NEW NCAA Wrestling Rules Explained 

The biggest problem I have with the 3-pt takedown is that now wrestling fans can’t yell “TWOOOOOO!!”. This upsets me. 😆

Everyone: Nothing’s broken. NCAA: I’ll fix it.

i think the 3pt takedown rule incentivizes stalling more, because it devalues stall calls which are already not being call often enough. with this rule change, you can get a takedown and then get called for stalling 3 times and still be winning. they have to enforce stalling more harshly or you'll see even less action than this past ncaa tournament. it was full of stalling, holding onto a lead, doing nothing, running away, trying to just sneak out a victory, especially in the finals, and i really don't think this helps that situation.

The day Collegiate wrestling goes to Freestyle is the day I cancel my season tickets.

I think the 3 point takedown is an awesome change! An escape shouldn’t be worth only one less than a takedown. It transitions better for Olympic freestyle after college, and stops rewarding wrestlers who never take risks and stall all match.

I think there are some reasons for concerns. I think it is the fact that we are placing a higher value on wrestling from the feet than we are of top and bottom wrestling. Hypothetically, two guys equal in skill, one better at top/bottom the other better on the feet, before would have gone into OT, now the guy better on his feet will win. I think the wrestling community was used to the current balance and so changing that brings worries about losing the importance of top/bottom. I see both sides, but i think its disingenuous to say people are in error if they are concerned a little.

I like the 3 point takedown, but it makes the "reversal" kind of weird. So I can take you down, get reversed, and once we are back on our feet I am winning 4-2? I don't like that.

I still don't get a 3 point take down. It could be 2 and and 1 more point after 10 seconds if control is maintained. This rewards top wrestlers for being tough on top.

How do you enforce then turn rule though. Do they lose a point of they don’t attempt turn, Do they get a restart, do they go neutral? I just see it being hard to enforce without issues. I could see a close match getting somehow decided at the end because the guy who scored an ending takedown didn’t attempt a turn. I just want to see how it is enforced in a way that doesnt cause controversy.

Do you guys know if these rules will also be incorporated at the high school level?

I certainly don't think the sky is falling, but I do feel like the 3 point takedown wasn't considered carefully enough. It's not that it's a bad rule, it's that there should have been a dozen other changes to complement it, like a mirrored increase in reversal points, an increase to major/tf criteria, perhaps a differentiation between an escape and a release. The change in scoring is certainly going to lead to some changes in strategy, and I'm not convinced that most of those strategic changes will lead to more exciting matches.

Is this just for college or is it going down to high school and below?

I like the three point takedown. 2 escapes don’t equate to the level of effort a takedown requires.

I love these Pyles with a Mic videos.

Love these mid-length content uploads. Exciting to see y'all continue to evolve and adapt your strategies - these are great!

What the 3 point takedown does it eliminates the top bottom position from wrestling entirely. that is why people are calling it freestyle, because some of us don't like to watch belly flops.

Hey Christian, my counter is that riding and ground control is part of general grappling and too bad if its boring to you. It is a massive part of grappling! Look at jiu jitsu for example, where guys spend 90% on the ground trying to control each and submit each other. I understand this is not jiu jitsu but my point is ground game is massive in grappling. This sport isn't called "neutral game" or "turn time" its called wrestling, and breaking down your opponent to control him is part of that, whether you like that aspect of the sport or not, its realistic and necessary. As long as top guy is actively working, no one can prove he isn't looking for a turn. Absolutely asinine that people want refs to micro manage top riders like this. If he's working on top he's working, not stalling. And tell your wrestler to get up if you don't like it. Believe it or not there are mma fans that complain about grappling in mma. And to them its the SAME exact scenario. Go watch boxing or kickboxing if you don't like grappling aspect of mma. Unbelievable that I have to counter this to a flo guy. Leave folkstyle alone

So will wrestlers just stop going to in season tournaments?

Biggest thing I’m gonna miss most is hearing the entire gym yelling the, “Twoooooooo!!!!!!”. Can we keep that but still award 3? 🙏🏼

How many tech falls are coming next season?

Is it still going to be called stalling on the bottom wrestler for failing to escape? Or is this now going to be called on the top wrestler for failing to turn?

Need to add more wrestling footage to these videos.

