Wednesday, October 30, 2013
No Holds Barred: Kyle Dake and the Rebirth of Real Professional Wrestling
On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with the only college wrestler ever to win four NCAA Division I national championships in four different weight classes, Kyle Dake.
Now that his college wrestling career is over, besides aiming to wrestle in the Olympics, he is very much involved in many aspects of the sport of wrestling. He is currently serving as a volunteer assistant coach at his alma mater, Cornell, as well as appearing at various wrestling events and wrestling camps, and preparing to compete in international wrestling competitions.
He will be returning to action in a freestyle wrestling match in the main event of the second annual Grapple at the Garden on Sunday, December 1, at the world's most famous arena, Madison Square Garden in New York. His opponent will be another former NCAA Division I national champion, Bubba Jenkins, who was also a freestyle wrestling junior world champion and is currently a professional MMA fighter.
We spoke with Kyle Dake by phone Tuesday.
"It's a great time to try to be a professional wrestler, because there's so many opportunities," he said. "It's unfortunate that when I say professional wrestler, 99 percent of the population thinks of WWE, WWF, things like that."
He continued, "I think of myself as a professional, I really do. It's my job to be the best that I can be. I don't think of myself any different than, say, a UFC fighter, or a basketball player, or a baseball player. I'm trying to reach the peak of wrestling."
We also discussed his full-time training at Cornell, the need for wrestling to adapt to what fans want to see, his preference for remaining in wrestling rather than transitioning to MMA or grappling, and much, much more.
You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link doesn't work, please try another.
No Holds Barred is also available on mobile phones and iPads through Stitcher.
Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.
The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.
No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:
ONE Fighting Championship. ONE FC is Asia's largest and most prestigious mixed martial arts event. ONE FC features the best Asian fighters and has initiated the ONE Asia Partnership Network, which includes most of the major MMA promotions and MMA gyms in Asia. For more information, go to their web site, at ONEFC.com.
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American Top Team. Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site at http://americantopteam.com/.
Labels: college, Cornell, Eddie Goldman, freestyle, Grapple at Garden, Kyle Dake, Madison Square Garden, No Holds Barred, real professional wrestling
Monday, December 17, 2012
No Holds Barred: Kyle Dake
Currently in his final year wrestling for Cornell, Kyle Dake has the distinction of being the only college wrestler in America to have won three NCAA Division I individual national championships in three different weight classes: 141, 149, and 157 pounds. This season he is competing at 165 pounds, and is currently ranked number one in the country.
At the Grapple at the Garden event on Sunday, December 16, at New York's Madison Square Garden, Kyle Dake won both his matches and was awarded the Bill Farrell Outstanding Wrestler Award. He also has wrestled in freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling, having been a U.S. junior world team member in Greco while still in high school, and plans to focus on freestyle when his college wrestling career concludes this coming March. He thus is a prime candidate to achieve success in international wrestling in the years to come, and an athlete to whom the international wrestling community should pay close attention.
Right after the Grapple at the Garden event concluded, we had a chance to speak with Kyle Dake.
"I wrestled pretty tough, but there's definitely parts of my game that I can improve on, and that's what I'm looking forward to," he said in this interview. "These next two weeks are going to be really important, and we're going to come up on the Southern Scuffle and I'm going to be ready to go."
You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link doesn't work, please try another.
No Holds Barred is also available on mobile phones and iPads through Stitcher.
Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.
The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.
No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:
ONE Fighting Championship. ONE FC is Asia's largest and most prestigious mixed martial arts event. ONE FC features the best Asian fighters and has initiated the ONE Asia Partnership Network, which includes most of the major MMA promotions and MMA gyms in Asia. For more information, go to their web site, at ONEFC.com.
MMA World Expo. The mixed martial arts community comes to New York City February 16 and 17, 2013, for the fourth annual MMA World Expo, featuring an amateur MMA tournament, grappling, MMA fighters, seminars with world-class trainers, vendors, panel discussions, and much more. The MMA World Expo takes place Saturday, February 16, and Sunday, February 17, 2013, at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City.
Beezid.com - Penny Auctions. Your #1 source for exciting auction shopping and outstanding deals on just about anything! Top rated, most trusted auction site online. Where do you shop? Beezid.com - Penny Auctions.
American Top Team. Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site at http://americantopteam.com/.
Labels: college, Cornell, Eddie Goldman, folkstyle, freestyle, Grapple, Greco-Roman, Kyle Dake, Madison Square Garden, NCAA, No Holds Barred, wrestling
