The Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic, formerly known as the Dapper Dan, is once again upon us. This year’s teams both have a combined total of over 2,000+ wins with Team USA on top of that with a total record of 2,697-132 against Team PA’s 2,038-208. 

This year’s event will also feature four rematches. Hayden Hidlay and Griffin Parriott, Mitch McKee and Micky Phillippi, Thomas Bullard and Jake Wentzel and Luke Pletcher and Chad Red all have some history.

But not only will it be a night of putting high school rivalries to bed, but it will also be putting an end to their storied high school careers.

Six-time Minnesota state champ Mark Hall, one of the greatest wrestlers in high school history, brings his incredible resume to Team USA for his final high school match against Belle Vernon’s Austin Bell. Hall flexed his muscles at the Cliff Keen Dream Team Classic with a high level thumping of #2-Alex Marinelli. Now, in his final 6-minutes as a high school wrestler he will be looking to put on one last show. 

There will also be some great match-ups throughout the all-star including the continuation of the rivalry between four-time Indiana state champ #1-Red and three-time PA state champ #2-Pletcher. Over the last few years Red and Pletcher have met at a number of places with Red leading the series 2-1. Pletcher got the best of Red at FloNationals in 2014 as he came out on top of a 7-3 decision in the semifinals. 

But since then, it’s been all Red as he’s recorded a fall over Pletcher in last year’s FloNational finals then followed up with a scramble-tastic overtime win over Pletcher at WNO to kick off the season. 

Could this be the time for Pletcher to even the score?



Coming all the way from Florida is five-time state champ #8-Kyle Norstrem who will face three-time PA state champ #4-Luke Karam. Both guys have pretty similar body types and can score from just about anywhere.

At 152, #2-Parriott will meet #3-Hidlay in a highly anticipated bout. Parriott recently took a loss to #1-Mason Manville at Dream Team Classic so ending his high school career on a good note is surely on his mind. But Hidlay is bringing some heat with an underhook that keeps just about everyone off balance. At Super 32, it was Parriott that came out on the better end of a 3-1 decision. This came after Hidlay claimed a 12-2 tech fall over Parriott at Fargo.



Another Minnesota monster, #5-McKee, will be representing Team USA this weekend. McKee had a pretty nice win over Brent Moore at the DTC and will be looking to do the same against #3-Phillippi. Besides Red, Phillippi is the only guy to defeat Pletcher this year. He’s got the ability to slow a match down which could come in handy when he takes on McKee who showed some slickness a few weeks ago against Moore. Phillippi’s ability to slow the match down usually results in a low scoring bout which is exactly what went down a few years back when they met, Phillippi won 4-2. I guess we will see if McKee can dictate things this time.

Thomas Bullard may have a twin who is completely his equal, but if there was any other guy that I think can be considered to be his on-the-mat twin, it’s Jake Wentzel. I’ve seen both guys ride legs pretty efficiently and dictate a match too. But it’s really truly their top game that I see the most similarities with. It’s going to be a good battle on their feet, but whoever puts on the tougher ride will take the W. I’m sure that Wentzel would like to erase the 7-0 loss he took to the four-time GA state champ at Super 32 last year.

This year’s all-star is going to be great. We’ve got so many guys that match-up well against each other and it’s the last we will see Mark Hall in a high school match. 

Make sure you don’t miss a second of this amazing event LIVE ON FLO.

Schedule (Times at ET)

4:00 PM – WPIAL All-Stars versus Indiana All-Stars
6:00 PM – PA All-Stars versus USA All-Stars

Line-ups

Team USA vs Team PA
113: Danny Vega (USA) vs Gage Curry (PA)
120: Tyler Warner (USA) vs. Tyshawn White (PA) 
126: Kyle Norstrem (USA) vs. Luke Karam (PA)
132: Chad Red (USA) vs. Luke Pletcher (PA)
138: Mitch McKee (USA) vs. George Phillippi (PA)
145: Hunter Marko (USA) vs. Mike Carr (PA)
152: Griffin Parriott (USA) vs. Hayden Hidlay (PA)
160: Thomas Bullard (USA) vs. Jake Wentzel (PA)
170: Mark Hall (USA) vs. Austin Bell (PA)
182: Keegan Moore (USA) vs. Greg Bulsak (PA)
195: Sam Colbray (USA) vs. Jake Jakobsen (PA)
220: Matt Stencel (USA) vs. Jacob Robb (PA)
285: Shawn Streck (USA) vs. Jacob Beistel (PA)

Team Indiana vs WPIAL
113: Geoffrey Davis (IN) vs. Aaron Burkett (WPIAL)
120: Drew Hildebrandt (IN) vs. Ethan McCoy (WPIAL)
126: Gaige Torres (IN) vs. Chris Eddins (WPIAL)
132: Owen Doster (IN) vs. Mike Heinl (WPIAL)
138: Evan Eldred (IN) vs. Shaun Wilson (WPIAL)
145: Jordan Vaughn (IN) vs. Damon Greenwald (WPIAL)
152: Steven Lawrence (IN) vs. Derek Verkleeren (WPIAL)
160: Cayden Whitaker (IN) vs. Mitch Hartman (WPIAL)
170: Drew Hughes (IN) vs. Anthony Welsh (WPIAL)
182: Blake Rypel (IN) vs. Milton Kobaly (WPIAL)
195: Jake Kleimola (IN) vs. Drew Phipps (WPIAL)
220: Sam Hipple (IN) vs. Mike McAleavey (WPIAL)
285: Sean Galligar (IN) vs. Hayden Rice (WPIAL)