If they wanted to reward takedowns appropriately the wrestler with mkre takedowns during the match gets 1 point at the end.. similar to how riding time point is added. 3 point takedowns is stupid.

They should have increased pts needed for majors and techs as well. I like seeing the number of takedowns or nf pts now it takes to earn these. I don't want matches ending quicker. I also think a nf should easily be 2pts greater than a takedown so at least increase nf pts.

Controlling your opponent on the ground is the main reason why Folkstyle wrestlers are so effective in MMA. Folkstyle is the closest thing to what true wrestling should be. I know it’s a sport, but rules are shaping it to be less effective in real world scenarios. Incentivize top control don’t punish it. I love wrestling and love mma and hate this change so much.

Since it’s so hard to turn a good wrestler, I think it’s gonna become a match of takedowns now that you have to work for a turn. I doubt you’ll see much wrestling on the mat, guys will just cut a guy if they can’t turn him quick enough. I’m thinking falls will go way down and tech falls go up. Wrestling on your feet has just become a lot more valuable….. obviously. Will that medical forfeit rule be called the “Spencer Lee” rule? I realize it was his teammate, but there was all kinds of controversy when he wanted to medical forfeit.

Good video! Thanks for the explanations!

I think the points needed for major and tech should increase with the change. major +1 and TF +2 to start.

Wait final X happened ? I didn’t know, for some reason I couldn’t stream it.

I'm pissed that I can't yell "twooooooo!!!" anymore. If you want to grow wrestling, drastically changing the rules every couple of years is not the way. It makes it hard to follow even for active wrestlers.

CP loves to play devils advocate, even he knows these rules are stupid. Upping the value of a score doesn’t make the match more exciting, if that were the case why not make Takedowns worth 6 like a touchdown? You don’t need to incentivize wrestlers any more than to raise their hand when they win. Being competitive is inherent to wrestlers, wrestling fans love wrestling and these rule changes are just ridiculous. If they think this will draw in new non-wrestling people as fans by incentivizing scoring they are naive or stupid. They are changing rules just for the sake of change. This will not have the desired effect. Quit trying to fix things that aren’t broken.

In general, I like the changes. However, I am wondering how a referee will distinguish between working for a turn and just wrestling for control. A strong bottom wrestler will be difficult to keep down and may not provide opportunities for turns. I would hate to see a top wrestler called for stalling when they are doing a great job on top against a strong bottom wrestler. I think it will be a hard call for referees to make and to be consistent with match after match.

Stone Cold Stunner is now worth 5 pts. Great! 🎉

"The top guy must work for a turn" ... tbh if the top guy only breaks down the bottom guy and is not working to turn ... the top guy should get hit for stalling. top guy works to turn his opponent and get the win by pin or technical fall. obviously the top guy might need to break down the bottom guy so he can work to turn and pinning him ... and bottom has to escape or get a reversal.

Love the 3 point take down

How come not a lot of people are talking about the ankle ride? Especially given how many high level wrestlers live and die by it these days. It'll be interesting to see how someone like carter sterocci adapt to it since its how they won a lot of their matches

When tf did we start having to wrestle for the fans. I don’t care what the fans think it’s bull shit we are the ones who are actually wrestling and have no say😂

without having no reaction time td from rear standing neutral control you make what is a dominant control position in actual fighting worth nothing in folkstyle where you have to give up control by unlocking your hands upon taking the guy down, cutting him loose in a reverse process, MY SOLUTION WOULD BE TO ALLOW FOR 3 SECONDS OF CONTINUED LOCKED HANDS FOR THE OFFENSIVE WRESTLER TO ENSURE THAT HE GETS POINTS FOR HIS STANDING CONTROL IF REACTION TIME IS BROUGHT BACK after the TD otherwise it's not fair

is this gonna effect the high school rules?

Ben Askren's ankle ride is gone.

Sparks is right. Additionally, how can you possibly make a takedown be worth three points while leaving reversals at two? It's harder to reverse than to take down and now the incentive for the guy on the bottom is shake free for one point, and then attempt a takedown to get four, rather than two in a fell swoop? In two years when its all catch and release is the game and pins are fewer, they'll probably do more screwing around with the points than admit they screwed up.

Love the three-point takedown!

