The 2025 World Team Trials Challenge Tournament will take place on May 16-17 in Louisville, Kentucky. The winner of every bracket will qualify for Final X to compete for a world team spot on June 14. You can watch the World Team Trials Challenge tournament only on FloWrestling and check out our predictions for the seeds for this event in the article below.

What Is The Seeding Criteria For The World Team Trials?

Before we get into the seeds, it's important to break down the criteria used to determine them. According to USA Wrestling, they will use the following data to establish WTT seeds, in no specific order: 1) USA Wrestling Performance Index (PIN), 2) Head-to-head matches, 3) Common opponents, 4) National/International tournament finishes. As you go through the seeds, you'll see that I explained how I seeded wrestlers based on the criteria listed.

65 Kilograms

1. Nick Lee
2. Jesse Mendez
3. Seth Gross
4. Marcus Blaze
5. Bo Bassett
6. Aden Valencia
7. Real Woods
8. Beau Bartlett
9. Brock Hardy
10. Carter Young

65 kg is one of the more challenging weights to seed. I gave Nick Lee the top seed because he was the world team member in 2023 and finished runner-up at the 2024 Olympic Team Trials. Mendez comes in at #2 based on his second-place finish at the 2025 US Open and his fourth-place finish at the Olympic Trials. 

Seth Gross and Marcus Blaze are the wild cards here because they're coming up from 61 kg. Gross did lose to Aden Valencia at the 2023 Senior Nationals, but Gross went on to finish 4th at that tournament while Valencia finished 8th. Gross also has wins over Alec Pantaleo and Austin DeSanto who defeated Valencia at Senior Nationals. 

Aden Valencia also has a case to be higher based on his performance at the 2025 US Open, where he finished in third while defeating Real Woods twice. Real Woods recorded a victory over Beau Bartlett at the US Open, so Valencia will assuredly be above Woods and Bartlett. 

Bo Bassett is also challenging to seed because he doesn't have many results on the senior level, but he defeated Aden Valencia 4 times last year. Because of those head-to-head results, I chose to place Bassett ahead of Valencia. 

If the seeding committee weighs more recent results above last year's, then I could see Gross, Blaze, and Bassett all fall below Aden Valencia.

70 Kilograms

1. James Green
2. PJ Duke
3. Ian Parker
4. Will Lewan
5. Bryce Andonian 
6. Ridge Lovett
7. Antrell Taylor
8. Caleb Henson
9. Brayton Lee
10. Jackson Arrington

James Green is the clear top seed here based on his runner-up performance at the US Open and the fact that he's made 7 world teams for Team USA at 70 kg. I chose to put PJ Duke at #2 because of his third-place finish at the World Team Trials last year and his gold medal finish at the 2024 Bill Farrell. In those two tournaments, Duke accumulated wins over Will Lewan (twice), Bryce Andonian, Jarrett Jacques, and Yahya Thomas. It's also worth noting that Ian Parker failed to place at the 2024 World Team Trials.

Seeds 3-5 fall in line with results from the 2025 US Open. However, after that, it's challenging to place Ridge Lovett, Antrell Taylor, and Caleb Henson. Despite all being NCAA Champions, they don't have the freestyle results to warrant them higher in these seeds.

74 Kilograms

1. David Carr
2. Quincy Monday
3. Jarrett Jacques
4. Michael Caliendo
5. Terrell Barraclough
6. Peyton Hall
7. Joseph Blaze
8. Edward Scott
9. Elroy Perkin

The seeds at 74 kg mostly fall in line with results from the 2025 US Open. The only wild card is Michael Caliendo, who didn't wrestle at the US Open. However, because of his results at NCAAs against the field, I chose to put him at #4 above Barraclough and Hall. 

79 Kilograms

1. Dean Hamiti Jr
2. Levi Haines
3. Simon Ruiz
4. Carson Kharchla
5. Muhamed McBryde
6. Kennedy Monday
7. Ethan Riddle

79 kg is similar to 74 kg in that the seeds fall in line with results from the 2025 US Open. Levi Haines is the only wrestler who didn't wrestle at the US Open. I chose to place Haines at the #2 seed based on his NCAA results. 

86 Kilograms

1. Kyle Dake
2. Chance Marsteller
3. Carter Starocci
4. Parker Keckeisen
5. Marcus Coleman

86 kg falls in line with the results at the 2025 US Open. Carter Starocci didn't wrestle there, but I chose to place him above Keckeisen based on NCAA results. Beyond that, Marsteller defeated Trent Hidlay at the 2024 Olympic Trials, who defeated Starocci there. Marsteller also holds the most recent win over Starocci - a 5-4 decision at the 2022 World Team Trials.

92 Kilograms

1. Josh Barr
2. Jacob Cardenas
3. Aeoden Sinclair
4. Michael Macchiavello
5. Eric Schultz
6. Dustin Plott
7. Patrick Brophy

Seeds 3-7 fall in line with results from the 2025 US Open. Josh Barr and Jacob Cardenas are challenging to place because they didn't compete at the Open. Barr defeated Sinclair last year to make the U20 World Team, so Barr comes in ahead of Sinclair. I also put Barr ahead of Cardenas because of Barr's win over Cardenas at NCAAs this year. I chose to put Cardenas over Sinclair because of Cardenas' freestyle results. Cardenas is a three-time U23 world medalist, placing second in 2024 and 2022 and third in 2023.

97 Kilograms

1. Jay Aiello
2. Gavin Hoffman
3. Christian Knop
4. Ethan Laird

The seeds at 97 kg fall in line with the results from the 2025 US Open. Though Knop finished above Hoffman at the US Open, they didn't wrestle and lost to the same wrestler (Zane Lanham) at the Open. Hoffman was seeded 5th at the Open, and Knop was seeded 7th - because of that, I put Hoffman over Knop.

125 Kilograms

1. Demetrius Thomas
2. Hayden Zillmer
3. Trent Hillger
4. Christian Lance
5. Jordan Wood
6. Lucas Stoddard

The seeds at 125 kg fall mostly in line with the results from the 2025 US Open. The challenging part is that there were some significant medical forfeits, and I'm not sure if they'll count those results for seeding. Lance finished in third but received a forfeit over Jordan Wood and Hayden Zillmer. Zillmer defeated Hillger in the consi semis, and Hillger defeated Lance in the quarterfinals. Because of those results, I chose to put Zillmer and Hillger ahead of Lance.