David Taylor Needs to See Bedlam and He Will on Friday

STILLWATER – You really have to see a Bedlam wrestling dual to fully understand how mammoth or gargantuan it is. Take it from someone that saw David Hille lure Steve “Dr. Death” Williams into double disqualification or Mitch Shelton use his 400 pound plus body to flatten the same Dr. Death. Bedlam is crazy! It’s the Schutlz brothers, Andre Metzger, Lee Roy Smith. It is Thomas “the Snake” Landrum and Eric Weis. It’s John Smith and more recently, it was a clinching win by Luke Surber.

Oklahoma State Athletics

Surber’s win clinched a Bedlam dual.

“It’s pretty high up there, I’d say it is one of the top ones,” Surpber said when asked this week if that was one of his greatest moments in wrestling. “It was a great environment, a lot of people and it was just a great moment. It came down to that.”

Surber is a senior from Tuttle, just down the road from Norman. His high school and college teammate Dustin Plott is also from Tuttle. Carter Young is from Stillwater. Bedlam is a darn big deal to them. It always has beensince they were old enough to attend. 

For a transfer, even one from Newton, Kansas that grew up an OSU fan, it is not as much.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Hendrickson grew up and OSU fan but didn’t understand Bedlam.

“I didn’t see too much of it and I really didn’t understand what it was,” Big 12 Wrestler of the Week and unbeaten No. 3 heavyweight Wyatt Hendrickson said of Bedlam. “Now, I know it is a big deal.” 

The coach may be getting an education on Friday in Norman as well.

“It’s competing, I think that is what is nice about the season, the rhythm of it,” David Taylor said when asked about Bedlam. “It’s compete, recover, train, get ready for the next tournament or dual meet. The next one and obviously this is a big one for the state of Oklahoma, for fans of Oklahoma. I’m looking forward (to us) going out and wrestling.”

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This will be David taylor’s first Bedlam.

I agree, with just one Bedlam in wrestling this year in Norman it will be different. Taylor was quick to point out that Oklahoma State wanted to wrestle twice, but Oklahoma’s staff said, no.

“Coach Taylor is a unique coach. The way he responds to stuff, he has been in this sport a long time and has experienced a lot of stuff,” Hendrickson said of his coach and possibly the less than huge opinion he had going into Bedlam. 

“I just think it is wrestling. As a kid I loved watching and seeing the results,” Taylor said of Bedlam. “It’s a good thing and this will be my first in person. I just think it is another match. You don’t do anything different because of the opponent. You don’t change what you do. We have to focus on what we do and go out and wrestle.”

Here are the line-ups for Friday: