Wyatt Hendrickson

Wyatt Hendrickson (born January 13, 2001) is an American wrestler. He currently competes in the Heavyweight division of Real American Freestyle (RAF), where he is the current RAF Heavyweight Champion.

He competed in collegiate wrestling for the Air Force Falcons and Oklahoma State Cowboys. A heavyweight, he won the 2025 NCAA national championship, defeating Gable Steveson in a major upset. He was also the recipient of the 2025 Dan Hodge Trophy.^[1] Hendrickson represented the US at the 2025 World Wrestling Championships.

Hendrickson is from Newton, Kansas.^{[2] [3]} He competed in wrestling while attending Newton High School, where he was a four-time All-American in the freestyle and Greco-Roman styles and won a Kansas state championship twice.^[4] He was ranked the number three recruit in his weight class nationally and after graduating, enrolled at the United States Air Force Academy.^[5] He had received offers to join numerous collegiate wrestling teams and initially threw a letter from Air Force away, before being convinced by his father to enroll there.^[6]

As a freshman at Air Force in 2020–21, Hendrickson compiled a record of 16–5 and qualified for the NCAA Championships.^[4] He then was the national pins leader as a sophomore and won the Big 12 Conference championship, compiling a record of 26–2 while returning to the NCAA Championships.^[4] He won another Big 12 title in the 2022–23 season and finished third at the NCAA Championships, having compiled a record of 31–2 during the season.^[7] He was an All-American, the first from Air Force in 20 years.^[4] As a senior in 2023–24, he repeated as the third-place finisher at the NCAA Championships.^[8] In his career with the Air Force Falcons, Hendrickson went 103–11 while being a two-time All-American.^[9]

With an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hendrickson was selected for the World Class Athlete Program at Air Force, allowing him to delay his military service to continue his career.^[6] He transferred to the Oklahoma State Cowboys for his final season of collegiate wrestling since military academies do not allow graduate students to compete.^[6] He compiled an undefeated record of 27–0 during the 2024–25 season, qualifying for the NCAA Championships.^[10] There, he advanced to the finals and defeated Gable Steveson, an Olympic gold medalist who had won 70-consecutive matches, with a takedown in the final seconds.^[11] The commentators for the match described Hendrickson's win as the "biggest upset in NCAA history".^[11] He celebrated his win with President Donald Trump, who was in attendance.^[11] With the win, he became the 145th national champion from Oklahoma State and third wrestler from the university to win the Hodge, narrowly winning one of the most competitive Dan Hodge Trophy votes in history.^[12]

He won the 2026 US Open at 125 kg, qualifying him for Final X in June.^[13]

Hendrickson holds the rank of second lieutenant in the United States Air Force.^[14]

• Wyatt Avery Hendrickson at United World Wrestling
• Wyatt Hendrickson at Tapology.comEdit on Wikidata
• Wyatt Hendrickson at the International Wrestling DatabaseEdit on Wikidata
• Wyatt Hendrickson at InterSportStatsEdit on Wikidata

• 2001 births
• Air Force Falcons wrestling
• American male sport wrestlers
• Living people
• Oklahoma State Cowboys wrestlers
• Pan American Wrestling Championships medalists
• People from Newton, Kansas
• Real American Freestyle champions
• Real American Freestyle male wrestlers
• Sportspeople from Kansas
• United States Air Force personnel
• United States Air Force World Class Athlete Program

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from April 2025
• Commons category link from Wikidata
• Articles using sports links with data from Wikidata