Changes SUCK !!!! Should leave it alone ! That also screws the record books up

Yes to everything you said

What’s COMPLETELY BEING IGNORED is Folkstyles connection to MMA/UFC. We have seen folk style wrestlers BY FAR having more success in both mma & submission grappling then anyone else. Folkstyles unique connection to mma (as well as BJJ) is vital for the popularity of wrestling and American wrestlers ability to have success in MMA (it gives American wrestlers more options to become professional athletes after college and make money & support their families while competing) MMA is BY FAR the most popular & fastest growing combat sport in the world. I think SOME in the wrestling community (definitely not all) don’t understand how folkstyles connection to mma has greatly increased the popularity of the sport & could continue to as the sport grows. The key to all this is folk styles emphasis on control, You remove that emphasis you do an incredible amount of damage to American wrestling long term. If I had it my way (I’m a wrestling purist) we would go back to catch wrestling, which is what folk style came from, & later freestyle. This entire thing is moving American wrestling further away from what wrestling is supposed to be, a combat sport where one man attempts to dominate another, an extremely effective form of combat. Making it “more popular” or “more exciting” is non sense, FAR MORE Americans watch folk style then freestyle or Greco (if it’s all about how exciting it is, why isn’t Greco the most popular?!?) Judo did the exact same thing in an attempt to make it more appealing and what eventually happened was judo was hurt long term, BJJ instead took all the ground techniques and because of mma is now far far more popular. Imagine had Judo not done that and instead the UFC was full of Judo practitioners?The People doing this don’t understand the big picture and long term consequences. There was no need to change folk style, there was no demand from the community or athletes themselves to change it, it seems like it’s bureaucrats changing things just for the sake of changing them.

The “two takedowns to one and it’s still 4-4” is a ridiculous take.

Glad the riding time isn't changing. We need to stop micro managing top rider. As long as they are actively working there's nothing to say. Can't get up? Don't cry about rules. It's not the rules fault. If you prefer to watch neutral game then go watch freestyle and leave our style alone, you dingbats. Folkstyle is the best chess match in the sport of wrestling, don't turn our style into checkers

I could see the tech fall occurring faster. Maybe a runaway match faster. Might be a negative for the late match big gas tank guy.

take down isn't even close to being as hard as a turn. I am so sick of people destroying wrestling. I am ready to be done coaching with them Taking wrestling out of it

1:29 youre wrong christian. Those core tennants are now minimized for takedowns only.

The three point takedown is the right direction.

Working for a turn is going to come less into play, becayse if your get three points for a takedown, they’ll just kick the guy.

I’m okay with the 3 point takedown. The rule I had a problem with was the 4 point near fall that was introduced some years back. Just seems a little excessive..

Appreciate all the info i hear you for sure. I'd also suggest being more concise in your videos...frequently you say the same basic point two or three times in a row, throwing in a folksy phrase or personal aside . [E.g. You'd say something like, "I'm not sure about this's next point, but..." then instead of just saying the point, you' might go, "i heard it over lunch and I'm asking myself, could this be true...? Does it add up? Especially with this sport you never know-don't wanna put the cart before the horse..." and so on. It'd be great while chatting irl for sure but it starts to drag in yt video.

wish I wouldn't have even got my kid into wrestling now that we don't have folkste

RE: riding point IF you achieve a turn is redundant and pointless IMO. Chances are great that if you got a turn, an extra riding point would be obsolete. RE: top must turn. great! we are back to HS stalling from top(w/the exception of rideout). RE: Forfeiting tournaments. Once again, back to HS rules. RE: morphing into Freestyle. Nah. I don't see it. The only thing I see moving towards freestyle is the frequency of tech falls, which leads me to my last point. Team bonus MUST go from 8 to 10 point differential. Tech can stay the same.

If we're going to have 3 point takedowns then we need to make every minute of riding time worth a point. Regarding riding, when I wrestled a guy had to be working for a turn when riding, and warnings would be given if all he did was try to ride. Bring that rule back. I had no idea there was no rule about working for points on top! That's ridiculous. No doubt another "gift" from the freestyle fans. Folkstyle needs to keep stressing control. Takedowns are already properly represented with 2 pointers. Even Sr level FS only has 2 point takedowns!

This is exactly what destroyed judo, they ignored the ground fighting in favor of the throws because it’s “more exciting” 😂 well guess what? Brazilian jujitsu came along and took judo’s boring ground grappling & jujitsu now is WAY WAY more popular then judo! The most “exciting wrestling” is Greco, by far, but it isn’t even CLOSE to being more popular. We’re getting Further & further away from the essence of wrestling.

