My guest today hails from Newton, Kansas. He was a collegiate wrestler at both Air Force Academy and Oklahoma State University. He was a Big 12 champion, an NCAA national champion, and holds what some believe to be the biggest upset in college wrestling history when he beat Gable Stevenson to win his national title and the Dan Hodge Trophy for [music] the most dominant college wrestler of the 2025 season. He currently wrestles in the heavyweight division of Real American Freestyle [music] Wrestling where he will be taking on Mason Paris tomorrow at the Fishers Event Center. Today we're going to learn a little bit more about Wyatt Hendrickson's [music] journey, how that one match changed his entire life, and what we can expect at RAF04. Wyatt, welcome to the show, man.
Hey, thank you for having me, man. I just got into Indiana and it's uh it's it's cool. It's cool. It's a little cold here right now. A little rainy, a little snowy, but it's all right. Oklahoma's actually um it's pretty warm right now. It's like 70. You could golf. And I was messing around with Zah. He's like, "Yeah, dude. We can't golf here." Like, I know. I know.
I mean, it's December in in uh in Indiana. The weather is what it is. At least it's a little bit warmer than it has been. I feel like
like last week, I feel like it was like one degree, so you know, it warmed up a little bit for you. You brought some sunshine.
I haven't been here a long time.
So, you're you're originally from Kansas, which is I say it's similar to Indiana in the fact that commonly overlooked. How big was wrestling in the state of Kansas?
Wasn't crazy. I mean, obviously, we have a lot of uh we have a couple good wrestlers that have came out of Kansas. Uh, you know, Kendrick Maple wrestled in Kansas and he's crazy. Like, a lot of people like football is big everywhere, but it was kind of just one of those things that was in the background, but it's kind of growing. It's been growing these past couple years. When I go back and teach camps, I'm like, man, there's a lot more kids that are invested earlier on than they were, you know, back in back in my day. But, uh, I mean, it's it's just not thought of as like a wrestling school. I mean, we talked about it just like or school wrestling uh state like Indiana. That's one of those schools that's kind of overlooked, but as we've seen, there's still some really good wrestlers that can come out of these states.
Like how big was like your high school? Like how many kids how many kids on your wrestling team?
We probably
like how big was the state tournament? Give us like the size and scope of Kansas wrestling
1A through 6A and then uh Newton was 5A. We I my graduating class was like 200 I think about. So not terribly small but not like crazy huge. Um there's only one high school in the town of course and uh I mean the wrestling team was it was okay. We I mean actually we had like maybe 25 people 25 wrestlers because I was actually partners with our 170 pounder most of the time because I had no other partners and I was wrestling 220. So a little bit limited on partners but I mean it was enough to get by because I wanted to I wanted to be good. So I mean it was up to me to
that work in that guy had to be a beast. the 170 wrestling, the 220 that goes on to become a national champion. Like that guy, the what's like the 170 had to be the man.
Yeah, he was he was actually one of my best friends still. And he's he's going to be in my his name is Dante Harper. He's in my wedding party for my wedding, of course. So, we're still close.
Heck yeah. We love that. So, how far did you have to drive to get like good competition? Like today, clubs, that's everything. Like a lot of people are going to, you know, all the wrestling clubs. How far did you have to drive in Kansas?
About 45 to 50 minutes. We had to go to Goddard, Kansas, which was like a wrestling club. We had a wrestling club in Newton, of course, but to see uh some higher caliber wrestlers, we had to go about 45 50 minutes to Goddard. As a kid, that's a lot because I was getting done with school. Then it's like, "All right, get in the truck. We're going to wrestling practice."
Did you play other sports?
I played football a little bit. I actually wanted to uh be a football player, but too many concussions, got hit in the head a few too many times, so I I quit football. And then middle school I was a track athlete and I did play baseball as well but then I dropped both of those of course freestyle graco season started to dominate that.
Gotcha. Okay. So what made you land on the Air Force Academy?
It was really just as soon as I learned everything that was uh that it entailed because everyone thinks of the military academy and they think oh going to the front lines or not the academy it's going to any military branch but that wasn't true at all. I learn read into it and I was like this sounds like it's perfect for me. I'm getting a world class education. I'm a part of something bigger than myself and I'm still wrestling in the Big 12. So, it was really just a home run hit and I made my decision pretty early on and I stood on it cuz I was like, dude, this is what I want to do. Like, you can't change my mind. This is what I want to do. This is the path I want to take.
When you were growing up, did you always want to serve? Like, was that like a goal of yours?
