Ex-NCAA Wrestling Champ A.J. Ferrari Gets Booted from State Championship Venue, Reveals True Cause

A.J. Ferrari has solemnly branched out, as per his recent overtures, away from wrestling and has donned the hat of a coach, albeit with a few hiccups. Ferrari is renowned for his strategic takedowns, and it seems he’s faced his second flagrant away from Soldiers Salute. But, the NCAA wrestling champion is facing uncertainty about his future wrestling career despite a stellar victory at the 2021 NCAA championship. 

Consequently, A.J. decided to transition from being a wrestler to a coach. However, his recent transition to mold his wrestling path took an unexpected turn. Amidst practicing MMA with his younger brother, his foray into coaching wrestling skills to the younger generations has sparked controversy about his recent State Championship feats, and it might be his biggest upset so far, literally and figuratively.

Is A.J. Ferrari’s coaching career looming with Soldiers Salute’s pall of gloom, too?

A.J. Ferrari made an appearance at the 2024 Florida State Championships as a coach for a team of budding wrestlers. However, A.J. was booted from the championships despite not being a participant. Remember how A.J. actually gave the referees a reason to disqualify him at Soldier Salute? After securing the match-winning takedown, Ferrari shoved down his opponent’s head, forcing the officials to intervene.

Following quite some deliberation, they disqualified A.J. Hearing the ruling, he flipped twin birdies and did the splits, ensuring a feisty ending to the match. However, at the Florida State Championships, there didn’t appear to be any solid reasoning for his booting. At least, not according to A.J. He took to his Instagram account to share his side of the story, laying out the reasons for what happened.

Ferrari was coaching a bunch of athletes at the Florida State Wrestling Championships to take the reins of collegiate wrestling. Since all the athletes A.J. was coaching were still competing at the championships, he decided to stay quiet directly after getting kicked out so as not to affect other performances. In the post, he penned, “I have worked with dozens of athletes competing, and all of the ones I am coaching are done, so now I can speak.”

Along with a video of him being kicked out, he explained, “I got kicked out of the Florida State Wrestling Championships for signing autographs and pictures with fans on the floor with active wrestlers and coaches competing in the tournament.” That may not seem like a serious enough offense to be kicked out of the premises. And that’s because it wasn’t. Turns out there’s more to the story than meets the eye.

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What really happened?

During the first and second days of the event, A.J. had no idea what was conspiring against him. “I had no idea I wasn’t allowed on the floor because no one said I couldn’t be on the floor.” In those first two days, no one said otherwise, which made him think it was okay to be on the floor. However, midway through the second day, the head supervisor, J.A. Colasanti, approached him with the police and gave him a talking down, asking him to leave the floor.

But that wasn’t all. “Later that day, I was simply walking around, and police came up to me telling me that J.A. Colasanti gave me a citation for trespassing for the day, and I was kicked out of day 2,” Ferrari revealed. Hoping to have an under-the-radar Day 3, but things didn’t go according to plan. “J.A. Colasanti made the decision to kick me out completely of the event for no reason – when I never went back on the floor after being told not to,” Ferrari bemoaned frustratingly.

In the video A.J. Ferrari posted, he asked the authorities why he was kicked out. “This is private property,” said the manager. They added, “The client who’s hosting this event has asked that you no longer be here.” While they clarified that Ferrari was “trespassing,” they didn’t explain how. Was this a repercussion of what happened at Soldier Statue, or was it just a one-off case? Could this pattern of kicking him out continue in subsequent championships? Only time will tell.

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