USA Wrestling, Beat the Streets Wrestling to Host Final X Event in Newark

USA Wrestling and Beat the Streets Wrestling have announced that the 2025 Final X event will take place June 14 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Final X will determine the 2025 U.S. Senior World Championships Teams in men’s and women’s freestyle. There will be 20 weight classes contested, 10 in each men’s and women’s freestyle. If the Prudential Center’s tenant, New Jersey Devils, host a Stanley Cup Playoff game on June 14 the contingency date for Final X would be June 15.

“USA Wrestling is pleased to partner again with Beat the Streets New York and the Prudential Center to bring Final X back to New Jersey,” said Rich Bender, USA Wrestling executive director. “Our nation’s best men and women freestyle wrestlers will be showcased, with a berth on the 2025 U.S. Senior World Team up for grabs. Final X is one of the most exciting wrestling events in our nation, with many current or future World and Olympic medalists expected to compete.”

The top two U.S. athletes in each weight class will compete in a best-of-three series at Final X to determine who will wrestle at the 2025 Senior World Championships on September 13–21 in Zagreb, Croatia. The Final X event is held in conjunction with the 15th BTSNY Annual Benefit, which raises funds to support local youth wrestling programs for boys and girls in New York City.

“Beat the Streets is thrilled to host Final X once again for our Annual Benefit, in partnership with USA Wrestling,” said Brendan Buckley, Beat the Streets executive director. “This event is our largest fundraiser, covering 75 percent of our annual expenses and enabling us to empower 2,500-plus New York City boys and girls through the sport of wrestling. We are excited to hold Final X at Prudential Center and look forward to witnessing world-class athletes vie for spots on Team USA at the 2025 World Championships.”

The Final X event features several of the top wrestlers in the world. This year, there are seven U.S. wrestlers who won a medal at the 2024 Olympic Summer Games — and four athletes who won a medal at the 2024 World Championships — who are eligible to advance directly to the Final X best-of-three series, if they accept their position and compete in the same weight class in Final X.

They must declare they will compete at that weight class and accept their direct Final X qualification by April 15. In weight classes where an athlete has advanced directly to Final X, the U.S. Open champion will earn the opposing Final X spot. In weight classes in which no athlete earned an automatic Final X berth, the champions of the U.S. Open and World Team Trials Challenge Tournament will wrestle at Final X.

“Prudential Center is grateful for this opportunity to welcome back to Newark our partners at Beat the Streets Wrestling and USA Wrestling for another high stakes Final X competition,” said Dylan Wanagiel, vice president, sports properties and special events, HBSE/Prudential Center. “We are honored to host the best wrestlers in the United States in their quest to represent our country and achieve wrestling immortality, while also supporting the mission of Beat the Streets. As we cement Prudential Center as a premier destination for all combat sports, we look forward to welcoming grappling fans from across the country to the wrestling hotbed of New Jersey for this marquee event.”

The rest of the field will be determined at the U.S. Open on April 23–27 at The Expo at World Market Center in Las Vegas and the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament on May 17–18 at Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center in Louisville.