Adeline Gray vs Tamyra Mensah-Stock Is The Women's Match Of The Year

Four reasons why Adeline Gray vs Tamyra Mensah-Stock is the women's match of the year.

Jan 8, 2021 by JD Rader

2021 is getting off to a fast start with Saturday night’s FloWrestling: Burroughs vs Taylor card. It’s only the second week and January and we could already watch the biggest women’s match of the year in the new main event.

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Saturday, January 9, 2021 | 8 PM EST

It is not hyperbole to call Adeline Gray vs Tamyra Mensah-Stock the women’s match of the year. Not only are they the top wrestlers on the planet at their weight class, but they are also both among the best pound-for-pound wrestlers in the world. Below are four reasons why this is the biggest women’s match of 2021.

They Are Both #1 In The World At Their Respective Weights

Not only are these women at the top of their weight domestically, but they both also own the #1 spot in our international rankings as well. They have both earned those spots by dominating the competition. In the past three years, neither woman has lost to an American opponent. Adeline is 44-1. She dropped a match to 2016 Olympic gold medalist Erica Wiebe of Canada in 2018 but has since avenged that loss twice. Tamyra is 60-5. In 2019 she went 29-0 and became the first U.S. wrestler, male or female, to win the prestigious Yarygin event three-straight years.

Watch Tamyra’s history-making 2019 Yarygin final below

They Have A Combined Six World Titles

Not only did Tamyra win the Yarygin in 2019, but she also won her first World title. She still has a long way to go to catch up to Adeline’s five, but few people, myself included, are expecting 2019 to be the last time Mensah-Stock is on top of the World/Olympic award podium.

Adeline won her first World title all the way back in 2012. After taking bronze in 2013, she got back to the top in 2014 and hasn’t settled since. The only year Adeline hasn’t won World gold after since 2013, there either wasn’t a Worlds at her weight (2016) or she was out with injury (2017).

A Lot Has Changed Since Round 1

Yes, these two did wrestle in 2017 with Adeline winning handily. However, a lot has changed since then. Tamyra has improved tenfold. As previously mentioned, she’s gone 60-5 the past three years. However, four of those losses came in 2018, and the one loss in 2020 was on a weird criteria match in the Matteo Pellicone finals.

Since the first time Adeline and Tamyra wrestled, Tamyra won a bronze and then gold at the World Championships and emerged as one of Team USA's top wrestlers.

Watch Adeline and Tamyra's 2017 match below.

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They Both Have A Path To Victory

Clearly, Adeline will have a size advantage over Tamyra. Her keys to victory include using her size and length to her advantage and not putting herself in bad positions by taking bad shots or too much risk. Tamyra’s keys to victory include using her speed and agility and finishing shots. In their first match, Mensah-Stock was able to get to Adeline’s legs on multiple occasions, but never quite able to finish. Adeline is almost guaranteed to get at least one takedown in every match she wrestles, so Tamyra will have to put some points of her own on the board if she wants to win.

Watch Adeline dominate her way to her eighth World Team below.