Real Woods

Real Woods

Personal information
Full name	Real Marshall Ray Woods
Born	1999 Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.
Height	5 ft 7 in (170 cm)
Weight	65 kg (143 lb)
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Wrestling
Event(s)	Freestyle and Folkstyle
College team	Iowa Stanford
Club	Cliff Keen Wrestling Club Titan Mercury Wrestling Club Hawkeye Wrestling Club (formerly) Stanford – California RTC (formerly)
Coached by	Sergei Beloglazov Tom Brands (formerly) Terry Brands (formerly)
Medal record Men's freestyle wrestling Representing the   United States Grand Prix 2025 Tirana 65 kg 2023 Sassari 65 kg U20 Pan American Championships 2019 Guatemala City 65 kg Collegiate Wrestling Representing Iowa Hawkeyes NCAA Division I Championships 2023 Tulsa 141 lb Big Ten Championships 2024 College Park 141 lb 2023 Ann Arbor 141 lb Representing Stanford Cardinal Pac-12 Championships 2022 Tempe 141 lb 2021 Corvallis 141 lb 2020 Stanford 141 lb

Real Marshall Ray Woods (born 1999) is an American freestyle and folkstyle wrestler who competes at 65 kilograms. He currently competes in the Featherweight division of Real American Freestyle (RAF), where he is the current RAF Featherweight Champion.

In freestyle, he qualified to represent the United States at the 2025 World Championships. ^[1] In folkstyle, Woods was a three-time NCAA Division I All-American, twice for the Iowa Hawkeyes and once for the Stanford Cardinal. ^[2]

Career

High school

Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Woods moved to Shungnak, Alaska early in his life, where he started wrestling at age seven. ^[3] He then moved to Lombard, Illinois so he could attend Montini Catholic High School, mainly due to their wrestling program. ^[4]

Woods was a three-time IHSA state champion and a four-time finalist, and was highly ranked in the nation when he committed to wrestle at Stanford University in 2017, before graduating in 2018. ^[5]

Stanford University

After a 19–1 season while wearing a redshirt in 2018–2019 at 141 pounds, Woods became a NCAA qualifier and Pac-12 champion as a redshirt freshman in 2019–2020, posting once again a 19–1 record before the NCAA tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ^[6]

As a sophomore, Woods only competed in the post-season, placing second at the Pac-12 Championships and going 2–2 at the 2021 NCAA tournament, finishing 6–3 on the year. In 2021–2022, he claimed his second Pac-12 title and became an NCAA Division I All-American with a sixth place finish at the 2022 NCAA tournament, closing out 17–4. ^[7]

University of Iowa

After earning a degree from Stanford University, Woods decided to transfer to the University of Iowa for his remaining two years of eligibility. ^[8]

2022–2023

For his junior year, Woods claimed the Big Ten Conference title and made it to the finals of the NCAA tournament, placing second and closing out the year with a 20–1 record. ^[9]

After folkstyle season, Woods made his senior level freestyle debut, placing second and going 2–1 at Italy's Sassari City Matteo Pellicone Memorial that took place in June. ^[10]

2023–2024

For his final season, Woods placed third at the Big Ten Championships, and claimed All-American status for the third time with a fourth place finish at the NCAA tournament, closing out the year with a 23–5 record and his career with a 104–15 record. ^[11]

Post-collegiate career

In August 2024, Woods announced he would move to Michigan to join the Cliff Keen Wrestling Club and pursue freestyle accomplishments. ^[12]

2025

Woods took the freestyle mat for the second time in his senior level career at the Muhamet Malo Tournament in February. ^[13] After three dominant wins over foreign opposition, including Bulgaria's European finalist Mikyay Naim, he was stopped by Iran's World champion Rahman Amouzad in the semifinals, which pulled him into a bronze medal match where he defeated Japan's Kaiji Ogino. ^[14]

Competing domestically for the first time, Woods placed fourth at the US Open National Championships in April, racking up five victories though falling to Aden Valencia twice. ^[15]

Woods avenged his losses to Valencia in the first round of May's US World Team Trials Challenge tournament, where he claimed first place after three victories, including one over two-time NCAA champion Jesse Mendez. This set him up for a best-of-three series at Final X against US Open champion Joseph McKenna to decide the fate of the US World Team spot. ^[15]

In June, after two straight victories over McKenna, Woods became the US World Team member at 65 kilograms, and will represent the United States at the World Championships later in the year. ^[16]