That wasn't a big I mean, I wanted to serve, but you you can serve in many different ways besides being in the military. Um, obviously that's a very direct way to serve, but there to me it's like, hey, how can I uh make a difference in my community or which will ultimately make a difference in the country. So, I mean, I've always just been super patriotic and really like a people person, but then it was kind of like my calling. I was like, hey, I feel like this is what I'm called to do. So, it was kind of an easy decision once I realized that.
Okay. So, for those that don't know that are listening along, you spend four years at Air Force. you get to wrestle in the Big 12, do very well, and then it comes time uh and the fifth year option starts to come around. Like, can you take us through the thought process and how that ended up happening and in the whole thing that that led you to end up at Oki State?
I actually didn't know if it was going to happen at first because um it was just they didn't really like, hey, like we don't know if you can wrestle in college in the program you're in. I was transferring the WCAP program, which is the world class athlete program, and they were like, "Hey, I don't know if I can make it work, but uh they found a way to do it last second in August." So, it was pretty sweet to finally um get it approved so I could wrestle at Oklahoma State.
So, you were like you were training along the whole time, not knowing if they were going to like approve you. Well, the summer I was mostly just doing what I did in the summer and I I chose to go there every little bit in Still Water to um to train, but it was like finally got their approval like yeah, you can stay here and not have to go to other duty stations. So, it was pretty cool.
That's crazy. Uh how did you end up choosing Oklahoma State or like did they ch like how did that process work? Were there other places you were considering?
There was a couple other places I was considering, but uh it was really just as soon as Coach Taylor took over, I was like this is the place for me. It just felt right. and he was one of those wrestlers that I looked looked up to um majority of my life. So having someone like that give you a call and say, "Hey, I want you to come wrestle for me." It was like, "All right, sick. I'll do it."
Yeah, that has to be crazy. It's like you get the call, you're like, "Yep, all right, we'll make it happen." That's so cool.
All right, so you end up at Oklahoma State, you're, you know, going through that that final season and you're preparing for the NCAA's.
Yeah.
Take us through what's going through your head. What did David Taylor say to you to get you pumped up for the championship match?
I mean, really, it wasn't anything to pump me up. It was really just to be like, "Hey, man. Like, you got this. Like, you can beat him. You just got to stay focused. You got to make it hard on them and do what you do best. Go out there with confidence and and compete and have fun."
It's more about having fun. He wants to He emphasizes that a lot.
Yeah. I mean, that's like the whole I I follow the Stilly Boys on Instagram. Like, the whole vibe out there is just fun. It's like uh it just is it's yeah it's like definitely a vibe for sure. But like did you I don't know there's been lots of coaches that are coaching individuals or coaching teams that have a largely uphill battle like for a perspective right he had not been scored upon like there would been no takedowns on Gable that entire season. So like how did you guys get to the point where you really believe you could win?
Um well I mean nothing's impossible obviously I had my mindset on being a national champion and even when he [clears throat] joined the field like we didn't really talk about I really didn't really care. It's like, well, he's just any of the rest. Like, yeah, he's really good, but he's still a human. Like, anything can still happen. And so, you just got to give yourself a chance. And I feel like I did that in that match.
I mean, it was crazy. All right, you're in the match and like you get the taked down with 15 seconds left roughly, something like that.
Yeah.
You get a take down and I mean, everyone's going crazy. The place 20 seconds. The place is erupting. It's going absolutely berserk. Jordan Bros is like losing its mind. Like, it's crazy. What's going through your head as you're writing out those last 20 seconds? the match isn't over. I still got to hold him down to to win. So, I mean, I made up my mind. I'm like, "Hey, like there's no overtime. I'm not going any further than this. I'm holding this dude down. I'm winning this here and now." Like, there this is it. So, I was really just like every muscle in my body was flexed. I'm like, "Dude, I'm like my I can hold this guy down for 20 seconds. I don't care what I have to do, but I'm going to do it."
What's the thought process? Like, if there are people out there that are listening that are fighting uphill battles, you know, like not everyone's So, in Indiana, we only have one division of wrestling. There's only like one there's 14 state champions, one per weight class. Yeah.
And a lot of those guys are are wrestling really good guys. And they walk out on the mat and they're like, "Oh man, this kid is a returning state champ. He's going to be real tough to beat."
What advice do you have for kids that might be fighting that uphill battle that want to win their state championship or they or they have their conference opponent that they've never beat before?
