Carter Starocci’s run at the World Team Trials came to a grinding halt after a razor-thin 3-3 loss to Kyle Dake — but the scoreboard wasn’t the only thing that left fans buzzing. While Dake secured the win on criteria and punched his ticket to Final X, Starocci dropped a cryptic post hinting that not everyone in his corner was actually in his corner.

Yep—the NCAA champ all but suggested his own coaches may have been against him. And just when things couldn’t get any more intense, Dake opened up with a brutally honest take on the controversial finish that decided the match. In the finals of the World Team Trials, Carter Starocci went head-to-head with four-time World champion Kyle Dake in a nail-biting 86 kg showdown. Score?

Well, the match ended 3-3, but Dake took the win on criteria, edging out Starocci in the final seconds. With that victory, Dake advanced to Final X in June, where he’ll face Zahid Valencia for a spot on Team USA at the World Championships. What he has to say, let’s find out. While talking to USA Wrestling, Kyle Dake talked about her face-off at the 2025 Senior World Team Trials Challenge Tournament champion in men’s freestyle.

Kyle Dake knew what he was stepping into when he squared off against Carter Starocci at the World Team Trials. “I know how good Carter is,” Dake admitted after the match. “Just to train side by side with him, it’s just like, alright, I’ve got to get in there.” That mutual respect wasn’t just for show — it was forged through grind-it-out training sessions and the kind of dogfight that unfolded on the mat that day.

Dake, a seasoned world champion, recognized something special in the young NCAA phenom. “He’s the kind of kid that says ‘all day work,’ and it’s true — he’s in there all the time.” And it showed. Their final match was less a wrestling bout and more a chess game of physical will, capped off by a heart-pounding final exchange that had the crowd holding its breath.

In the end, the match came down to inches and a referee’s decision — something Dake is all too familiar with. “You know, just like, hopefully they have the right camera angles,” he said when asked what was going through his head in that moment. “Whether I did expose or I didn’t… whether I fell to my hip and let go or not.” The tension didn’t ease even when the clock hit zero.

“We wrestled probably five seconds after the whistle went off,” he said. Kid Dynamite further added, “The guy basically had to peel us apart from each other. Because neither one of us wanted to concede.” For Dake, it was another gritty win. For Starocci, it was a bitter pill laced with controversy and frustration. But for wrestling fans, it was a reminder of how razor-thin the margins are when titans collide.

The battle may be over, but the surrounding conversation is far from done. But when Dake has so many good things to say about Starocci, the five-time NCAA Division I champion, he has some weird takes. Let’s rewind a bit.

After falling to Kyle Dake, Carter Starocci makes a surprising admission ahead of Final X.

Carter Starocci isn’t just another NCAA champion—he’s a rising force reshaping American wrestling’s next era. Just when Starocci avenged his 2022 loss to Chance Marsteller in the semifinals at the 2025 World Team Trials and secured a 4-2 victory, fans were excited and expecting him to reach the Final X. But even the brightest stars face turbulence. In a gritty World Team Trials final against Kyle Dake, Starocci fell just short on the scoreboard—but his post-match comments sparked even bigger headlines.

When two elite wrestlers like Kyle Dake and Carter Starocci face off, drama is guaranteed—but few expected the fallout to include coaching controversy. After a heated World Team Trials final, Starocci didn’t just lose the match—Carter Starocci dropped a cryptic post that raised eyebrows across the wrestling world.

“Man, it’s super weird having your coaches coach against you. 🤣 Dake deserved it; good job, man, and thanks for the help along the way!” Starocci wrote, leaving fans speculating about tension within his camp. The post, lighthearted on the surface, hinted at deeper frustrations—a rare crack in the usually tight-knit fabric of elite wrestling programs.

While Starocci showed respect to Dake, he also peeled back the curtain for a moment that was clearly more complicated than it appeared. With Dake now heading to Final X to face Zahid Valencia for a shot at the World Championships, Starocci’s future remains uncertain—but his fire and potential are undeniable. One thing’s for sure: the road to Paris just got a lot more interesting.