The US Wrestling Olympic Trials were a thrilling set of affairs, to say the least. The Bryce Jordan Center saw some incredible wrestlers going at each other with hopes of making it to the national team, and none of them held back even remotely. With stars like Aaron Brooks, Carter Starocci, and Olympic gold medalist David Taylor – the 86kg weight class was filled to the brim with talent, and every match was as entertaining as the other. However, not everyone could walk away from the Penn State campus with something to show for it.

For Iowa Central’s Pat Downey, the road to Paris wasn’t an easy one. A torn MCL and a broken rib only added to the challenge in front of him. While Downey bowed out of the tournament in the first round after being subdued by home star Starocci, the 2015 NJCAA champ was reluctant to consider the NLWC wrestler as a worthy opponent. And he didn’t hesitate to speak his mind after the defeat either.

Carter Starocci’s foe isn’t holding back on the verbal war

In his recent Instagram post, Downey took a dig at Starocci along with several snaps from their bout last weekend. “all up in that @carterstarocci bussy jit thicc asl,” wrote Pat in his post, evidently full of spite at the reigning NCAA champ. While his statement may look to be in bad taste for some fans, Downey claimed that he will be back in world-class shape soon and hinted that Starocci should prepare for a face-off.

Starocci won the first round of the 86kg category defeating Downey with a 4-0 decision. However, in Downey’s defense, the Olympic trials were his first major tournament after having sustained a serious injury months earlier. On top of that, his being a wrestler without a coach didn’t help his journey too much either.

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Despite that, fans haven’t been too keen to get behind Downey’s comments with enthusiasm. He received some flak from fans as he wrote, “#OilCheck can’t wait to run it back w out #TheFix & a proper camp to get me back into world class wrestling shape. i will post a breakdown of our match for those who missed it live on.”

Fans share their amusement

Wrestling fans came together to take a jab at Downey after his post on Instagram, with The Wrestling Room also sharing, “Things are certainly getting weirder…” One fan reacted by saying that their last iota of respect for Downey went away with this post and the user hoped that the wrestler’s claim to fame would be buried in the abyss.

However, another fan on Instagram is sure that what Downey did at the trials was something remarkable. “Keep your head up. For missing so much training and still taking it to carter for the first is a great accomplishment,” opined the fan.

A user, who goes by the name of Jack Sparrow, claimed that Downey “lives in your head rent free.” Scott believes all this banter is just Pat’s way of hyping an MMA match between himself and Starocci sometime in the future. “Starocci want to get into MMA and Downey is setting up a hate match for a future payday.”

Meanwhile, another fan thinks Downey just needs some proper guidance. “You’re right, just need a good camp before international competition.”