Because gambling makes everything more exciting, we've decided to try on our amateur bookmaking cap and place odds on the eight senior weight classes wrestling for a spot on the 2017 men's freestyle world team in Lincoln, Nebraska this weekend. We also threw in some prop bets for extra fun.

Play along at home and announce your gentlemen's bets publicly then let us know how you did after the trials. The best fake-odds picker will be declared champion of the universe and be awarded a lifetime supply of non-monetary FloWrestling internet points.



To keep score, pick the wrestler you want to win and look at the fraction next to his name. The second number is the wager and the first number is the payout. If the wrestler makes the team, you win the payout plus your wager. If he doesn't make the team you lose your wager. You don't have to wager exactly the number in the fraction, just make sure you increase or decrease the payout in proportion to your wager.

For example: Betting $100 on Ramos will get you $166.66 if he makes the team. Betting $100 on Graff will get you $1100. Et cetera.

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It's also worth keeping in mind that some of these odds may look low at first glance. This is due to the nature of fractional odds and the structure of the event. If the wrestler with the bye to the best-of-three finals has a 50% or better chance to make the world team, as we are saying they all do here, then the rest of the field can't have much more than a 50% chance combined (with a little wiggle room to account for the house advantage).

Also this entire exercise is all just for kicks and giggles, so best not to get too worked up about them in any case.

57kg

Tony Ramos 2/3
Tyler Graff 10/1
Nahshon Garrett 10/1
Nathan Tomasello 12/1
Nico Megaludis 12/1
Thomas Gilman 30/1
Zach Sanders 50/1
Frank Perrelli 50/1
Jesse Delgado 50/1
Alan Waters 80/1
Darian Cruz 80/1

Quite a few qualifiers at 57 kilograms have a shot at making the team. Ramos is still the big favorite however, as the advantage for winning the U.S. Open is hard to overstate. Whoever makes it through the challenge tournament will be a threat, but the smart money is still on T-Ram to be the American representative in Paris.

61kg

Logan Stieber 1/9
Kendric Maple 12/1
Brandon Wright 30/1
Cody Brewer 30/1
Josh Kindig 30/1
Jayson Ness 50/1
Joe Colon 100/1
Seth Gross 100/1
Chris Dardanes 100/1

When you're the reigning world champ, you going to be the heavy favorite to make the next world team, especially when you're wrestling as well as Logan Stieber has. Kendric Maple looked outstanding at the U.S. Open, but that only got him the number one seed in the challenge tournament, and he is still a long shot to make the team.

65kg

Jordan Oliver 2/3
Zain Retherford 3/1
Frank Molinaro 7/2
Field 30/1

By dint of his U.S. Open title, Jordan Oliver has the best odds to make the world team in a very competitive field. His most formidable challengers are from Penn State's past and present, Frank Molinaro and Zain Retherford. With such a top heavy bracket, is slim odds for the rest of the field, despite their impressive list of credentials.

70kg

James Green 1/5
Jimmy Kennedy 10/1
Jason Nolf 10/1
Nazar Kulchytskyy 20/1
Chase Pami 20/1
Alec Pantaleo 60/1
Dylan Ness 60/1
Jason Chamberlain 100/1
Tommy Gantt 100/1

James Green has both a bronze medal from 2015 World Championship and the gold medal from 2017 U.S. Open working in his favor. Jimmy Kennedy also has experience on the international scene, and Jason Nolf has some guy named Cael in his corner who is a pretty decent coach. The rest of the field has their work cut out for them but an upset by the likes of Chase Pami or Nazar Kulchytskyy isn't out of the question.

74 kg

Jordan Burroughs 3/4
Kyle Dake 3/2
Alex Dieringer 20/1
Field 20/1

74 is a mostly two man weight class for a reason. Jordan Burroughs has dominated the division since 2011, and Dake has been his most consistent challenger. Alex Dieringer sneaks in as the next most worthy contender, but the odds are in favor of Burroughs and Dake seeing each other again in the best-of-three finals.

86kg

J'Den Cox 3/4
David Taylor 4/3
Rich Perry 25/1
Nick Heflin 25/1
Bo Nickal 50/1
Pat Downey III 50/1
Field 300/1

86 is another division with two clear favorites, with Olympic bronze medalist J'Den Cox holding the advantage over the red hot David Taylor, due mostly to being able to sit out the challenge tournament. Rich Perry and Nick Heflin are heavy underdogs but their strong performances at the U.S. Open give them a glimmer of hope.

UWW Junior and Senior WTT schedule

97kg

Kyle Snyder 1/25
Kyven Gadson 30/1
Field 12/1

No disrespect to any of the talented, hard working wrestlers in the field, but this is Kyle Snyder's weight class to lose. Kyven Gadson gets a special mention as being the only competitor in the weight class to register a pinfall over the reigning world and Olympic champ.

125kg

Nick Gwiazdowski 3/5
Zach Rey 3/1
Dom Bradley 9/1
Bobby Telford 301
Tony Nelson 30/1
Justin Grant 80/1
Nathan Butler 100/1
Blaize Cabell 100/1

With former mainstay Tervel Dlagnev now retired and coaching at Ohio State, it will be up one of the challengers in Lincoln, Nebraska to man the heavyweight spot in Paris. U.S. Open champ Nick Gwiazdowski is the favorite, but savvy veteran Zach Rey is looking for revenge from his Open finals loss. Also look out for the resurgent Dom Bradley of Missouri to make some noise.

Over/Under Prop Bets

O/U number of PSU alums on the world team
0.5

O/U Ohio State alums on the world team
2

O/U Finals series that go to three matches
1.5

O/U Quickest technical fall
42 seconds

O/U Number of 5 point throws
2.5



O/U Longest video review, from when time is stopped AND brick is picked up to when time starts again.
10 minutes

O/U Lowest seed to make the challenge tournament finals
4.5

O/U Number of world team members born in Iowa
0.5

O/U Number of world team members making their first world or Olympic team
2.5

O/U Number of times Jordan Burroughs get called for 'hands to the face' (either a warning or a caution and 2)
1.5

O/U Number of times Zain Retherford get called for 'hands to the face' (either a warning or a caution and 2)1.5
2.5

O/U Number of world team members to come out of the challenge tournament
1.5