Final X is set for June 19 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., where America’s top wrestling stars will vie for the opportunity to represent the United States in October at the World Championships in Kazakhstan.
For the fourth straight year, it’ll either be Mason Parris or Wyatt Hendrickson locking down the 125-kilogram spot on the American men’s freestyle squad. Parris claimed the World Team spot in 2023 when Gable Steveson withdrew from the squad and went on to claim a bronze medal.
He maintained his spot atop of the American ladder through the 2024 Olympics before taking a shot at the NFL last summer when he went to minicamp with the Los Angeles Chargers.
Meanwhile, Hendrickson seized the 125-pound kilogram spot last year with a pair of Final X wins against Trent Hillger.
Key Credentials
Wyatt Hendrickson
— 2026 U.S. Open champion
— 2025 World Team member
— 2025 Hodge Trophy winner
— 2025 NCAA champion
Mason Parris
— 2026 World Team Trials Challenge Tournament champion
— 2024 Olympian
— 2023 World bronze medalist
— 2023 Hodge Trophy winner
— 2023 NCAA champion
Past Meetings
2023 U.S. Open — Parris TF Hendrickson 20-7
2023 World Team Trials Challenge Tournament — Parris dec. Hendrickson 12-11
2025 RAF 04 — Hendrickson TF Parris 13-2
2026 Muhamet Malo — Parris TF Hendrickson 14-3
On a Final X card loaded with compelling matchups, the 125-kilogram series could be the most unpredictable.
It features two high-scoring, athletic heavyweights who have combined to put 82 points on the board in their four previous meetings.
Wyatt Hendrickson’s meteoric rise in 2025 netted him a Hodge Trophy, a spot on the U.S. Senior World Team and a historic win over Olympic champion Gable Steveson in the NCAA finals. He’s followed that up in 2026 by winning the U.S. Open title in April, registering four technical superiority wins on his way to the finals, where he pinned Demetrius Thomas in 27 seconds.
Yet it’s hard to tab Hendrickson as the clear-cut Final X favorite given the unpredictable nature of his Senior-level matches with Mason Parris.
Hendrickson raced out to a 7-0 lead in their 2023 battle for third place at the U.S. Open before Parris scored the next 20 points. They tangled again later that spring in the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament, where Parris prevailed 12-11 in a wild match that ended with Hendrickson nearly scoring a last-second step-out that would’ve given him the victory.
Hendrickson notched his first win over Parris last December in decisive fashion at RAF 04, where he won a 13-2 tech.
Just when it appeared Hendrickson might be overtaking Parris, the former Michigan star posted a 14-3 win when they collided in February at the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series tournament in Albania.
That victory helped Parris earn the #1 seed in April at the U.S. Open. But while Hendrickson marched through the bracket, Parris got knocked off by high school senior Coby Merrill 8-1 in the quarterfinals, forcing him to go through the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament to earn his ticket to Newark.
Parris bounced back in Louisville, where he defeated Tony Cassioppi, Greg Kerkvliet and Isaac Trumble to earn an opportunity to take on Hendrickson.