I'll let Jersey and others answer a lot of this, but I can say that different teams/coaches have different styles and look for different things in the guys they recruit. I know VT wrestlers are known for having good gas tanks, meaning they are extremely well conditioned, which often shows up in the third period of close matches.

That leads into another question you raised about weight. Cutting weight is a term that carries some bad connotations about guys dropping a lot of weight very quickly and dangerously. Better coaches preach “weight management”, where the wrestlers slowly work their way down to their wrestling weight and then keep it close throughout the season. It’s obviously much safer that way, but also, guys who cut weight the old-fashioned way suffer for it. They don’t have the strength or stamina they’d have if they had managed their weight better. Different wrestlers handle this better than others, but the VT coaches are constantly preaching management.