After returning to Ohio State and winning his second consecutive NCAA heavyweight title at the end of an undefeated 2016–2017 wrestling season, Snyder would avenge his loss to Gadson in the finals of America's 2017 World Team Trials, sweeping him with two straight tech-falls and a cumulative score of 23–2. He would then face another historic bout in the finals of the 2017 Paris World Championships: with Russia and the U.S. tied for first place at 53 points each, Snyder stepped onto the mat for "The Match of the Century" – the team championship, an individual title at 97 kg, and two young legacies were on the line. His opponent was Abdulrashid Sadulaev, a young Russian phenom on a three-year undefeated streak that included two World Championships as well as an Olympic gold, who was then considered the best pound-for-pound wrestler in the world.