2016 Ongoing MOTY List: Fred Yehi v. Tracy Williams

5. Fred Yehi v. Tracy Williams EVOLVE 53 1/22

ER: This match was from the recent Style Battle series, which had some fun Matt Riddle showings, and some terrible modern day Ric Blade tribute act from Peter Kaasa, and then what very well could be some name-making brutality from Fred Yehi. Williams is a Gulak guy and I believe Green Ant, and also has no problem bringing the nasty shots and neck cranks. Really both guys were plenty brutal in this, but Yehi jumped out at me most in both of his matches. He's such a little asskicker and his shots looked so damn tough that at a point in the match where it could have felt like overkill, it just made me think Williams was a tough son of a gun for still being fully conscious and fully toothed. There were things in this match that can easily annoy me in other matches: strike exchanges that go on a bit too long, a few too many kickouts, a slightly too long running time...but because the brutality was always at a high level it made me stay right there with them. Both guys worked quick, and the strike exchanges brought more than your standard NJPW exchange. They weren't standing around growling in between, they were too busy slapping and elbowing each other. Even when one guy would be attempting to lift the other or move to a new spot, there were always escape attempts and hard shots to ribs, just no rest for either guy. Yehi packs such a mean wallop, his rolling elbow brought new life to that spot, and this whole thing was a real fun war.

PAS: I did think this went overboard a bit, but Yehi was a Tank, lots of nifty little bits of brutality. I loved a spot where he tripped Williams and then just kicked him in the mouth. I also loved Williams finishing run of nasty headdrops, his piledriver was gross looking. Could have used a bit of trimming in the middle, but a fun battle between two guys I hadn't seen much of.


2016 MOTY MASTER LIST