Freestyle record

Senior Freestyle Matches
Res.	Record	Opponent	Score	Date	Event	Location
2025 US World Team Trials at 65 kg
Win	16–4	Joseph McKenna	4–4	June 14, 2025	2025 Final X	Newark, New Jersey
Win	15–4	Joseph McKenna	7–5
Win	14–4	Brock Hardy	10–6	May 16–17, 2025	2025 US World Team Trials Challenge	Louisville, Kentucky
Win	13–4	Jesse Mendez	11–9
Win	12–4	Aden Valencia	6–4
2025 US Open 4th at 65 kg
Loss	11–4	Aden Valencia	3–5	April 23–27, 2025	2025 US Open National Championships	Las Vegas, Nevada
Win	11–3	Beau Bartlett	9–8
Win	10–3	Tom Crook	TF 10–0
Win	9–3	Luke Simcox	TF 13–1
Loss	8–3	Aden Valencia	4–5
Win	8–2	Noah Ingram	Fall
Win	7–2	Marcus Spallino	TF 10–0
2025 Muhamet Malo International at 65 kg
Win	6–2	Kaiji Ogino	9–1	February 26, 2025	2025 Muhamet Malo Tournament	Tirana, Albania
Loss	5–2	Rahman Amouzad	2–11
Win	5–1	Adlan Askarov	TF 10–0
Win	4–1	Mikyay Naim	TF 10–0
Win	3–1	Congbao Xie	10–1
2023 Matteo Pellicone Memorial at 65 kg
Loss	2–1	Ayub Musaev	2–4	June 9, 2023	2023 Sassari City Matteo Pellicone Memorial	Sassari, Italy
Win	2–0	Yaroslav Hurskyy	TF 12–2
Win	1–0	Felipe Ferrusola	TF 10–0

References

1. "Nine berths on 2025 U.S. Senior Men's Freestyle World Team set during exciting Final X action in Newark". www.themat.com. 2025-06-15. Retrieved 2025-06-25.
2. "Real Woods - Men's Wrestling 2022-23". Iowa Hawkeyes Athletics - Official Athletics Website. Retrieved 2025-06-25.
3. "From above the Arctic Circle comes a wrestler who likes to throw some weight around". Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved 2025-06-25.
4. Batterson, Steve (2022-10-27). "College wrestling: Transfer Woods has had impact on Iowa wrestling room". Courier. Retrieved 2025-06-25.
5. Nomad, Wrestling (2017-07-10). "#3 Real Woods Commits To Stanford". FloWrestling. Retrieved 2025-06-25.
6. Bratke, Kyle (2020-03-18). "2020 NCAA Championships All-State Team". FloWrestling. Retrieved 2025-06-25.
7. "Real Woods - Wrestling 2018-19". Stanford Cardinal - Official Athletics Website. Retrieved 2025-06-25.
8. Goodwin, Cody. "Real Woods accomplished one dream at Stanford. He wants to accomplish another at Iowa". Hawk Central. Retrieved 2025-06-25.
9. Goodwin, Cody. "NCAA Wrestling: Iowa's Real Woods falls to Northern Colorado's Andrew Alirez in 141 final". Hawk Central. Retrieved 2025-06-25.
10. "Kennedy wins gold, Assad and Woods earn silver medals at Sassari City Matteo Pellicone Memorial". www.themat.com. 2023-06-14. Retrieved 2025-06-25.
11. "Iowa's Real Woods finishes fourth, reflects on college wrestling career". Hawk Central. Retrieved 2025-06-25.
12. admin. "Cliff Keen WC Adds Woods to Freestyle Roster". Cliff Keen Wrestling Club. Retrieved 2025-06-25.
13. "Muhamet Malo 2025 Ranking Series Entry List". uww.org. 2025-02-13. Retrieved 2025-06-25.
14. "Marsteller wins gold, Woods and Lewan secure bronze at Muhamet Malo Ranking Event in Albania". www.themat.com. 2025-02-26. Retrieved 2025-06-25.
15. admin. "Woods Claims 65kg Title, Punches Ticket to Final X". Cliff Keen Wrestling Club. Retrieved 2025-06-25.
16. NJ.com, Bill Evans | NJ Advance Media for (2025-06-15). "N.J. native Joey McKenna's world-team frustrations continue with Final X defeat". nj. Retrieved 2025-06-25.