Beat the Streets New York and USA Wrestling will present Final X, presented by Tezos, on Saturday, June 10 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Final X, presented by Tezos, will determine the 2023 U.S. Senior World Teams in all three Olympic disciplines: men’s and women’s freestyle and Greco-Roman. There will be 30 weight classes contested, 10 in each Olympic discipline.
The top two U.S. athletes in each weight class will compete in a best-of-three series in Final X to determine who will wrestle at the 2023 Senior World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. The medalists and the fifth-place wrestler in each weight at the 2023 Senior World Championships will qualify the United States for their weight class at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
This will be the first time that Final X will be held in one location, as previous Final X competitions were held in either two or three cities. It will also be the first time Final X will be contested on three mats. It is the second time Final X will be hosted in New Jersey, as Final X Rutgers was held in 2019 in Piscataway.
“USA Wrestling is excited to partner once again with Beat the Streets New York to present the most important domestic wrestling event of the year, Final X, presented by Tezos. The nation’s greatest athletes will compete for the right to represent Team USA at the 2023 Senior World Championships, as well as an opportunity to qualify our nation for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Final X will once again be intense and exciting, as our elite men and women wrestlers put it all on the line in Prudential Center, a world-class facility. Make plans to join us in Newark,” said USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender.
Final X, presented by Tezos, will be broadcast live on FloWrestling.
It is the second straight year Final X will serve as the Beat the Streets Annual Benefit. In 2022, BTSNY hosted Final X New York at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. This year’s event will be the 13th BTSNY Annual Benefit.
These unique and electrifying annual events help BTSNY raise more than $1 million each year to support local youth wrestling programs which empower young people in New York City. BTSNY provides a safe, positive atmosphere for student-athlete to learn essential life lessons of discipline, perseverance, self-reliance, humility and a strong work ethic through wrestling. The BTSNY Annual Benefit after party will follow the conclusion of Final X.
Session times will be 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Eastern time, with the Beat the Streets after party to immediately follow. Ticket information for Final X will be available on Ticketmaster at a later date, while tickets for the BTSNY Annual Benefit after party can be purchased at btsny.org.
“Beat the Streets New York is excited to host Final X once again for our Annual Benefit this year alongside one of our strongest partners in USA Wrestling. This event is our largest fundraiser of the year and will support 75 percent of our annual expenses, so we can continue to make a lifelong impact on the 2,500 boys and girls in New York City that rely on us. We are looking forward to hosting this event at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, a state filled with rich wrestling traditions. We have no doubt this year’s event will add to that tradition and provide exciting moments for some of the World’s greatest men and women athletes who are looking to earn a spot on Team USA at the 2023 World Championships,” BTSNY Executive Director Brendan Buckley said.
“Wrestling in the state of New Jersey has proven to be the incubator for success on the international level. It’s only fitting for Prudential Center to now host the best wrestlers in our nation as they compete to represent Team USA at the upcoming World Championships,” said Dylan Wanagiel, Vice President of Sports Properties & Special Events for Prudential Center. “On the heels of Top Rank Boxing (April 8) and UFC 288 (May 6), Final X (June 10) will keep all eyes in the combat sports world on Newark. Previously we have established ourselves as a top venue for college wrestling with the creation of ‘Garden State Grapple.’ We are now thrilled to add freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling to our diverse calendar and are very appreciative of our partners at USA Wrestling and Beat the Streets for bringing this marquee event to New Jersey.”
There are 15 wrestlers who won a 2022 Senior World medal that are eligible to advance directly to the Final X best-of-three series, if they accept their position and compete in the same weight class in Final X, presented by Tezos. They must declare they will compete at that weight class and accept their direct Final X qualification by April 21. USA Wrestling will announce when athletes accept their Final X position.
Once World medalists have either accepted or refused their Final X position, the rest of the field will be determined at the U.S. Open on April 26-30 in Las Vegas and the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament on May 20-21 in Colorado Springs, Colo.
In weight classes where an athlete has advanced directly to Final X, the U.S. Open champion will earn the opposing Final X spot. In weight classes in which no athlete earned an automatic Final X berth, the U.S. Open champion and World Team Trials Challenge Tournament champion will advance to Final X.
World Team Trials Challenge Tournament qualifiers are determined based on the approved World Team Trials procedures for each of the Olympic disciplines, which are posted in the Team Selection section of USA Wrestling’s website.
FINAL X locations
2018 – Lincoln, Neb.; State College, Pa.; Bethlehem, Pa.
2019 – Piscataway, N.J; Lincoln, Neb.
2022 – Stillwater, Okla., New York, N.Y.
2023 – Newark, N.J.
*Please note if Prudential Center’s tenant, New Jersey Devils, host a playoff game on June 10 the contingency date for Final X would be Friday, June 9.
cover image: Sarah Hildebrandt (credit: Justin Hoch)
