The moment couldn’t have been more compelling for Wyatt Hendrickson.
The fans cheering the second-seeded Hendrickson’s name. His walk-out song, Steve Earle’s “Copperhead Road” blaring through the Wells Fargo Center sound system. An American flag wrapped around his back, as it has all season during his walkouts.
Awaiting him was the top-seeded Gable Steveson of Minnesota. And Saturday evening’s heavyweight title match, concluding the 2025 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in Philadelphia, couldn’t have fit the mold of an American underdog story more.
In a classic David vs. Goliath battle, Hendrickson knew his role: David. In this case, Hendrickson was a renowned figure in the college wrestling realm, but still searching for his elusive crown.
Still, Hendrickson persevered. He dethroned the heavyweight Goliath and clawed his way to college wrestling’s mountaintop, securing his first individual national title via a 5-4 decision against Steveson.
“In the story, David had a vision of victory,” Hendrickson said. “I kind of carried that with me all week. Even though he went after Goliath and everyone was like, ‘This can’t be done,’ he had the mindset of a champion.”
After his semifinal victory against No. 3 Greg Kerkvliet of Penn State, Hendrickson noted how Steveson was a figure he “looked up to” during his high school days. Hendrickson even added how he modeled much of his offensive technique early on after Steveson’s.
And now, his vision came full circle. Even as Hendrickson’s idol became his rival, he withheld David’s “mindset of a champion.”
As Hendrickson walked onto the mat, Steveson greeted him with a shoulder check and a stone-cold staredown. A wordless statement that served its purpose and one that inadvertently told Hendrickson and fans present that Steveson — a two-time national champion, five-time All-American and Olympic champion — owned the mat.
Or so he thought.
“Going out there, I was courageous,” Hendrickson said. “And my strength — it all just worked out.”
The moment the nearside official blew his whistle, Hendrickson said he blocked out all noise and locked in on his opponent. Match on.
Despite surrendering an early takedown to Steveson in the first period, Hendrickson never wavered. Throughout Period 2, his defense did the work as he worked to tire the behemoth Steveson. Then, once the final period commenced, Hendrickson locked in.
With 20 seconds remaining in the final period, Hendrickson went in for a double-leg shot. Steveson countered, but Hendrickson drove his feet and got into a flurry — a position Steveson has so often come out on top in.
But not this time. Hendrickson kept driving his feet and eventually secured the takedown — 5-4 Hendrickson.
By the time Steveson, who hadn’t surrendered a takedown all season, got in position to go for the escape point, it was too late. His efforts came to no avail, and all present witnessed a spectacle perceived by many to be improbable.
The moment the clock hit, the crowd roared in unison as Hendrickson rose to his feet, raising his arms into the air.
“That was one of the greatest matches that I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” OSU first-year coach David Taylor said. “It’s almost surreal. In the corner thinking, ‘Hey, we have a chance here. Right? We’ve got a chance here.’”
A bold statement from a figure with Taylor’s credentials — two individual national titles, three All-American honors and an Olympic championship. But simultaneously, it was quite fitting.
Pundits on social media referred to it as mayhem. Former OSU wrestler Daniel Cormier, who called the match on ESPN, said it was, “the greatest upset in history.”
But to Hendrickson, it was a moment that was years in the making.
“The mindset I kind of wanted to have was to act like I wanted to be a champion and wrestle like I wanted to be a champion,” Hendrickson said. “He took me down once, but I took him down when it mattered.”
Awaiting Hendrickson was Taylor and assistant coach Jimmy Kennedy, who Hendrickson embraced post-match. Afterward, he found his parents, shed tears of joy, and found United States President Donald Trump — who was in attendance for the championship match on Saturday — for a handshake and a salute.
In a moment of immense doubt from others, Hendrickson believed. And in the end, it paid dividends.
“I just think that this is a sport where everybody’s got a chance; you’ve just got to believe — you’ve got to believe,” Taylor said. “It’s easy to get caught up in what you can and what you can’t do. Wyatt believed.”
Sure, Hendrickson might have preferred his title match to be more fulfilling. The Cowboys finished third with 102.5 team points — 74.5 behind national-champion Penn State, which clinched its fourth straight team title. But the magnitude of the moment was too monumental for Hendrickson to think about anything else, he said.
Goliath had been slain, a classic underdog story had been etched into the college wrestling history books and Hendrickson, at long last, had captured his first individual title and gave OSU its second of the weekend. Perhaps his post-match statement with the mat-side reporter illustrated the situation best.
“Nobody thought David could take down Goliath,” he said into the microphone, visibly holding back tears. “But I did.”