Wrestling Problem: Personality is Good

This week the main stream media, even stretching past just sports channels, jumped on the story Duke basketball player Grayson Allen pulled off a trip when he found himself off balance and out of reach of an opponent. The story just works. Allen has everything you need to easily make him out to be a villain. Priviledged private school white boy looks, evil empire Duke University, and even doing it against Elon in a completely unimportant game versus an overmatched opponent. 

I did remember walking past the Madison Square Garden Theater, where NCAA Wrestling was having a "weigh-in preview" show Saturday afternoon before the finals. I remember thinking, "how great would it be if Gwiz shoved Snyder?" 

Now I'm fully aware this is cheap UFC/WWE tactics, but what would have happened? The video would have blown up on social media, and be shown on ESPN lead-ins. At the end of the day, Wrestling would benefit. 

Even in a more positive note, when Sammy Brooks won his first Big Ten title (which was not just assumed by the way) in front of a sold out Carver-Hawkeye Arena he gave a legendary interview about his mullet and prerequisite preparation. Also, props go to Shane Sparks for holding steady and going with that interview. That clip went viral and was shared on just about sports website imaginable. There were a lot of positive remarks from people. I mean, how many times does college wrestling get featured in GQ?

We can all pretend that we should all be the guy that just hands the ball to the ref after scoring the touchdown, but we need to admit that personality is better for the sport. I'm not saying go for cheap stuff, but don't be afraid to dance a bit after a win.