RAF 01 Hops to a Great Start

There was an early moment in the broadcast where Chael Sonnen and Bubba Jenkins awkwardly stared into the camera waiting for a queue. There are these moments with live first time events if you have ever planned an event/wedding/anything you know there’s so much more that goes into it than you can possibly imagine.

Allow me the indulgence of a story. When Grand Valley brought back their program they had their first home dual in over thirty years. Everything was set up and looked perfect even the video review with an absurd amount of camera angles was functioning. One small issue was brought up, ankle bands. The Grand Valley wrestlers in dark blue singlets were about to wrestle the across Grand Rapids (NAIA) Cornestone wrestlers in dark blue singlets. Two refs with over 20 years of experience were talking with coaches with decades of experience and no one had ankle bands. There were phone calls to local coaches, but they were all already in Allendale as Dan Gable was speaking. Perfection is usually not obtained on opening night.

I do have some criticisms or helpful suggestions, but it makes me feel like a girl on an MTV show complaining about the color of her Porsche she got for her 16th birthday. The Wrestling community longed for an event like this wondering why it couldn’t happen.

The stage looked great, the stream was flawless, the matchups were mostly interesting, the pace was good without dragging, and it created an online conversation.

I like the belts. The college/olympic wrestling community has for too long taken itself a bit too seriously. Is Tomasello the best 135 lb men’s freestyle wrestler in the world? No, but if you want the belt you have to go take it. So if you want to just train for the Olympic Trials, that’s fine too. There’s plenty of room for everyone, but knowing wrestlers competitive nature that belt is wanted by a lot of people. A paycheck being a part of it helps as well.

Eric Bischoff oddly took the stage after Alejandra Rivera made her entrance to say Kennedy Blades cannot compete due to the NCAA. Then he surprised everyone with Holly Holm coming out to step in even though she had never competed in a wrestling match. She pancaked Rivera off a shot to begin the match and the place went nuts. She eventually lost 9-7 in an exciting back and forth scrap. Even if this was a work, I wouldn’t be upset. Wrestlers too often forget that entertainment is a part of sport. Holly Holm has 2.5 million Instagram followers. Why would you ever complain about this match? Wrestling has always stood in its own way when it comes to entertainment at almost every turn. A little “pro wrestling” style fun is what the sport needs.

I even say go bigger. Let’s say Kyle Dake wins his next match and during the post-match interview Iranian music hits to reveal Yazdani walking out. Maybe, right before the whistle of Wyatt Hendrickson and Mason Parris, Gable Steveson appears on the stage to sit in a chair and watch. Could Yui Sasaki appear to challenge Sarah Hildebrant? There are so many possibilities for entertainment.

The NCAA putting up a fuss with Kennedy Blades is unfortunate (I don’t know what the issue exactly was and maybe it was a work). I thought RAF could provide college wrestlers some extra money in the NIL era while providing some fun matches of guys/girls in different weight classes and young ascending talents against veterans. Also, in this era how does the NCAA pretend they have rules anymore?

A couple criticisms could be the date and location. Ohio is a great wrestling state, but hosting it at a Cleveland State facility may have bothered some. August 30th being the first big college football day may not have been the best. Today, they announced Novmber 8th at Penn State for RAF 02. I love putting wrestling events in wrestling hot beds as a simple formula. It’s a lot better than Fargo and Vegas.

Wrestling can use something like this as the timing may be finally perfect. The quickening death of cable and the streaming wars over content could really have this strike gold, and I don’t care if this isn’t altruism and for pure love of the sport. We all should be fine with cheesy and in it for the money if that’s the case. Whatever it is, I’ll be tuning in for RAF 02 after a long day of reffing college wrestling.

RAF 01 – Wolstein Center, Cleveland, Ohio

135: Nathan Tomasello dec. Matt Ramos, 4-3

155: Yianni Diakomihalis dec. Bajrang Punia, 5-1

155: Austin Gomez tech. fall Lance Palmer, 11-0

175: Evan Wick dec. Jason Nolf, 10-8

120: Sarah Hildebrandt tech. fall Zeltzin Hernandez, 11-0

145: Real Woods fall Darrion Caldwell

190: Kyle Dake tech. fall Dean Hamiti, 11-0

150: Alejandra Rivera dec. Holly Holm, 9-7

205: Bo Nickal dec. Jacob Cardenas, 6-4

Unlimited: Wyatt Hendrickson tech. fall Mostafa Elders, 14-1