Zain Retherford is set to wrestle Yianni Diakomihalis again on September 2 at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, PA. This time we’ll start off by re-wrestling match No. 2 from Final X, Rutgers. If Zain wins that match he’ll be the rep in Kazakhstan. If Yianni wins the first match on Labor Day we’ll go to a deciding match No. 3 later that day. 

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Monday September 2nd | 3:00 PM Eastern

Over the last few months, the Yianni/Zain saga has become my absolute favorite rivalry in our sport. I went through the four matches that Diakomihalis and Retherford have wrestled so far this year with a fine-tooth comb to see what we can learn from the series so far, and maybe more importantly, what we can expect to see on Sept. 2 in Wilkes-Barre. 

What To Do

Admittedly I got a bit obsessed this weekend and started down the Yianni/Zain rabbit hole and I haven’t looked back, so instead of one big tech notes article like I do for most monster matchups, I'm going to roll out four tech notes article this week giving rundowns in each of the most influential positions to these (and most) wrestling matches. Neutral offense, neutral defense, par terre, and scrambling/non-controlled exposure.

Where To Start

As a jumping-off point, here is every score in the four-match series as it was scored on the day of the event. I realize that Final X match 2 is supposed to be stricken from the record books, but the information that is gathered in that match is vital to painting the full picture of the series.

Offensive Scores

If I were to ask you before this series started back at the U.S. Open who is the more “offensive” wrestler and who is the more “defensive” wrestler out of the two, I think most people would say that Zain is more offensive. According to this series, Yianni is the one that is forcing more offensive action.

Clearly, Yianni’s go-to offense is his misdirection single, but I don't know if I can truly exemplify just how good this single is. But, I’ll try. 

First, scoring against Zain is really difficult, because his baseline defense is ironclad. Yianni’s use of that right-to-left misdirection single is the only way that he has been able to score on Zain with the exact same finish. Every other time he’s employed that misdirection single he's had to finish in different ways. Below you’ll see Yianni shoot in on a misdirection single-leg, come out the back door, and try to expose Zain’s back. Zain, not wanting to expose, pretty much bails on the position and concedes the takedown. 

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While Yianni may have scored five more points over the course of four matches, we’d be foolish to count out Zain’s offensive output. If you take a glance at the numbers it’s easy to see that Zain is having the most amount of success scoring against Yianni with a double. In fact, eight of Zain’s 10 offensive points came from doubles. The one thing that the numbers don’t really say is that Zain is trying, under any circumstance to get Yianni’s feet off of the mat, which is easier to do with a double than it is with a single. Even when Zain finishes on the ground you can see him very deliberately trying to get at least one of Yianni’s legs off the ground. 

What’s It All Mean?

While in an NCAA forum Yianni may be more reactive and more willing to let his opponents come to him, it’s clear that if he wants to win the 65kg MFS spot then he’s going to have to get his offense going, more specifically, his misdirection single leg. 

While Zain’s rate of attack isn’t quite as high the patience has paid off in a high conversion rate. If he perfectly times a double leg for four points like he did at Final X Match 2… it’s going to be a short day for Yianni.