It all began with a cryptic tweet Tuesday morning from NC State wrestling …
For those uninitiated, the WWE wrestlers pictured in the GIF above are "brothers" The Undertaker and Kane, nicknamed "The Brothers Of Destruction."
The Undertaker, one of the greatest wrestlers in WWE history, became famous for retiring, only to later return to the ring. Then, in 2020, the company built a documentary around the legend's final retirement called "The Last Ride," where at the end he officially called it a career.
The tweet above was hinting that one of NC State wrestling's legends will return for a 'last ride,' giving the Wolfpack's own Brothers Of Destruction — 157-pounder Hayden Hidlay and 184-pounder Trent Hidlay — one more year together.
Hayden, the program's first-ever four-time All-American, confirmed Wednesday on the program's podcast that he will return for a sixth year of eligibility in Raleigh, something he did not publicly announce prior to last weekend's NCAA Championships.
While announcing his comeback, he also admitted the weight cut to 157 has been hard, and he'll compete next year up two weight classes at 174 pounds, after wrestling his first five years at 157 (except for two tournaments at 165 his redshirt year). That means he and Trent will be back to back in the lineup next season.
"It's a fresh start and I don't know if anybody in the NCAA needs a fresh start more than I do," Hidlay said on the podcast. "I'm going to spend the next year enjoying it. … I want to help Trent get to where he wants to be.
"A big theme for us is we want to take on the big machine of Penn State. They have national champs at 174 and 184. Am I good enough right now to beat the top guys at 174? No, but I have 12 months to really commit myself to enjoying the sport and being healthy. … I don't see why I can't do it and I don't see why we can't do it together."
One of the stipulations Hidlay had for coming back, other than moving up two weight classes, was that he didn't want to serve as a team captain for the fifth time. He knows that he'll be an outlier age-wise on the roster and the next wave of team leadership needs to take over.
He'll be more of a player-coach in some senses next year, something that seems all too perfect a fit.
"He's like having a coach on your team," head coach Pat Popolizio said of him prior to this season in an exclusive interview with The Wolfpacker. "He's good enough right now to be a full-time coach for a Division I program without any coaching experience. The guy is bred to lead and motivate guys; he knows what it takes.
"You can't ask for anything more as a role model and citizen for this university and department. If you were to ask me what's the perfect athlete and leader that you can have on your team — this guy's it; he's special."
Hayden Hidlay is also already one of the most accomplished wrestlers in program history, on and off the mat.
In addition to being the team's first-ever four-time All-American, he is a four-time ACC champion who has never lost to a conference foe and was named the league's 2020 Wrestler of the Year.
In the classroom, he's a three-time Academic All-American and the 2020 ACC Wrestling Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Overall, the four-time team captain is 91-8 during his four years in the lineup to rank second all time in career winning percentage, and in his three chances at the NCAA Championships he has placed second, fourth and fifth. He was named a first-team All-American after earning the No. 2 seed for the 2020 event that was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now he'll get a fourth chance at winning an NCAA gold medal, and will have plenty of other history in his sights when he returns to the mat next winter.
Hidlay will be looking to join the 100-win club at NC State — a landmark the program has had less people reach (five) than win an NCAA gold medal (eight individual titles) — and become the league's first-ever five-time champ.
However, there may not have been a bigger reason to return to college for one more year than his brother, who finished second nationally this year to a wrestler from Penn State.
"He's capable of so much in this sport," Hayden said of Trent. "Pretty much my whole life, he's taken what I've done and outdone it, and to me that's what I've always wanted.
"… Let's take [Penn State] on and do something that people say can't be done. We have each other as a safety net, that's what it comes down. We're here to have fun, to enjoy ourselves and I just want to see him celebrate.
"We'll rebrand to 'The Brothers Of Destruction' having us back to back. I do believe we can be the best tag-team in the NCAA."
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