| Participants shall be paired off for each round according to the numerical order determined by the drawing of lots during the weigh-in. The drawing of lots must be conducted in public. The UWW competition management system shall be used for the weigh-in and management of all international competitions entered in the UWW calendar. |
| If the UWW competition management system cannot be used, numbered tokens corresponding to the number of wrestlers who underwent a medical examination must be enclosed in an urn, a bag or any other similar object. If a different system is used, it must be clear. |
| The wrestler shall be weighed, and, as he leaves the scales, shall draw his number, on the basis of which he shall be paired off. This number must be immediately entered on a notice board visible to the public, as well as on the starting and weigh-in list. |
| Important: When the person responsible for the weigh-in and drawing of lots observes an error in the regulation procedure as outlined above, the drawing of lots for the category in question is to be cancelled. Drawing of lots for this category will then be repeated with the agreement of the technical delegate. |
| The referees are responsible for writing down the figures drawn by the wrestlers and sign and date the weighin form which will rule in case of any protest. |
| Special procedure for Olympic Games: The 1st & 2nd place finishers in the previous year's Senior World Championship, whichever it may be, shall be placed at the top of the upper and lower bracket respectively before the draw. Hence, he/she shall not draw a number after being weighed. The remaining participants shall each draw a number to determine the pairing. For example, in a 16 person bracket the previous year's World Championship Gold Medalist at that weight class will be placed #1 in the upper bracket. The Silver Medalist will be #9 or at the top of the lower bracket. These positions in the bracket will hold for entries up to 24. Between 25 & 31 entries, the number corresponding to the top of the lower bracket will increase onefor-one with each additional entry. Likewise, in a 32 person bracket the Gold Medalist shall be placed #1 in the upper bracket and the Silver Medalist shall be placed #17 or top of the lower bracket. These positions on the bracket will remain constant up to 48 entries. Between 49 & 63 entries, the number corresponding to the top of the lower bracket will increase one-for-one with each additional entry. |
| Under no circumstances are these earned positions transferable. Only the two individuals, who won the Gold and Silver medals in their respective weight class, shall be separated. If both Gold and Silver medalists from the previous year Championship fail to represent his/her country, the conventional drawing-of-lots shall be administered. If only 1 of the top 2 place finishers is a final entrant, he/she shall be placed in the #1 spot of the bracket. You will find below the order of the top seed athletes depending of the number of participants entered: |
| Participants | Place No1 | Place No2 | |
| 1-5 Wrestlers | Nordic system, no top seed athletes |
| 6 Wrestlers | 1 | 3 |
| 7 Wrestlers | 1 | 4 |
| 8-12 Wrestlers | 1 | 5 |
| 13 Wrestlers | 1 | 6 |
| 14 Wrestlers | 1 | 7 |
| 15 Wrestlers | 1 | 8 |
| 16-24 Wrestlers | 1 | 9 |
| 25 Wrestlers | 1 | 10 |
| 26 Wrestlers | 1 | 11 |