One of the most anticipated matchups of either Final X is at 65kg between Zain Retherford and Yianni Diakomihalis. With five NCAA titles and three Cadet gold medals between them, they represent America's best opportunity to medal at this weight for the first time since 2006.

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While we could take you through literally their entire wrestling careers, it is most wise to start in 2016, when both really jumped into the forefront of the collective wrestling consciousness in this country. Zain was just 21, and Yianni was 17 at the time.

For the past three years (or four, depending upon how you score it), there have been no wrestlers between 141 and 149 pounds that have been as dominant, talked about, and emulated like Zain and Yianni. Well, sure there's Pico, but he's fighting now.

First a timeline of how their paths ultimately led them to Final X, with a little more context after that, and then another viewpoint of the three years that end with them facing in a best-of-three series in front a national audience for the right to represent Team USA in the year that qualifiers for the Olympics are determined.

2016

• Zain' first NCAA title
• Zain finishes third at Olympic Trials
• Yianni second Cadet world title
• Yianni injures elbow, misses senior season

2017

• Zain's first Hodge
• Yianni loses to Deakin at Open, doesn’t wrestle Trials
• Zain loses to JO on correct throw
• Zain wins Trials over Molinaro
• Zain goes 1-1 at Worlds

2018

• Zain’s 2nd Hodge, 3rd NCAA title
• Yianni’s 1st NCAA title, tears ACL in process
• Zain and Yianni miss freestyle season

2019

• Zain loses to Rashidov up 3-0
• Yianni’s second NCAA title
• Zain goes 4-0 at World Cup
• Yianni wins Open, beating Zain in finals
• Zain beats JO for first time (2x)
• Final X matchup

2016

Let's start in the March of 2016. Zain entered the national tournament 29-0 with 25 bonus point wins. He completely dominated his way through NCAAs, and emerged as the unquestionable Hodge favorite entering his junior season. It came after a redshirt year and cemented Zain as a bona fide star in the wrestling world.

Meanwhile, a few months later, Yianni made his second straight Cadet world team. One of the leaders on a squad that had a legit shot at winning the team title, he ran through the field in Tbilisi to legitimize himself as one of the biggest high school stars in an era chock full of them.

After that though, Yianni did not compete at Super 32, missing out on an opportunity to become the first four-time champ in the event’s history. He then had elbow surgery that not only ended his season, but closed out his high school career without a shot at a historic fifth New York state title, something that had only been accomplished one other time.

2017

While Yianni battled injuries, Zain embarked on perhaps the most dominant collegiate season we’ve ever seen. In 27 matches, he teched or pinned 24 opponents, a finishing rate we’ve never seen before. He was the leader of a team that blew away the field at NCAAs, the first in a line of five consecutive national champs that pushed the Nittany Lions to finish 30 points ahead of runner-up Ohio State.

Rolling into the freestyle season, he made his first senior world team, continuing the trend of guys who still had college eligibility left that were able to make a world team. This came after several years of falling short in the Junior Trials finals at the beginning of his college career, losing back-to-back years to Aaron Pico. It had been five years since he won his Cadet world title, and after a tumultuous few weeks involving Jordan Oliver and Frank Molinaro, who only a year prior had been training at Penn State.

The same weekend that Zain lost to JO on a correct throw, Yianni blew a second period lead against Ryan Deakin, and for the second year in a row did not compete at the Junior Trials despite qualifying for them. Right before WTT, it came out that JO tested positive for a banned substance and Molinaro would be sitting in the best-of-three finals. Zain made it through the challenge tournament, the series went three matches, and Retherford flashed a bloody grin after he made the team.

2018

For the only year that they were both in college at the same time, they both ended in NCAA titles. Zain rounded out his career with another Hodge and his third national crown, putting him in elite company among not only Penn State but perhaps in the pantheon of all-time greats throughout all of college wrestling.

While the Zain Train was ripping through his final collegiate season, Yianni was in several barnburners. He beat Bryce Meredith at CKLV (which admittedly was in late 2017), but then suffered his only loss of the year to Jaydin Eierman.

In what has since become a legendary story, Yianni tore his ACL at NCAAs, but still managed to defeated the two-time defending champ in Dean Heil, avenge his Eierman loss, and beat the 1 seed in Meredith, a two-time finalist who was selected to go the pre-tournament press conference. Oh, and he was trailing in the final minute of each match and needed to go and get a takedown to win every time.

Alas, the injury kept Yianni out for the entirety of the freestyle season, preventing him from not only making a senior world team but a junior one as well. Zain took the summer off after finishing his college career to work on his skills and reflect on his love of the sport. Both are potentially worrisome, but Yianni came back at 100% and Zain came back more motivated than ever.

2019

Both tested the waters late in 2018, with Zain wrestling at AWL and Yianni at Mat Town and against Northern Iowa in a dual, but they really came back strong in January.

With two-time world silver Gadzhimurad Rashidov bumping up to 65kg, it was a highly anticipated matchup for Zain heading into the Yarygin. Although he was up 3-0, he ultimately fell 4-3 against the type of guy he will have to beat to win a world medal.

Meanwhile in America, Yianni was working his way back through the season, getting in shape as he went since the knee injury severely hampered his preseason. He ultimately went undefeated, though he didn't score any bonus at NCAAs and had to go to overtime to beat Joey McKenna for his second title. All of this shortly after Zain went 4-0 at World Cup, setting up an excellent match at the Open, one of just several juicy ones entering the tournament.

On the top side, Yianni beat 2016 Olympian Frank Molinaro, top seed and training partner Jordan Oliver, and then Zain, a run that was chronicled in our FloFilm: Take Over. Just like his first national title, he took out the three best guys in the bracket, and was trailing against Zain in the final minute.

So after missing the bulk of two straight freestyle seasons, Yianni overcame the odds and made Final X as a Junior eligible athlete (he just turned 20 in April). That left Zain to have to wrestle at the WTT challenge tournament in Raleigh, in a bracket with Molinaro who he'd went three matches with and Oliver who he'd never beaten. But he beat JO (down 6-1 in match one) two times, setting up his Final X match with Yianni.

Yianni got back on the freestyle train, his preferred style. Zain vanquished someone he'd never beaten before. On June 8 at the RAC, they'll step on the line two (or three) times, and we'll settle this once and for all. Hopefully you'll remember where they came from to get there.