I would say you need to learn something every time you lose because if you take a loss and it doesn't like change in any way, shape or form, you don't really care about it. And what I what I really mean by that is don't define yourself by a win or a loss. Because a lot of people want to be great, but they see someone ranked above them or they see some, oh, I've never beat that guy before. Well, if that's what you're thinking about, then you're probably not going to beat him again because you're you're you're losing this battle first. You're losing the mental battle before you walk out there and wrestle. A quote that my dad used to always tell me is the matches won or the match is lost before you even step out on the mat because it's just such a mental thing.
And um you know sometimes it sucks that you do lose the people but if you take that loss like you don't need to sit sit around on it for like a week like maybe a couple hours like realize hey what did I do wrong and how can I get better from it. If you can do that every single match then that margin of you losing is going to get closer because you're fixing those mistakes that's leading you to lose those matches. It's not rocket science. It's nothing crazy. If a guy shot and doubled you 20 times, hey I should probably work on defending a double leg. So you can if you take a loss there's always something you did wrong that gave your opponent an opportunity to beat you.
So just try to learn from that and get better every single match.
What was your self-t talk like? You're walking out the tunnel getting ready for the championship match. You're the heavy underdog. You and the team at Oak Oklahoma State believe you can win, but not many other people thought like everyone kind of wrote it off already and said, you know what, like congrats to Gable for winning another national title, all this stuff. What was what was the voice in your head saying?
I was just trying to trying to stay calm. I mean, a match like that, there's a lot of stuff going on. First off, I'm wrestling a really great wrestler. It's the NCAA tournament. There's 14,000 15,000 people in the arena. The president's there.
Like there's so much stuff going on. And that's not what I was thinking about. I was just like, "Hey, I'm going to go out here and wrestle my match." Like, and at the end of the day, it's just another day of wrestling. Like I I didn't want to put that pressure on myself. Which is another piece of advice I would say is don't put pressure on yourself for those big matches.
Like, yeah, it's the conference tournament, state tournament. Like, the only person that that's hurting is you. Like, it's just any other day when I have my best practices. I'm waking up, eating some breakfast, rolling into the wrestling room, and just kicking butt. Like, there's nothing. I'm not like, man, today's today's practice, and man, I gota, you know, there's no need to put pressure on yourself.
And that's something I did really well for the national finals is I was just like, dude, it's just another day.
It's just another day at the office. I mean, a day that changed your life. Like, you talk about the president being there, you know, like he you get to talk with him and he congratulates you and the whole nine yards there. Were there other crazy people that congratulated you after winning? I don't usually get on social media that much, but I started to gain a lot of followers. But obviously, um, Elon Musk was there and he I don't even know if he knows wrestling, but he was like, "Good job." [laughter] President Trump said, "Good job."
That's crazy.
It was really cool. There's even like there was one like a really big time bodybuilder um that won like Mr. Olympia and he was like, "Hey man, like great match." I'm like, "That's unique." Like it's so cool to see how people were involved in wrestling at some point in their life and they still keep up with it and now they're still like involved in some way, shape or form supporting the sport. So, it was really cool just to kind of get reached out by some cool people and just be like, "Hey, good job." And I'm like, "Hey, thanks, man.
Appreciate like everyone was watching." Like, I feel like it was one of those things, especially like Twitter or wherever. It's like, yo, everyone's got a turn. Like, we're this is a real match. Like, things are happening here. And I just remember flipping it on and being like, "Oh my gosh, let's go." You became like America's
like favorite wrestler overnight.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'll prove I'll prove that again. I'll prove that again on Saturday night. I'm still America's heavyweight. That's not going away.
There we go. Well, you do know that Mason is an Indiana guy,
right? He's a three-time state champion from the state of Indiana. Uh, so he's going to have the home crowd out. How do we feel about that? How do we feel about being in Mason State and, uh, having to go out and compete in front of the home crowd?
I love a hostile environment almost more than I like an environment just cheering for me. But the biggest thing for me when I go out there, uh, no matter what I hear, like even we went to Iowa and wrestled in Iowa, dude, they're all cheering for me no matter what. Like, so if anything, I kind of like it a little more hostile. It just gives you that extra like competitive edge almost because it's just something in you. If you're a competitor, it kind of it brings out the best in you when you get put in those hostile situations. And so, I've always been known to compete better when I'm under pressure.
And so, if anything, it it's actually better for me that I'm wrestling in some on someone else's home turf, even though it's my belt. But, I don't really care. Even when they change it to Indiana, I'm like, dude, I don't care where who or what it is. I'm I'm wrestling. I'll wrestle no matter what. I love it, dude.
I mean, I did see that you had a few choice words for her the other day uh on social media. You guys had some beef going on.
Have you like Has that been a part of the game?
