2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Yehi vs. Lawlor

44. Fred Yehi vs. Tom Lawlor MLW 5/3

ER: This was a match-up I'd never seen before between two favorites, and it delivered in the exact ways I had hoped. We got cool reversals, great strikes, some big throws, some good twists, and the kind of professional execution you'd expect from these two. Yehi is an awesome bear trap, turning things in an instant to his favor, and I like how Lawlor worked to keep up and get ahead. Yehi stomps Lawlor's bionic arm (we've seen 20 years of people working Stone Cold Steve Austin spots into indy shows, Lawlor may be the only one currently working Colonel Steve Austin spots), Lawlor catches another stomp and tries turning it into a kneebar, Yehi almost turns a simple Lawlor pinfall press into the Koji clutch, both guys always a danger to the other. Yehi is a compact Gary Albright, always looking like he can grab and hurl guys at will, breaking out a cool fisherman's suplex and reversing a second Lawlor German into his own snap German (Yehi really throws his German the same fast violent way as Albright, maybe the greatest suplex wrestler ever), with a follow up dragon suplex. He throws a bunch of awesome looking knees while holding Lawlor in a cravate (really throwing so many that they looked nastier than most finishers). He worked the body in cool ways, loved his shots to Lawlor's ribs, and I think Lawlor's punches and strikes were among the best ever that I've seen from him. Lawlor was good at working head and arm chokes, a dragon sleeper, leaping full weight onto Yehi with a guillotine, it came off like he was scrambling, yet calculated. Ending is amusing BS that I might not like from lesser guys, with Lawlor throwing the pad from his bionic forearm as a distraction, and then clocking Yehi with it, and sinking in a choke for show. This made me want to see Yehi gun for a rematch, and I laughed when the ref went to raise Lawlor's arm and Lawlor made him raise his "good" arm. Lawlor shot this great "This idiot" face, pointing at the ref.

PAS: Yehi is one of the least formulaic wrestlers in the world, and I loved how they just opened this match with jujitsu rolling, both guys kept countering the counters and attacking limbs and it was great stuff. Lawlor can sometimes get caught up in shtick (although I liked his shtick here) but when he just hits the mat he is one of the more compelling guys in the world. Yehi looked super comfortable rolling with guy with a black belt in JuJitsu. Liked the finish, with Lawlor striking fast after the distraction and grabbing an awesome choke with a full bodylock to put Yehi to sleep. I loved how Fred sold it, his eyes were open but nothing was on behind them. Fun stuff, would love to see these guys match up again.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST