THE ILLINI WRESTLING BLOG AND FORUM

  Also today, we are pleased to announce a deal that will combine the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the Jombo ™  Comic Universe. Tomorrow, we will inform Disney and Marvel Studios. In the meantime, let’s celebrate with a wall poster of your favorite JCU and MCU villains. Hang it up in your dorm room, basement or closet. Be one of the cool kids and not a total loser jerk!

If you hadn't heard about DANNY NINI before, you can bet that somebody close to the program knew all about him. Austin O'Connor recently graduated from the same University of North Carolina program from which Nini has transferred. Talk about a scouting report! It might even be that Danny sought out the ILLINI to train with the best middleweight coaching staff in the business with Mike Poeta, IMAR and AOC. It could also be the case that he wants a future in the MMA world and can find that training in ILLINOIS. Anybody with the courage to do a kids-watching-Saturday-morning-cartoons pose on an alligator is gonna be a good get.  In fact, he wrestled Haines a couple years ago while moving up a weight from 149 to 157 in the UNC/PSU dual and lost a very respectable 1-4 decision. AOC saw something in Danny Nini that made him feel that he could wrestle in the tough middleweights in the B1G.  Back in high school at Lake Highland Prep in Florida, Danny was ranked at 138. He's coming

Today, we introduce a new character into the JCU (The Jombo™ Comic Universe). This new comic seems really stupid and silly, but that’s why I like it so much. Because this is such a big day in the JCU, we are providing a double feature. That’s so you can get to know our new hero,  Mike Grey, Boy Coach . That little rascal! Well, I oughta….

That is an actual AI rendering of a photograph of Jordan Blanton's face.  THE NEW PODCAST   Brian Swaw and I had the great fortune to talk to legendary ILLINI and ILLINOIS wrestler Jordan Blanton about Life, the Universe and Wrestling. We showed him video of his matches with NCAA superstar Ed Ruth and IHSA superstar Chris Spangler. Additionally, he detailed how Relentless Training Center North and Relentless Training Center South came to be. Here it is: Additionally, we prepared a trailer for the podcast to publish on Twitter and Instagram. It is about two minutes of fun: Finally, a great picture that we think exemplifies America:

  We highlighted the wrestlers who are ILLINI or who have direct connections. Of course, we want all of them to come to ILLINOIS. What a powerful group of wrestlers! There was no Braeden Scoles and no reason given. INDIVIDUAL RESULTS   From the #11 seed slot, Wyatt Medlin fought his way through the entire bracket and made the best of three Finals for the World Team. He ended up losing the third of the three matches 4-6 in a very tumultuous and controversial match. Still, he became a US Open Silver Medalist and World Team alternate.  Here's a short video showing highlights from Medlin's first match in the tournament with credit to Alice Cooper and FloWrestling: After the first day, Kannon Webster remains on the Championship side of the bracket in the Quarters. He has scored 32 points in three matches to his opponents' 0. It'd be more but there's a mercy rule.  Kannon's in the quarters against Tony Conetta of App State. Match #4305. Will is deep in the consolatio

  THE COVERAGE Before getting into individual results, a few words about the broadcast on Peacock, a little post mortem on the coverage. The short version is that the $5.99 plus tax was totally worth it, but I will not have a Peacock sub by next week.  In my opinion,  Peacock  did an excellent job, much better than Flo. That's especially true regarding everything besides the finals. Those are usually less than impressive when viewed through a Flo lens. It was quick and easy to switch mats. The only glitches for me occurred after about :20 into a new match, the system reset. I did have a couple of short outages on day one.  The cameras were top notch, and they brought you right into the action. Cameras now have zoom lenses! There were also actual camera operators who turned the cameras to continuously face the action. I was not aware that that was possible.  I will certainly cancel Peacock after about a week. It offers almost nothing besides a  Real Housewives  for every major metro