The Clash at Bullhead - Bullhead City, AZ
Over the weekend of May 6, 2023, The Wrestling Spot traveled 1,879 miles to Bullhead, AZ, to cover The Clash at Bullhead, which RMN Events hosted. The event did not disappoint, as the hospitality, venue, tournament execution, officiating, and wrestling were top-notch. We look forward to covering more RMN Events soon.
The Anderson Auto Group Fieldhouse
The Clash at Bullhead took place in Anderson Auto Group Fieldhouse, an impressive 126,500-square-foot multi-sports facility. The venue is fully climate controlled, with stadium and bleacher seating for roughly 4,500 people. RMN had 20 mats down for the tournament and could have easily fit another 20 mats without any issues. The venue also had many windows, allowing plenty of natural light into the space.
The Clash at Bullhead
RMN Events hosted two tournaments back-to-back on Saturday. Weigh-ins were conducted at the venue on Friday, starting with the fast pass option ($20 extra) from 1:00 - 2:00 PM and continuing from 4:00 - 6:00 PM for all other wrestlers. The weigh-ins were efficient and uneventful, which was perfect.
The folkstyle tournament, which featured nearly 750 athletes, kicked off promptly at 9:00. The folkstyle tournament had both boys and girls divisions with age groups spanning from 6U to OPEN. Each branch was assigned a mat on which they stayed all day, which kept things running smoothly and efficiently.
The folkstyle tournament, which featured nearly 750 athletes, kicked off promptly at 9:00. The folkstyle tournament had both boys and girls divisions with age groups spanning from 6U to OPEN. Each branch was assigned a mat on which they stayed all day, which kept things running smoothly and efficiently.
The freestyle tournament kicked off around 2:45 PM and was much smaller than the folkstyle tournament, with only about 180 athletes competing across all ages, genders, and divisions.
Both tournaments were conducted with ruthless efficiency and fantastic hospitality, allowing the athletes, officials, parents, and other spectators to focus on why they came... wrestling.
This event was especially enjoyable for me as my son decided to join me and competed in the 18U tournament at 157 pounds. Aside from the competition, we spent some quality time traveling together and even exploring Las Vegas after the tournament.
The ACTUAL Wrestling
I'm relatively new to Southwest wrestling, so I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of quality. It didn't take long to see that I was in store for a day of good wrestling in both the boy's and girls' divisions. While the athletes were primarily from the tri-state area (California, Nevada, and Arizona), there was also good national representation, with athletes from as far as Pennsylvania attending.
Throughout the day, I recorded over 50 matches in 6K, primarily on mats 10-15. I captured a good combination of girls' and boys' matches with various age groups represented. Those matches will be posted to an event playlist on my YouTube channel over the next week or so for your viewing pleasure.
The brackets and results are available on FLOSPORTS Arena. I'll also be updating this post from time to time with what I consider to be the best matches of the tournament, so check back from time to time.
#1 Isaac Rea of Team SoCal [R] v. Tatum Garcia of New Mexico Bad Boyz [G] (157)
#2 Gavin Martinez of Aztec Wrestling Club [R] v. Vonn Fenn of Grindhouse Wrestling Club [G] (120)