Mitchell Mesenbrink and David Carr will wrestle at Final X on June 14 in a best-of-three series to determine the world team member at 74 kg. Check out the article below for a full breakdown of the matchup, along with our predictions for how the matches will unfold. 

Key Credentials

Mitchell Mesenbrink

• U20 World Champion (2023 at 74 kg)
• U20 Runner-Up (2022 at 70 kg)
• U23 World Bronze Medalist (2024 at 74 kg)
• NCAA Champion (2025 at 165)
• NCAA Runner-Up (2024 at 165)

David Carr

• U20 World Champion (2019 at 74 kg)
• U17 World Bronze Medalist (2016 at 69 kg)
• Two-Time NCAA Champion (2021 at 157 and 2024 at 165)

Match History

• 2025 US Open Finals - Mitchell Mesenbrink TF David Carr, 16-6
• 2024 NCAA Finals - David Carr dec. Mitchell Mesenbrink, 9-8

Breaking Down The Matchup

The matchup between Mesenbrink and Carr is one of the most interesting at Final X and should be incredibly exciting. Based on their past two matches, we should expect a lot of offense from both wrestlers, with both Mesenbrink and Carr having a path to victory. 

The case for Mesenbrink is a strong one based on his recent win over Carr in the US Open finals. In that match, Mesenbrink scored three takedowns off of his knee pull single, two of which were four-pointers. Beyond that, Mesenbrink was also successful in countering Carr’s offense. Mesenbrink scored a takedown off of a sucker drag attempt by Carr and also scored exposure points while Carr was attempting to finish a leg attack. It’s also worth highlighting that Mesenbrink started the match down 4-0 and outscored Carr 16-2 to close out the match with a tech. This points to Mesenbrink’s elite conditioning and his ability to make adjustments as the match unfolds. 

Mesenbrink's win over Carr at the 2025 US Open:

Despite Carr’s loss to Mesenbrink at the US Open, Carr is capable of defeating Mesenbrink at Final X. Both times they wrestled, Carr got out to a fast start to hold big, early leads. In their NCAA final, Carr held a 3-1 lead at the end of the first period and a 7-3 lead at the end of the second period. In the US Open final, Carr got out to a 4-0 lead after scoring a takedown to a leg lace less than a minute into the match. Carr’s ability to transition from a single leg to a leg lace is world-class, and he’s capable of ending any match with a leg lace.

For Carr to win at Final X, he’ll need to control the second half of the match better and wrestle a “cleaner” match than he did at the US Open. Between the third period of their NCAA finals match and the second period at the US Open, Mesenbrink has outscored Carr 17-3. Carr needs to find a way to slow down Mesenbrink’s offense. Beyond that, Carr made significant errors in trying to defend Mesenbrink’s offense at the US Open. Carr chose to defend with a chest wrap twice and gave up two four-pointers, rather than conceding and only allowing a takedown. While it might be over-simplified, if Carr wrestles a more disciplined match at Final X, I expect far more competitive matches than the one we saw at the US Open.

Carr's win over Mesenbrink in the 2024 NCAA Finals:

Who Wins At Final X?

Mesenbrink will enter Final X as the heavy favorite, but I’m predicting Carr to make significant adjustments that will result in close matches at Final X. Even still, Mesenbrink is my pick to win at Final X based on his ability to score in a variety of ways and how he’s proven to separate himself from Carr as the match unfolds. Regardless of how the series unfolds, we’re almost guaranteed to see non-stop offense from both wrestlers that has the potential to result in the most entertaining matches of the night on June 14.