High school wrestling in NY in my city was huge. High school in 2008 says if you arent working towards a turn you're stalling. These rules seem to maintain folkstyle while get athletes better prepared for world competition (freestyle). Also keep matches a lot more active which is good for the sport. It isnt making the sport impure. Just evolving to make it more watchable and more strategic for the athlete

That medical forfeit rule should be called the Spencer Lee rule.

If they really want to value mat wrestling why not make the reversal worth 3 just like a takedown?

As a “mat wrestler” who won a ton of matches against opponents who were better than me on the feet, this is a sad day. Under the old rules someone had to be a lot better on the feet to simply avoid wrestling me on the mat. Under the new rules, they can win one takedown, give up two escapes, stall, and win.

No one is going to ride anymore. Just let him up because takedowns are worth more

Why can’t we just do freestyle?

The forfeiture rule is horrible!

The "working for a turn" rule is pretty much great. It shouldn't be just "work and flatten them out" if you're on top. repeat that a couple times and you're either stalling if you keep doing it, or you need to change what you're doing.

It completely decimating folk style with these changes y mess with a system that has been in place for decades

I like the ratio of 3:1 takedown : escape. Especially if a guy is behind in the 3rd, the opponent is gassed, and we're in a "catch and release" situation. Will give a lot of guys with big gas tanks a fighting chance late in the match. I like Rob Koll's point that the Rules Committee will adjust as needed. They've done it before, and recently. A rules change that had massive, controversial impact was the no-warning, one-point for hands to the face. If I remember correctly, that decided a couple matches between top guys. The committee tried it, it didn't work in that form, so they changed it to the current deal of getting at least one warning. Credit to the rules committee for adjusting as needed. I'd have like to see the riding time point be contingent on the turn, but hopefully the "riding to turn" criteria will help. I wrestled in New York in the 80s, and we liked to turn so much we'd choose top in the 2nd figuring we'd blow the match open before the 3rd. So I'm glad they're pushing guys to turn.

I'm totally on board with this. The parallel riding with the hooked ankle without looking for a turn got out of hand. The whole Penn State vs Iowa dual last year was 2 hours of that from both sides. What was supposed to be the most exciting dual of the year was an absolute snoozefest. I look forward to watching this year.

I posted something similar when the proposals went through. Adding 3 with the 2 and 4 point near fall will be a big change. Are they keeping the one pt escape and 2 reversal? That will be a point of contention. So you use to get a takedown and the guy could reverse for 2. 2 and 2. Now one gets a takedown for 3 but gets reversed for 2. Now add in if the guy starts 2 or 3rd period and takes down. He gets a reversal for 2, but never gave up a takedown. Will that be 3 points. Will they need to clarify that. Something like an offensive reversal. If he starts down (meaning choice not down because he was taken down) and gets a reversal. Can he get 3 just like a takedown. Then an defensive reversal. Meaning he got taken down, and then reverse the guy and gets 2. Keep riding time, but if they don't get a turn. Put them back on their feet. Bottom guy does not get a escape point. Then top guy can get more riding time once he gets another takedown. Bottom guy can still get an escape but not if the ref puts them up because top guy was just riding and not trying for a turn. How will this change the escape. How many coaches have yelled "1 not 2" Down guy does he go a a escape for 1 and go for the 3 takedown. If they make all reversals 3 (equal to a takedown) the matt wrestling will change. It will interesting to see Prediction: During the first month of the season some tops guys will lose due to the new rules. Then the coaches will adjust and it will right itself by tourney time.

It was never officially named “folk style.” That was just something people called it. It’s always been NCAA wrestling rules. There’s really no such thing as “folk style.”

These are great rule changes. We need to get rid of folkstyle all together and train and wrestle freestyle full time.

I don’t care if the fans think it’s boring stop trying to change rules for others entertainment

Less of an explanation more of an interpretation/reaction

riding times is a small attempt at pretending we are going to wrestle

"No real credit given for not changing riding time". ???? Are you freaking kidding? They change the basic value of points, and you want people to give them credit for not changing everything? Are you an NCAA schil? "Buh, I don't care if they stopped having back points be a thing, the refs still use whistles. Give them some credit, you alarmists." Get real, Pokey.

