Rahway Wrestling

Never been around wrestling?

Confused by the sport?

Wonder what the referee is doing?

Curious about how the wrestler scores points and wins a match?

Well, this page is for you. It will give you the objective of a wrestling match and many of the details that you need to know about how a wrestler achieves that objective.

A Team Sport and an Individual Sport

As you can see from the photo above, wrestling can be just as intense off of the mat as it is on the mat. The RAHWAY wrestlers above want their teammate to win not only for their teammate, but also for the team.

The object of the sport of wrestling is to put your opponent on his back -- to pin your opponent.

A pin (or fall) is when you put your opponent on his/her back with any part of both shoulders or both shoulder blades of your opponent in contact with the mat for two seconds. When you pin your opponent, the match is over and you are the winner.

If nobody gets pinned, the winner is the wrestler who has scored the most points during the match.

How a Individual Wrestler Scores Points and Wins a Match

There are five ways to score points in a wrestling match:

Takedown - (2 points) You score two points for taking your opponent down to the mat and controlling him/her.

Escape - (1 point) You score one point for getting away or getting to a neutral position when your opponent has you down on the mat.

Reversal - (2 points) You score two points when your opponent has you down on the mat and you come from underneath and gain control of your opponent.

Near Fall (Back Points) - (2 or 3 points) You get near fall points when you almost but not quite get your opponent pinned. A near fall (near pin) is when...

both shoulders are held for two seconds within four inches of the mat, or...

one shoulder touches the mat and the other shoulder is at a 45 degree angle coming down to the mat, or...
If a near fall lasts for two seconds, you get 2 points. If a near fall lasts for 5 seconds, you get 3 points.
the wrestler is held in a high bridge or back on both elbows.

Penalty Points - (1 or 2 points) Your opponent is awarded points if you commit the following infractions.

Illegal Holds - There are several holds that the referee will penalize you for without warning. (There are other holds call "potentially dangerous holds" which the referee might make you let go of but will not penalize you for).

Technical Violations

Going off the mat to avoid wrestling ("fleeing the mat.")

Grabbing clothing, the mat, or the headgear

Incorrect starting position or false start (You get two cautions before points are awarded).

Locked or overlapped hands: If you are down on the mat in control of your opponent, you cannot lock or overlap your hands, fingers srcor arms around your opponent's body or both legs unless you have your opponent in a near pin, or your opponent stands up and has all his/her weight on two feet.

Leaving the mat during the match without the referee's permission Figure 4 head scissors from the neutral position.

Unnecessary roughness

Unsportsmanlike conduct

Flagrant Misconduct (ejection, the match is over)

Stalling (you get one warning before you are penalized and points are awarded).

The first and second time you are penalized, your opponent is awarded one point. The third time you are penalized, your opponent is awarded two points. The fourth time you are penalized, you are disqualified. (Except for illegal starting position or false start - you are cautioned twice, then one point awarded for each infraction, but you will not be disqualified).

How a Team Scores Points and Wins a Meet

In a dual meet (one team competing head to head with another team), points are scored for your team or lost to the other team based on the following point scheme. There are 14 weight classes in high school wrestling, so you take the points scored for each team by weight class and add them up. The team scoring the most team points wins the dual meet. So, it is possible to have several people on your team win individual matches only to have the team lose the dual meet. As you will see below, it is also possible for a team to win the majority of individual matches by "decisions" (gaining 3 points) only to lose the dual meet because they gave up too many matches to "falls" (losing 6 points).

Fall, Forfeit, Default, Disqualification - 6 team points

Technical Fall (getting ahead of your opponent by 15 points ends the match) - 5 team points

Major Decision (winning the match by 8 - 14 points) - 4 team points

Decision (winning the match by fewer than 8 points) - 3 team points

These rules apply to the type of wrestling done in the United States in College, High School, Junior High, Middle School, and most youth wrestling. This type of wrestling is often referred to as "folkstyle" wrestling. The rules for "freestyle" and "greco-roman" wrestling, as is done in the olympics and internationally, are a little different.

How a Team Scores Points and Wins a Meet