The 32-women single-elimination tournament makes its way to the WWE Network after months of hype. It’s the Mae Young Classic. Featuring 32 of the finest female athletes from across the globe, competing for the chance to be crowned the first ever winner of the inaugural tournament. This episode was about continuing the first round in a mixed bag of matches, but one thing in common with them all was the tenacity of the participants, particularly the two women in the main event.
Mia Yim def. Sarah Logan
Wow. This match.
One common theme throughout this article was that on paper, this episode felt that it was going to be mostly filler. It was going to be tough to match up to the first round’s spectacle but Mia Yim and Sarah Logan delivered in the best match of the tournament so far. Something I was not expecting because admittedly, I didn’t know what to expect when looking at the bracket.
The story here was more prevalent than in any of the three matches that preceded it. Mia Yim (the former Jade in TNA), captivated the audience with her creative technical flair and martial arts kicks that felt so authentic they made me flinch. Sarah Logan on the other hand, whilst presented with a cartoonish Southern girl gimmick that WWE has long stereotyped, showed similar strong-style instincts. I must admit, I had forgotten about Logan’s NXT appearance, but Full Sail reacted to Logan better on this night than they did back then, because of both women’s stellar performance in front of the exceptionally hard-to-please WWE Universe.
Most importantly, this bout felt more REAL than the others on this episode, and none of them could match up to the straight-up wrestling match we were treated to.
Yim got the win with the Eat Defeat (and in a side note, JR and Lita alluded to Gail Kim as being a primary influence for Yim) which was a nice touch, especially considering there were times when Logan looked like she was going to win, following a double knee dropkick and fisherman’s suplex from the second rope.
Also, how good was Logan in fighting out of that Dragon Sleeper?
Both women earned the adulation of the crowd by simply being tenacious in their own rights. Now, when Yim faces Shayna Baszler in the second round, we have a bout to get even more excited about if only for how real this will feel.
Rhea Ripley def. Miranda Salinas
Rhea Ripley is nothing short of a prodigy.
Her height, stature and quickness set her apart from some of her contemporaries, as well as being one of the youngest in the entire tournament at only age 20. Ripley immediately was established as someone who could go far in the Mae Young Classic. And I really mean FAR.
When looking at Miranda Salinas, the exact opposite qualities sprung to mind at first. Being only 5 feet tall, possessing a sassy demeanour and the only known training she had was from the Hall of Famer Booker T. Salinas when matched up to Ripley, looked out of her depth.
Salinas however was capable of utilising her size disadvantage to her credit, by going for Ripley’s legs. Unfortunately, Ripley had already wowed the audience with a series of breathtakingly slick dropkicks, a high kick and eventually a full nelson slam that earned her the 1-2-3. If we’re looking at this from a match quality standpoint it was good, but only because Salinas didn’t showcase her abilities as best she could have done.
Whilst Salinas reminds me of an Alexa Bliss-esque character that can definitely do well, from her style and facial expressions amongst other qualities, it was absolutely baffling why she didn’t spend time going for Ripley’s legs from the beginning. And when unleashing a flurry of strikes, why did Salinas feel the best course of action was to wait for Ripley to recover for what felt like an eternity? Ripley’s CLEAREST advantage was her size and strength, and we all saw it in the video package. Salinas herself admitted she was smaller and she wouldn’t hold back. Yet she did. And she ultimately paid the price for it.
This is in no way a knock on either, because Ripley has the makings of an NXT mainstay and someone who can really flourish in that environment. She was unknown to most of the audience at first but they largely went away knowing that the talented Australian has the skills to back it up in the ring.
Having said that, as a heavy metal fan like Rhea, I don’t think there is such a thing as a “circle of death” at a show. Certainly, a “circle pit” and a “wall of death” both exist, but not that. Following on from that, both women’s entrance themes were superb. I liked Ripley’s Bring Me The Horizon-style anthem and Salinas had a technical metal feel to it. Instant plus points from me there.
Rachel Evers def. Marti Belle
The first half of this episode definitely fell flat in my opinion. This match might have been the most awkward of the tournament if only because Rachel Evers’ lack of experience in a wrestling ring stood out more than anything.
Marti Belle (another former TNA alumnus) was clearly established as the heel we know she can be from the offset. I like the fact that there is some ambiguity around the face-heel dynamic until the pre-match handshake happens, if it’s not so painfully obvious in the video packages. In hindsight, it was probably the best idea.
In order for fans to get behind a babyface character, the wrestler is supposed to show fight and tenacity in a wrestling match as they make their eventual comeback from the heel offensive. Evers did show that, but her timing issues and awkward positioning hindered this big time. At times the match was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
When Belle hooked Evers on the ropes from the outside, when Evers hit a dropkick and a series of bicycle kicks throughout the match (that lost value after they were done 3 or 4 times), Evers’ lack of experience shone through. And looking back, Marti Belle wasn’t the best person to mask this as she wasn’t exactly Ricky Steamboat in this match either.
Surely if the Mae Young Classic was about finding the best around the globe, Evers wouldn’t even make the cut because she has very little to her name other than her father is Hall of Famer Paul Ellering, and that she is an accomplished powerlifter. Evers did show some athletic prowess but it was not enough to disguise her lack of WRESTLING experience. This isn’t a gripe by any means but the logic, when thinking about it, seemed to fail me.
It was a 50/50 night for the Dollhouse as Belle will have to live to fight another day. It’s a shame because she could also flourish in this tournament and indeed all of WWE if given time. I can’t say I am convinced by Evers though.
Author’s Edit: I should make it known now that in last episode’s recap, I mentioned that Abbey Laith will take on Princesa Sugehit. I stand corrected. Laith will now compete against Rachel Evers in the second round.
Mercedes Martinez def. Xia Li
I wasn’t sure what to expect on paper, because again, I had known very little about the participants. Save for Martinez’s appearance in the Bracketology special.
Martinez was billed as one of the favourites, and when matched up with the Chinese Kung Fu specialist Xia Li, who was competing in her first match in the United States, it almost seemed too predictable. But this is WWE and stranger things have happened.
Martinez, to me, showed characteristics of a brawling, adaptive heel who knows how to get it done by any means necessary. Xia’s martial arts expertise in a wrestling ring only got her so far, and was nice in places, but again, was hindered by timing and pace. Some more time in adapting to the pacing of American wrestling will give Xia some polishing.
JR said it best himself – this was “not a shocker” that Martinez won. But her best days in the tournament are yet to come, and this was a rather uneventful show of what she is capable of.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This episode definitely didn’t have the all-encapsulating factor that the first episode had. It definitely seemed as though this one was going to be where a lot of the unknown names would progress through. But we were treated to an awesome main event, the establishing of four very adapt and capable performers regardless of the tournament and a surprise upset winner. So, all in all, I can’t complain too much. It was a nice way to spend 45 minutes.
However, match quality is something I do value highly because WWE is putting so much emphasis on it. And this episode fell flat in places in terms of storytelling and the moves executed, and it was hard to look past those. I’d give this episode a 6.5/10 overall.
It was nice to see Beth Phoenix, Natalya and newest NXT signings Shadia Bseiso and Kacy Catanzaro in the crowd. This led me to think that by the end of this tournament, we get to look forward to an eventual deep talent pool of signings and potentially new feuds and matches that the WWE women’s divisions definitely need.
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