Um I really just think it's us just trying to show our emotion a little bit more because na wrestlers naturally are just, you know, we don't we wrestle to just because we love the sport, but I think it's really fun to put on a show a little bit and just, you know, talk some crap here and there and get, you know, get each other fired up because it's going to be a great match. I mean, it's the main event.
Yeah. We're not I mean it'd be so lame if we walked in there like, "Oh yeah, I'm going to wrestle tough." Like that. Like no, come on. Like let's let's do something with this. So it's kind of exciting to just show out some more emotion when we're getting ready to wrestle each other.
Yeah. I mean it's a little bit of like you're bringing a little bit of the theatrics of WWE like you know the story lines behind these things.
Yeah. But a little bit. Yeah.
I mean Yeah. Not like you're going to rip out the chair and like you know hit him over the head with it or anything but
that'd be a good move actually.
No. I mean we're only kidding.
There you go. Remember you got it got it from me man. Uh okay. What can we expect? RFO4 Fishers Event Center Saturday night. Like what's the vibe going to be like? What should people expect when they're getting there?
Something really unique because obviously for us competitors, we're there to compete, but it's almost like we're trying to make a show for people coming to watch. And it's super cool. Like you'll notice that a lot of the extra stuff they do, they put a lot of work in behind the scenes to always keep you entertained, to always show you something behind the scenes of someone who's wrestling or they just want to keep you involved more than like you if you've ever been to a wrestling tournament and some of the duels are getting better at it, but it's just like bunch of wrestling and that's about it. This is more of a show. We're we're giving you the insides of what it's like. Um, we have they they've came to like all of our places where we train to get footage of us to show with to the fans to show you guys like more behind the scenes so you guys are a little bit more invested too because at the end of the day like hopefully you guys take something away from these events.
Obviously, it's really cool to watch someone compete, but we want to help you guys grow as wrestlers and and even adults. We want to we want to provide you some good entertainment that's not just entertainment. It provides something else. And so, I think that's something really unique. And I mean, you're going to see a lot of great wrestlers go out there and battle it out. Mason and I have wrestled a couple times, but I guarantee you we both changed so much in the past couple years.
You're going to see a match you've never seen before.
Yeah, I was gonna say, when did you guys when was the last time you guys wrestled?
We wrestled at the World Team Trials. It was like in 2023, 2024. It was 11-11. I I lost on criteria.
No way. So, this is like a So, this is there's a lot at stake here. Um, for you, what does like how long does the wrestling career last? Can you and with the obviously your commitment to the United States and the Air Force and all that stuff like will you end up finishing your wrestling career and serving like what does that look like for you?
Yeah, so I'm in the WCAP program which is the worldass athlete program. That's what that stands for. And they pretty much I said, "Hey, Air Force, I'm really good at my sport. I want you to please allow me to grant me this time in that special program to keep competing for an Olympic spot." And that's pretty much what I'm doing right now. I've done that for this past year and I'm going to do that for the next three years and then after that I'll do my five years. Um, and I'm active duty right now, but I'm like I'm in a special program. So, I'm active duty, but I'm not doing like my military job. But, there's a couple guys, other people, a couple other athletes that are doing this, but um then I'll go back into the Air Force and uh I'm an acquisitions officer, which is like finance. It's cool to me because I enjoy it. But, that's what I'll be doing right after this.
Wow. from from heavyweight wrestler to finance guy for the Air Force. That's incredible.
So, this match has some real like I mean we're not this is not the last time we're probably going to see this match cuz Mason also said he's you know training for the next Olympic cycle as well. So, you guys are going to see each other probably a few more times.
I look forward to it. I mean, he's one of It's good for both of us because at the end of the day, one of us is going to represent the United States of America and Mason and I are two of the best wrestlers in the country, probably the world. So having us like go headtohead, it's going to help both of us cuz I'm going to go get some shots on him and he's going to be he's probably going to learn something from that. But also he's probably going to score some points on me. So I'm going to learn from that too. So I mean I want to wrestle high level. I don't shy away from high level competition. I I embrace it for a reason. That's what made me so freaking good at wrestling. So I'm excited to keep competing against him until I take that spot for LA in 2028.
I love it. I think it's so cool and it'll definitely be more storylines to watch over the next couple years as like, you know, you guys compete for the spot to represent the United States of America. That's so fun. All right, so you got into Indie yesterday. Uh you've been rock and roll. How have things been? Have you enjoyed your stay thus far? Have you got to see anything, do anything, or has it been all work, all wrestling? Where are you training at right now?
