World Medalists Forrest & Jesuroga Collide For Round 4 At Who's Number One
World Medalists Forrest & Jesuroga Collide For Round 4 At Who's Number One
Jax Forrest and Nate Jesuroga had one of the most dramatic three-match series at the U17 World Team Trials. Now they'll meet with the #1 spot on the line.
On the evening of May 1st, Jax Forrest and Nate Jesuroga stared at the South Point jumbotron while they waited on the results of a challenge to determine which one of them would represent Team USA at the U17 World Championships in Rome. Forrest won the challenge, the series, and ultimately, a World Silver Medal which means that, in hindsight, wrestling fans were watching World silver and World bronze medalists compete for just one spot. Now, the rivalry will be renewed on September 9 at Who's Number One.
Over the past 15 months, Jesuroga has been at or near the top spot in the country. That tends to happen to guys who compete as often and win as much against good competition as Jesuroga does. He proved that he was world class when he brought a bronze medal home from the 2021 Cadet World Championships, and he's won titles at Super 32, Fargo, and the Iowa State Championships since then.
Jesuroga's Cadet World bronze medal victory
Jax Forrest wrapped up his 8th-grade year at Bishop McCort this spring, but he's already highly accomplished at the high school level. His resume is headlined by the World silver medal he brought back from the U17 championships in Rome last month. Wrestling fans haven't had as much time to become familiar with Forrest as he hasn't started high school yet, but they should because he isn't going anywhere.
Highlights from Jax Forrest's thrilling U17 World semifinal victory
Hit Lists
Not only are Jesuroga and Forrest accomplished on the World stage, and not only do they have an outstanding, budding rivalry, they're both also incredibly accomplished domestic wrestlers, even compared to the rest of the Who's Number One participants. Jax Forrest hasn't started high school yet, but since the spring of 2021, he's piled up 15 ranked wins over 13 ranked opponents. Seven of those ranked wins came against opponents ranked in the top 10.
Forrest's hit list is impressive, but Jesuroga's is absurd. Since U17 World Team Trials in April of 2021, he has 23 ranked victories over 17 ranked opponents with 13 of those coming against top-ten guys.
Most of these matches are archived, so scroll the list and enjoy literal hours of ranked Jesuroga and Forrest matches.
Nate Jesuroga Hit List
#11 (2021) Ben Aranda
Jax Forrest Hit List
#8 Jake Crapps