Every report coming out of Columbus, Ohio, these days is that Logan Stieber and Joey McKenna are training on opposite ends of the room leading up to their Final X showdown this Saturday in State College, PA. 

While these two might have worn the same college colors, they couldn’t be more polar opposites stylistically. It'll be interesting to see if either Buckeye deviates from his general game plan when it matters most.  

WATCH FINAL X STATE COLLEGE LIVE ON FLO

Saturday, June 16 | 4 PM EDT

Shooters Shoot

Many of the best wrestlers in the United States have adopted a more selective style. Whether that's by design of coaching or just do to some of the country’s best volume-shooters getting older, Stieber is one of the last remaining gunslingers in the U.S. While there are definitely drawbacks to shooting from the hip like Stieber, there are a few advantages too. One being that he's always in a match. Down by 4 with less than a minute to go? No problem. Keep shooting. 

The other thing that makes Stieber dangerous is that he really doesn’t care what the score is when considering offense either. He’s going to keep his foot on the gas. Up by 4 with less than a minute to go? No problem. Keep shooting. 

Keep An Eye On The Line

As I mentioned before, McKenna and Stieber aren’t training together leading up to Final X, but that doesn’t mean that they weren’t training together at some point. I can only speak to training situations that I had in the past, but generally when we had two athletes in the same weight class they might practice with one another leading up to the last qualifier (in this case World Team Trials), but they would stop partnering up on match days sooner than that (usually leading up to qualifiers like the U.S. Open). 

One thing that I can tell you may come into play is the out-of-bounds line. More specifically, McKenna’s masterful use of it. 

Generally, when you practice with someone the way that we’re presuming Stieber and McKenna were training together leading up to the WTTs, you usually don't use an out-of-bounds line. In fact, the opposite is oftentimes the case. Those live goes wind up going through walls. Now, if they were paired up on match day leading up to the Open, then there’s a good chance that they were wearing singlets and using the out-of-bounds line. 

If we’re all operating under the assumption that McKenna and Stieber haven’t touched each other on match day since before the U.S. Open, I would pay extra close attention to McKenna's back leg when he gets close to the line. McKenna turns his foot perpendicular to the action and straightens his back leg. What that does is makes it nearly impossible to get pushed out of bounds. 

Another thing it does (assuming your opponent is pushing in and trying to get you to step out) is it builds up a tremendous amount of pressure. Enter the mastery. McKenna releases the pressure with a slide-by and scores a takedown on the edge. Watch it below.

Throw Away Common Opponents

McKenna teched Evan Henderson back in April in the U.S. Open semis. In the World Team Trials it took a last-minute 4-pointer from Stieber to beat Henderson on criteria. So, what can we derive from that? Absolutely nothing, mainly because they possess such different styles and skill sets. 

Because McKenna beat Henderson by 10 and Stieber was tied does not mean that McKenna is, by default, 10 points better than Stieber. The thing that we all have to take into consideration is which athlete can get to their best position the most. 

Can Stieber get past the head and hands of McKenna and get to that low double? What if McKenna gets on top and gets to that Larry lock gut? (I would explain a Larry lock gut, but Matt Ciampa from Eclipse WC might shoot me for divulging trade secrets.) We’ll find out on Saturday night.