The Men's Freestyle 74 kg at the 1980 Summer Olympics as part of the wrestling program were held at the Athletics Fieldhouse, Central Sports Club of the Army.

[1] The competition used a form of negative points tournament, with negative points given for any result short of a fall.

Accumulation of 6 negative points eliminated the loser wrestler.

When only three wrestlers remain, a special final round is used to determine the order of the medals.

Results from the preliminary round are carried forward into the final (shown in yellow).