There are 8 wrestling conferences.

(1) Big Ten is clearly the strongest overall.

Next 3 would be (2) the Big XII (which only consists of 4 actual Big XII schools but has 6 affiliates from the upper Midwest and West, (3) the EIWA (consortium of 16 eastern schools, including Ivy and Patriot League schools), and (4) the MAC (which includes Missouri and Northern Iowa as affiliates).

Rest of the conferences (5) ACC (only 6 schools, but those schools do fairly well), (6) Eastern Wrestling League (home of the D-2 PSAC schools that compete at D-1, e.g., Lock Haven, Clarion, et cetera, plus a couple other Eastern schools), (7) Pac-12 (also only 6 schools, generally weaker than the ACC), and (8) the Southern Conference (3 actual SoCon schools plus a bunch of affiliates).

Anyway ..... prior to the Conference Championships, the NCAA will allocate ~ 29 bids for Nationals (for each weight class), allocated on a per-conference basis. For instance, the Big Ten got 9 automatic spots at the 184 LB weight class this year. EVERY athlete who wins a conference championship will qualify for Nationals - every weight class/conference allocation is at least one.

Then there will be ~4 at-large spots determined by committee after the Conference Championships, getting us to the 33 per class.