Gotta give the kid his props. He handled Tank and JO easily. He showed total composure against Zain. He ran the gauntlet in the toughest weight class. Zain just needs to find a way to finish. It'll be hard solving that puzzle because Yianni's counters are on another level. Kid is an artist on the mat.
Yianni
- Thread starter psu_flip
- Start date
I feel for Zain, but it’s pretty hard to dislike Yianni. Hope Zain can solve the 3D chess match some day.
Yeah, have you heard him talk about wrestling? Only bad decision he ever made that I can find was to go to Cornell, lol.....
Let's face it. Yanni is a once in a generation kid. He is a freak of nature and a mass of double jointedness wrapped in muscle. He is my bet for a 4x'er. Zain can beat him but I'll bet it is a less than 50/50 proposition.
He literally is Gumby damn it!
He literally is Gumby damn it!
Yep. I wanted him bad. Why must these kids put academics and the rest of their lives before making the dynasty stronger. To bad lol bro will go with him too, that's a double whammy
I'm quite happy with Nick Lee. Face it, we're never going to have 10 champs in the same year, and that's a-ok. But I'll be rooting for Yianni on the world stage every time he's on one.
I like him now, and will love him when he passes Dake on the goat list.
I thought Dake was about as hard to score on as was possible, but Yianni is right there.
Yianni to me is the same as Bo, how the hell do you coach your wrestlers to face him?
There are no patterns to their styles and they keep coming or will defend a position until you make a mistake.
Can Zain beat him, hell yes, how, I don't know.
I like where the NLWC was yesterday and today. They wrestled hard till the end and made a great showing in both styles.
There are no patterns to their styles and they keep coming or will defend a position until you make a mistake.
Can Zain beat him, hell yes, how, I don't know.
I like where the NLWC was yesterday and today. They wrestled hard till the end and made a great showing in both styles.
Felt bad for Zain but happy for Yianni. He's my favorite non-PSU wrestler. Probably because he wrestles like some of the great PSU wrestlers and his creativity and funk is off the charts. Plus, the kid is hilarious. I couldn't find that funny video of him "confessing" that his favorite music is Yanni, but here's another funny one:
Yianni seems to always come back against the top guys. After beating McKenna in the NCAA finals, Yianni said that he thought he would start off behind. Against really good guys, it seems that early in matches, when his opponent is at full strength, they can often get a TD on him--having the speed and strength to finish. But, as the match wears on, less than explosive leg shots end up being TD's for Yianni. That sure happened to Zain. When Zain was up 4-2, he took less than a full shot on Yianni, and Yianni "relatively easily" turned it into his own TD. Zain can get up on him again, but he has to be sure later on in the match, that his shots are full blast, and not tentative. McKenna lost the same way in NCAA finals (on an albeit controversial call).
Seems like you're either in on a double against Yianni or you're putting yourself in trouble. He's so quick that it's rare to see anyone get around both legs, but Zain did it. Zain can beat him, and I think he can even win some of those scrambles where he's only got one leg. But safer to go straight in and try to get both, Yianni isn't the guy who's going to pancake someone as strong as Zain.
I think you need to wrestle Yianni a few times to get a feel for him. Wrestling Zain a few times does not help you. It helps Zain. My money is on Zain in the best 2 off 3.
I totally agree. Granted a double is harder to set up and execute, but defending a single is Yanni's bread and butter and ultimately a scoring opportunity on his side. I am convinced the way to beating Yanni is tied to attempting and finishing power doubles. And besides, he's Gumby damn it
Hmm. I need to think about that a bit more. I would have drawn the opposite conclusion -- the more times Zain and Yianni wrestle, the greater the advantage to the unconventional wrestler (Yianni). It's a little like wrestling Bo (though his style is quite different) in the sense that Yianni's also very difficult to prepare for. No matter how much tape you watch or how many times you wrestle him, you never know what he's going to throw at you.
Yeah. Not so sure this is true. The greatest weapon Yianni has is his in-match adjustments. I've never seen anyone that good at it. The second time Yianni scored? Zain got to the low double, but Yianni made the adjustment of sprawling his right leg back, while still in his crotch lock. You have to blow him off his feet. Thats why I thought Molinaro would beat him handily. He gets to his feet so well on his HI-C. But Yianni never let him get there.
The kid is just impressive. Perfect equilibrium.
You give Yianni a second to think on defense and he turns it against you. vhsalum is right, you need to blast him and give him no choice but to belly out or give up exposure.
I faved almost every post in this thread and I still have no idea if Zain will beat him in the future.
Sure gonna be fun for us to watch him try, though, right?
Sure gonna be fun for us to watch him try, though, right?
I know it was in folk, but Mckenna fared better the second time around. I think you have to get a feel for his funk and it will help Zain out in the future.
Speaking of folk style ... I think Zain would handle Yianni in a folk match. IMO He’d score from neutral (without worrying about exposure) and would do damage on the mat
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No question about it...Zain vs Yianni has great excitement and anticipation. I'm rooting for a Zain WTT win, so we can see it at Final X. Pretty good gauntlet at WTT's, so can't look ahead.
Interesting thoughts. Both will continue to improve over time, both will make adjustments, so I'm not sure there's a conclusion at all just yet. Two great wrestlers that we'll be enjoying for some time.
“Feel for his funk” ? How much different is YaDi’s funk compared to Nolf’s funk? One would think Zain has seen his fair share of Nolfs.
I don’t think Yianni’s style really compares to Nolf’s...JMO.
What Yianni is able to do on the defensive end is just something else.