W take

There should be more than a six month notice for a lot of reasons including technique and recruitment.

Changing the take down to three points is a great idea. Equivalent to changing it to two points from one point in international rules. Totally changed the game and made it infinitely better.

The previous takedown rules needed to be changed, but 3 point takedown is too much. Instead it should be determined by criteria. So continuing with the previous scoring, if one person has one point for escape, one point for riding time and 2 point for one takedown for a total of 4 points. The other wrestlers also has 4 points due to 2 takedowns, However via criteria the wrestler with 2 takedowns wins. Because takedowns are of greater skill. I believe this is much more fair then a 3 point takedown. However, the hardcore college wrestling fans would like and also think it is better. The casual fans paying for tickets at a college arena will hate this most likely.

I like the 3 point takedown.

Chris we need a push out rule, I’m tired of teams like Arizona who have mastered the out of bounds line, McGee, teemer, Courtney, and Jesse Delgado lived on that dang out of bounds line, and the refs are way too inconsistent about stalling calls, if there pushed out 2 times or if you back up twice it should be a stalling call, also can we please address the elephant in the room, these sorry tournaments where u have penn and the second best team is csub, I’m from Bakersfield so I can say that, but these tournaments are jokes, Iowa goes to the armed forces tournament, what the hell is that and why in the world would as a fan would I want to watch that, I’ve said 100 times already, coaches please quit trying to get your wrestler that undefeated record and he loses in the ncaa championship to the number 2 guy who he has never wrestled before, how in the world does that make sense to a coach and as a fan who want to see these matches take place, really? Vito never wrestled rby this year, daton never wrestled rby this year, Vito never wrestled daton this year? This is mind blowing to me how the toughest guys on the planet haven’t wrestled at all this year? I hope Russia and Iran don’t do this, I’m going to call it team dodging because that’s what it is.

You don’t understand pyles because you never actually wrestled

3 point take down. 👍👍👍

One take down and you are in a big hole - must get take downs now

Its makes things into freestyle because it essentially removes the need to wrestle on the mat.

3 point takedown is awful.

3 point takedown sucks

It’s not a problem with the “work to turn rule”. The concern is how is this going to be appropriately enforced without disagreement and frequent match stoppages to get it right. This is a judgement rule and will be interpreted differently by each ref and coach.

Wrestling is broken.. still changing rules in every style.. like every other year.. Get the politicians out and get some wrestlers making the decisions.. This sports rule set should've been the same since day 1

The counter to having to work for a turn is a simple one and applies to any rule change that requires the referee's interpretation of what a wrester is or isn't "trying to do". How many times in just last season did you see a situation in which the top wrestler was warned and often even penalized a point for not working from top or bottom when it looked to you like the wrestler was just struggling against his opponent and would have been more than happy to either break the guy down, or get up from having been broken down, but was not able to? Well, now, just like all the dubious stalling calls from neutral, or lack thereof, that you can recall, add the "he's not trying to turn" to the list of subjective factors that insert the ref into the outcome. If anything, there should be fewer cases in which a stalling interpretation should come into play, not more. If you can't get away, or can't take someone down, get better. If you don't like excessive riding for riding's sake, get rid of riding time.

I like the 3pt takedown in general but one thing is reversals are like totally dead now? Reversals were always kind of underscored before, but now a reversal is almost just bad. You're almost never going to go for a reversal anymore, just take one point for escape and go for a takedown you could end up with 4 points. Maybe make reversals 3 points now too keep reversals part of the sport? But this is also what people are saying about the 3pt take down in general, there's just going to be a lot less mat wrestling.

Working for a turn, rather than just riding, connected with 3 point takedown, makes it possible to either turn or cut and go for 3 more takedown. I like these changes.

right they ruined folkstyle

It's a bad idea to make so many changes at once. You gave zero reason for why a takedown needs to be 3 points Want more turns? Reward turns 2-5 nearfalls and call top stalling Riding points are fine. The number one thing to do for popularity is switch to duels.

These rule change’s definitely benefit wrestling!!

Folk style is booooooooooring

I have advocated for a 3 point takedown for many years. It will help the sport.

ncaa wrestling should have went to freestyle rules a decade ago.....makes no sense we're the only country with folkstyle.....