It's hard to beat the thrill of a good dual meet, especially when the stakes go up as the dual unfolds, and the final match decides the winning team. This weekend's RTC Cup will be packed with matches that should come down to the wire, but remember, this is UWW dual meet criteria and not folkstyle dual meet criteria. Before the RTC cup kicks off, bone up on the criteria that will decide which team wins.

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RTC Cup Dual Meet Criteria

1) Win 4 Matches, Win the Dual

Unlike folkstyle dual meets, team score does not come into play in UWW dual meet criteria unless both teams win an equal number of matches. So since the RTC Cup dual meets have 6 matches, any team that wins 4 or more matches will win the dual.

Simple, right? The problem is that many of these dual meets could end in 3-3 splits. That's when team score, or "classification points" becomes a factor.

2) 3-3 Split? Score the Most Classification Points

If both teams win 3 matches, we'll count up the classification points. Winning wrestlers can earn either 5, 4, or 3 points for their team, and losing wrestlers can earn either 1 or 0 points for their team. Here's how that breaks down.

5 for the winner and 0 for the loser if:

• Wrestler wins by fall
• Wrestler wins by injury
• Wrestler wins because opponent gives up 3 cautions
• Wrestler wins by forfeit
• Wrestler is disqualified

4 for the winner and 0 for the loser if:

• Wrestler wins by tech and loser does not score during the match.

4 for the winner and 1 for the loser if:

• Wrestler wins by tech and loser scores at least one point during the match.

3 for the winner and 0 for the loser if:

• Wrestler wins by less than a tech and loser does not score during the match.

3 for the winner and 1 for the loser if:

• Wrestler wins by less than a tech and loser scores at least one point during the match.

0 for both teams if:

• Both wrestlers get disqualified
• Both wrestlers get injured
• Both teams forfeit

It's worth pausing here to emphasize how game-changing a fall would be. Think, for example, about Taylor Lujan's fall over Gabe Dean at the 195 lb 8-Man Challenge. Dean was on pace to tech Lujan. If that match had been in a dual, Dean's team would have been expecting 4 classification points to Lujan's 0, but Lujan stepped over Dean and earned the fall meaning that his team would have ended up with 5 classification points to Dean's 0. That's a 9 point swing!

3) 3-3 Split & Tied in Classification Points? Most Wins by Fall

If both teams have won 3 matches and the classification points for each team are also the same, the next criteria is number of falls. Any fall in this event could decide the whole dual.

4) Still Tied? Most Wins By Technical Superiority

If everything is still tied after criteria 3, the next step is to count up the number of technical superiority wins. The team with more wins the dual.

5) Still Tied? Are You Kidding Me? Count Up the Match Points

If total bouts, classification points, falls, and techs are all equal, we'll get our our calculators and tally up all of the points scored for each team during the individual matches. The team who has more wins the dual.

6) Still Tied? This is Outrageous! Who Gave Up the Fewest Match Points?

If all of the previous categories are equal, the dual will be decided by which team gave up the fewest total technical points during all 6 matches. The team who was scored on the least will win.

7) Still Tied? Big Problem. Call In The Big Men.

If two teams are so evenly matched that they're still tied after the first six criteria, the dual meet is decided by the last match that was competed during the dual. Since we'll be starting every dual at 57kg, that means the heavyweights will close it out. In the unlikely event of all of these criteria being tied, the team whose heavyweight won the last bout would take the whole dual.

Official Dual Meet Criteria from the UWW rulebook:

In case of a tied match (same number of victories like 5-5) between two teams in a team competition, the winner will be determined by successively reviewing the following criteria:

• The total of classification points
• The most victories by fall
• The most match victories by technical superiority
• The most technical points obtained during the match
• The fewest technical points given during the match
• The outcome of the last bout competed