The free style competitions were held in Istanbul from August 29 to September 1, 1974 . The wrestlers from the Soviet Union secured medals in nine of the ten competitions. Only Batal Gadschijew could not place himself on the medal ranks with a fifth place in the weight class -62 kg. The best German wrestlers were the two fourth-placed Eduard Giray in the -62 kg weight class and Adolf Seger in the -74 kg weight class. In addition, Heinz Eichelbaum came in fifth in the +100 kg weight class, still in the top six.