So, we're actually we're at a hotel and they really have everything for us here. They have like wrestling mats, we have rooms for interviews and stuff. And there's a couple places nearby like we're actually about to take off in in just in a minute or two. We're going to the the fitness center down here so the boys can sauna and steam room. I love doing it just to be part of the boys. So I'm going to go down there. There's a Bass Pro over here. I think we went to Tar the other day aka Target. But we're just we're just having fun just messing around with the guys.
Dude, that's uh that's Yeah, I love the heavyweight getting into the sauna. Like I don't have to lose any weight, but I just like to hang out with bring a bottle of water and just go hang out with them. Be like whatever.
I love it, dude. Well, wait. Have you gotten to eat anywhere? Have you got any good food?
No, we went to like some We went to some uh I forgot what it's called. It's like a sports bar, bar and grill. I got some really good food. I got some sliders and a nice uh like Louisiana style um quesadilla. Forgot what it was called, but it was really good. Had all the fixings in it.
I do have to ask, so I've been the head coach of a high school wrestling team. This is year six. So, I promised the guys that would ask, "What advice do you have for the high school wrestlers out there that are watching you guys go out and compete on Saturday night?"
Two things, two pieces of advice I'd want to give you guys. Number one, there's no substitute for hard work. No supplement, no training plan, no lift, no nothing will replace hard work. That's what you have to have first and foremost when going in and wrestling. You can't try to find a shortcut. By finding a shortcut, you're already falling behind.
Number two, when you're in the practice room, it's really important to be focused because practice doesn't make perfect. Dedicated practice makes perfect or perfect practice make makes perfect as as some people say. It's really important when you go in the wrestling room, you're not thinking about your boyfriend, girlfriend, what's for dinner, what you're doing tonight, what Xbox games out, whatever. You need to be focused on wrestling because when you have when you're in there and you're focusing, time flies. Like the my best practice is I go in, I grind, and I'm like, "Wow, practice is already over." versus if I'm sitting looking at the clock just waiting for practice to be over, you're not going to gain very much from that.
So, just being in a wrestling room is not going to make you good. But being in the practice room with intent is going to make you a better wrestler.
Yeah. A lot of people are like spend a lot of time around the room versus being dialed in ready to rock. Um, and training. Yeah. Um, when times get hard, obviously you're a national champion wrestler, Dan Trophy winner. Like you've gone through some hard stuff. Wrestling is historically known for being a hard sport. What is your internal selft talk when times get hard?
Yeah. Well, so obviously you just need to stay confident because sometimes you can't change the uh circumstance you're in. You're just like, "Hey, I'm here. It's doesn't matter what's happened. I it's it's go time." But when people get unmotivated, most of the time they're wrestling for someone else and they're not wrestling for themselves. So I encourage those people if they're in that little rut. Like just take a seat back like, "Hey, am I wrestling for my coach? Am I wrestling for my dad? Am I wrestling for them?" Like yeah, that's good. But more than that, you need to wrestle for yourself first before you start taking those next steps. It needs to stem from you. So, I'd encourage those guys like, "Hey, just look where you're at. Make sure you're wrestling for yourself first and foremost."
Were there any coaches that really helped you along your journey? Obviously, you know, like David Taylor, incredible wrestling mind, but that maybe helped you develop as a young man and like what advice would you have for coaches?
The biggest person has definitely been my dad. He was my very first coach. And he's always just he's known when to be a coach and when to be my dad. And uh I'd say for most people, if you're a parent out there and your kid wrestles, let the coaches do the work when you're out there. Like it's not always your job to do that. It's really good for them to hear from someone else because they've been hearing it from you their entire life. That's what I learned. But I definitely now that my dad's more of like Yeah.
in he's in my wrestling career involved, but he's not always my coach. He's just my like my ear or like my little like he'll still give me those pieces of advice. So it's it's helped me a lot. But
love it, man. Well, hey, thank you for the time. It was a pleasure. Best of luck. I know you're in front of the home crowd taking on one of our own Indiana guys, but it has been a pleasure to hang out, learn more about your story. Uh, I will say America's heavyweight is a true statement, man. Like, I agree.
You won the hearts of so many people over. I'm really excited to watch you guys on Saturday. I'm really excited. This is going to be mean big implications, huge storyline unfolding. We'll see you Saturday night, Fishers Event Center. Uh, it's a pleasure, brother.
Sounds good, brother. Thank you, Nate.
This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater. Whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level, click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations at Sweetwater. If you want a behind-the-scenes look at everything we're doing across the state, make sure you follow me on Instagram and Tik Tok, Nate Spangle. Thank you so much for listening and being a part of what makes the Hoover State great. We'll see you next time here on Get
