Team USA has been taking on the best of the world at the annual Beat The Streets event in New York City since 2011, and each year a stunning amount of firepower is assembled to provide explosive entertainment to wrestling fans worldwide.

But does this year feature the greatest lineup of Americans ever at the event? It's close, but there is a good argument to be made that this team is the best in Beat the Streets history.



First, let's take a look at the matchups for Wednesday, May 17, in Times Square.

WT	Matchup
EX	Daton Fix (USA) vs. Austin DeSanto (USA)
48kg	Victoria Anthony (USA) vs. Yuki Irie (Japan)
69kg	Tamyra Mensah (USA) vs. Miwa Morikawa (Japan)
58kg	Helen Maroulis (USA) vs. Yuzuru Kumano (Japan)
65kg	Jordan Oliver (USA) vs. Frank Chamizo (Italy)
57kg	Anthony Ramos (USA) vs. Steven Takahashi (Canada)
61kg	Logan Stieber (USA) vs. Shingo Arimoto (Japan)
65kg	Zain Retherford (USA) vs. Daichi Takatani (Japan)
70kg	James Green (USA) vs. Nobuyoshi Takojima (Japan)
86kg	David Taylor (USA) vs. Takahiro Murayama (Japan)
97kg	Kyle Snyder (USA) vs. Koki Yamamoto (Japan)
125kg	Nick Gwiazdowski (USA) vs. Katsutoshi Kanazawa (Japan)
74kg	Jordan Burroughs (USA) vs. Sohsuke Takatani (Japan)

Comparing this lineup to previous years is difficult, as the number of matches, weight classes, and styles vary from year to year. Senior men's freestyle traditionally makes up the bulk of the matches, except for last year when there was a diverse hodge-podge of styles, with juniors getting the lion's share of stage time.

In the table below, you can see a list of the other men's freestyle participants by year, except for the aforementioned 2016 event.

YR	KG	NAME
2015	57	Tony Ramos
2015	65	Brent Metcalf
2015	74	David Taylor
2015	74	Jordan Burroughs
2015	86	Jake Herbert
2015	97	Kyle Snyder
2015	125	Tervel Dlagnev
2014	57	Nahshon Garrett
2014	61	Jimmy Kennedy
2014	65	Jordan Oliver
2014	65	Logan Stieber
2014	65	Brent Metcalf
2014	74	David Taylor
2014	74	Jordan Burroughs
2014	86	Ed Ruth
2014	97	Kyle Snyder
2013	55	Obe Blanc
2013	60	Reece Humphrey
2013	60	Coleman Scott
2013	60	Logan Stieber
2013	66	Kellen Russell
2013	66	Brent Metcalf
2013	74	Kyle Dake
2013	74	David Taylor
2013	74	Jordan Burroughs
2013	84	Keith Gavin
2013	96	JD Bergman
2013	120	Tervel Dlagnev
2012	55	Sam Hazewinkel
2012	60	Logan Stieber
2012	66	Jared Frayer
2012	74	Jordan Burroughs
2012	84	Keith Gavin
2012	96	JD Bergman
2012	120	Tervel Dlagnev
2011	55	Henry Cejudo
2011	60	Shawn Bunch
2011	66	Brent Metcalf
2011	74	Jordan Burroughs
2011	84	Jake Herbert
2011	96	Jake Varner
2011	120	Tervel Dlagnev

2017

The one constant you'll notice in every event is Jordan Burroughs. The Olympic champ and three-time world champ has taken the mats at every Beat the Streets international competition, including last year when he and Olympic bronze medalist J'den Cox were the only two senior men's freestylers.

Burroughs owns the most hardware of any Beat the Streets competitor, with an Olympic gold, three world golds, and a world bronze in his collection.

Three other 2017 Americans have world medals to their names. Kyle Snyder has an Olympic and world gold in the last two competitions. Logan Stieber has a 2016 world gold, and James Green won a bronze at the 2015 World Championships.

Also in the lineup this year is Tony Ramos, who doesn't have a world medal yet but has made two world teams in 2014 and 2015. This year's lineup also features two of the best active wrestlers who have yet to make a U.S. world team, Jordan Oliver and David Taylor.

The 2017 Beat the Streets lineup is rounded out by Zain Retherford, a junior world silver medalists and Hodge Trophy winner, and Nick Gwiazdowski, the most recent 120kg U.S. Open champ, putting him in prime position to make his first world team at the trials next month in Lincoln, Nebraska.

2015

The 2015 squad gives this year a run for its money when it took on a talented Cuban team at the event dubbed "Salsa in the Square." The Americans featured 2017 wrestlers Ramos, Burroughs, Taylor, and Snyder. Additionally, four-time world team member Brent Metcalf was the 65kg rep. World silver medalist Jake Herbert was at 86kg, and two-time world bronze medalists Tervel Dlagnev wrestled 125kg.

That year essentially matched this year for credentials; however, if you consider David Taylor 2.0 at 86kg to be an improved version of the 74kg DT, then 2017 holds the edge.

2014

In 2014, when Team USA took on a collection of world all-stars. The Americans rolled out five of the same wrestlers as this year: Stieber, Oliver, Burroughs, Taylor, and Snyder. So the comparison comes down to Nahshon Garrett, Jimmy Kennedy, Ed Ruth, and Metcalf versus Ramos, Retherford, Green, and Gwiazdowski.

The 2014'ers have made more world teams, but Green's world bronze puts the 2017 team over the top. The current team also has more active wrestlers and is more likely to add to its career totals.

2013

The 2013 event featured more wrestlers than any other previous Beat the Streets, with 12 Americans taking the mat in a split location competition. Half the team was in Manhattan's Grand Central Station for "Rumble on the Rails," and the other half was in Los Angeles for "United 4 Wrestling." That lineup, like this year's, featured four world medalists, with 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Coleman Scott joining Burroughs, Dlagnev, and Stieber. It also featured world team members Obe Blanc, Reece Humphrey, Keith Gavin, and JD Bergman.

David Taylor, Kyle Dake, and Kellen Russell rounded out that group, adding eight more NCAA titles to its score. With raw numbers, 2013 is hard to beat, but when judging the caliber on a pound for pound basis, the argument for 2017 becomes much stronger.

2012

The 2012 squad was back down to only seven wrestlers for "Grapple in the Apple." Each one of the seven were at one point world team members, including 2012 Olympians Jared Frayer and Sam Hazewinkel.

As strong as that team was, the current U.S. lineup already sports one more world medalist, with potentially more to come in the future.

2011

Beat the Streets' first Times Square event, the "Battle on Broadway," presents perhaps the strongest challenge to 2017's best-ever claim. It featured an astonishing three Olympic gold medalists, in Burroughs, Jake Varner, and Henry Cejudo. It also had two other world medalists in Herbert and Dlagnev as well as Brent Metcalf and Shawn Bunch.

It's worth pointing out, however, that neither Burroughs nor Varner had yet to win any world or Olympic medals when they wrestled in the inaugural international Beat the Streets. Many of the accolades they would earn would come later in their careers, just as you can expect the 2017 team to add to their trophy case as they continue their careers.



Ultimately, the final judgement will have to wait until everyone has hung up his shoes and called it a career. If David Taylor continues to beat Olympic gold medalists, if Nick Gwiazdowski makes the first of many world teams, if Jordan Oliver starts a long reign at 65kg, or if Zain Retherford continues to progress and usurps that role at 65kg, then 2017 will go down as the best lineup of American wrestlers in history.

But even if the all-stars in this year's lineup never wrestle another match, Times Square will see a performance of historical proportions that you don't want to miss.

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