Franklin Regional grad Nico Megaludis returning to mat in Real American Freestyle league

Nico Megaludis was comfortable being done with wrestling. But the Franklin Regional graduate wasn’t anticipating the Real American Freestyle league gaining steam since he retired this past May.

After a few weeks off the mat, Megaludis was back to training. He was excited with what they had to offer and was ready to get back to business.

“There’s been a lot of marketing. It can’t be, ‘Let’s put together a card and wrestle in front of a camera,’ ” Megaludis said. “In my opinion, it’s going to succeed and they are getting some of the best wrestlers in the world. When I retired, no one knew what the RAF was going to be. When they called, I was like ‘Aw, crap’. It’s time to put the shoes back on.”

Megaludis, who is 33 and lives in Churchill, will compete on the organization’s second card, RAF 02, on Oct. 25 at Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center. Megaludis is set to compete against Ukraine’s Andriy Tasenko in the 135-pound bantamweight division.

The headline bout is between Kyle Dake and Slovakia’s Boris Makoev in a 190-pound championship bout. RAF is a professional league that is for elite freestyle wrestlers to compete under similar rules to the Olympics.

Chad Bronstein is the CEO of the league, which was originally announced in a news conference featuring Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff on April 30.

“There’s been nothing like it ever before,” Megaludis said. “They have a full model, and there’s been a lot of excitement.

A lot has changed for Megaludis since he competed in April at the 2025 USA Wrestling U.S. Open in Las Vegas. Megaludis and his wife, Franki, have a baby, 14-week-old Elias.

Megaludis, who is partners with his dad, Daniel, at Megaludis Financial-Northwestern Mutual, said his wife has been the reason he could balance everything and go back to competing.

“My wife, Franki, is amazing,” Megaludis said. “With my business and training, she’s unbelievable. She does a lot of it at night, and it allows me to go to business meetings and get good sleep. It makes life a heck of a lot better when I know I have my family. I want to raise my son to be a good man of God and have a good life.”

Megaludis was part of a wave of Franklin Regional wrestlers to upset the WPIAL’s balance of power. He became the Panthers’ first WPIAL champion in 2008 and finished his career with a record of 170-1.

Megaludis was a four-time WPIAL champion and three-time PIAA champ. During his college career, Megaludis won a national title at Penn State when he beat Iowa Thomas Gillman, 6-3, to win the 125-pound crown in 2016.

Megaludis also had a long post-college career and was crowned the 2017 Paris International Champion, 2016 Bill Farrell International champ and 2015 Guelph Open champion.

“I don’t like to be known for my accomplishments. I’d like to be known for the way I wrestle,” Megaludis said. “I’m going to give you hell for every single second. That’s what I like to bring. Whether I win or lose, anyone who wrestles me will say that I got after it.”