or Smith.. I have reasons for what I said.. not just stats on Wikipedia. Including film study, people who trained with him and saw him wrestle in person...

The wrestler who doesn't get enough credit (in the US) is Buamgartner

And honestly the amount of Junior titles doesn't matter to me. The US in general places too much emphasis on what it's athletes do before they're competing against other grown men and peaks/burns out its athletes too early most of the time. I care more about the fact Burroughs has two NCAA titles and 4 world titles than Angles Grand Slam
Click to expand...


Embarrassed to admit that I didn't know Burroughs has four world titles hot damn.
 
The answer is John Smith and it's only a debate if you're not being objective.
 
I really don't care about the ncaa, it's all about world and Olympic medals
 
Super super Rambo can you make a poll for this thread please? Thanks mang.
 
jack36767 said:
Baumgartner was from Jersey? Nice, didn't know that
Click to expand...

And he never won a state title either.

Like you said John Smith is the clear #1 all time going 6 for 6 and his first title he won while still in college.

If JB wins this year I'd slide him up above Big Bruce as # 2 all time. If he gets to 7 golds he surpasses Smith.

I think there is an argument for JB being over Bruce right now considering he won 3 straight out of the gate and the tournament he didn't win he was wrestling injured and still took Bronze.

Lee Kemp should also be in the HM category as he was a 3 time World Champ who didn't get to compete in the 1980 Olympics because of a boycott.

I believe Kevin Jackson has 3 Golds.

Another fun wrestler to read a bit about is Robin Reed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Reed

While still attending Oregon State, Robin participated in the 1924 Pacific Northwest Olympic team trials. He entered the 145.5, 158.5, 174.0, and 192.0 pound weight classes, and won them all. He made the Olympic team, and on the boat trip to Europe he had unofficial matches against every other member of the United States team. It was widely known that he had the ability to pin every member of the team [weasel words], and on this occasion he nearly accomplished that, pinning 12 out the 13 of them, all but the person who would become the gold medalist at heavyweight that year, Harry Steel (He still beat him, however, despite not being able to pin him).[citation needed]

While hitch-hiking from his home in Oregon to New York City in 1924 to join the U. S. Olympic team, Reed stopped at Iowa State University to work out, but was refused permission. He asked the coach if he could work out if he first pinned every member of the wrestling team. The coach agreed. Reed proceeded to pin every Iowa State wrestler and he got his workout.[citation needed]

During practice for the Olympics in Paris, Reed bet he could pin Harry Steel, the U. S. heavyweight champion and eventual gold medal winner in that weight class. He not only pinned Steel, but he did it five times in fifteen minutes.[citation needed]

At the Olympics, he entered the 134.5 pound weight class (the second lowest) and pinned every single one of his opponents, including fellow Oregon State teammate Chester Newton in the finals. The United States team ended up getting gold in 3 other weight categories, including heavyweight, so it is widely believed that if the rules had permitted it, Robin could have won the gold medal in every weight class.
Click to expand...
 
jack36767 said:
It's
1. John Smith
2. Baumgartner
3. Burroughs

Schultz's only Olympic title came when the Soviets were not present. The others were not as dominant and have less medals

If you're just doing NCAA
1. Cael.. obviously
2. Dake

Everything else is just pedantic
-gable was unscored on in 72 but only had 2 world titles
-Angle was not dominant
-Brands has less titles than Smith and Burroughs
-Sanderson only had the one title

Mark Schultz was good, no amazing but bjj guys tend to idolize and inflate his accomplishments because he hit an illegal Kimura and grappled Rickson
Click to expand...

I don't believe the Kimura was actually illegal at that time. In FS the rule he got hit with was Brutality I believe which is base don whether or not the intent of the move was to injure which is why the DQ he got was controversial.

Also Mark won the World Championship the following year which imo vindicates the Olympic title he won without USSR competition
 
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