Adidas Combat Speed Wrestling Shoes

From the graphic above:

1. This is the true original, known as 1988 West German Combats.
2. Though technically the second version of the shoes, these are known as OGs, short for Original Combat Speeds.
3. These are known as Combat Speed 2s. They were released around the 2004 season. Technically it's the third version of the shoe.
4. These are Combat Speed 4s, released around 2013.
5. These are the Combat Speed 5s, which are the most recent release of this shoe model

A few giveaways on the model you have can be:

• If the shoes have the adidas 3 stripe logo on the heal of the sole, they were released after 2000 and combat 2s at oldest.
• If they have straps, they're combat 4 or 5s.  If they're all mesh, they are 4s. If they're not, they're 5s.
• If they are all black or all white, and don't have straps, but have a lace pocket in the tongue, they're combat 3s.
• If they have "Adidas" spelled out on the sole, they're from the late 90s. These are referred to as Originals, despite there being older versions.  Don't ask me why!
• If they have the old leaf logo on the heal of the sole, you're looking at an extremely rare pair of combat speeds. These were released in the late 1980s or early 1990s.
• If they have a tongue that has a patch on it that says "Made in West Germany", you're in luck.  Your combat speeds are 1988 West Germans, one of the most desirable shoes on the rare wrestling shoe market.  Here's an example pair of the teal 1988 West Germans!

Fun Fact About Adidas Combat Speeds

Adidas combat speeds were first made in 1988.  However they were not named "Combat Speeds" until later releases came in the 1990s. This version from 1988 is known as 88 West Germans, because they were made in West Germany prior to the Berlin Wall falling in 1989.  West Germans came in 3 colorways, including:

• a teal, yellow, and pink colorway
• blue, red, and yellow colorway
• pink, purple, and green

The rarest of these colorways are the pink 1988 West Germans, which have appeared on the collectors market in recent years and have sold for over $2000.

Bonus Fun Fact About the Combat Speed 3s

You may be wondering what happened to Combat Speeds since the post makes it seem like they jumped from the Combat Speed 2 model to the Combat Speed 4 model.  Technically that did not happen.  After a hiatus of 5 or so years after the Combat Speed 2s, Adidas made a Combat Speed 3 around 2010.  These shoes featured the same sole as all other Combats, but a very different design than the rest of the models. They were lower and also had only two colorways, one being primarily black and one being primarily white. They are the least desirable of past models in the collector's market since they're a scar on a legendary line of shoes in many collectors' eyes.