We are now in the Sweet Sixteen of the inaugural Mae Young Classic tournament. We started with 32 competitors from all over the world and now the field halves, as we progress ever closer to crowning the first ever winner. This episode was another entertaining one, but mainly revolved around drumming up support for the characters we are seeing properly develop, as well as a hot cross-promotional angle that will have MMA and wrestling fans salivating.
Shayna Baszler def. Mia Yim
This match was special.
Say what you will about the Mae Young Classic so far, but if you aren’t excited for a potential showdown between four of the most gifted women in WWE and the hottest contingent in women’s MMA then watch this match. Your opinion will change.
Shayna Baszler is arguably the biggest prospect in this entire tournament, if we’re talking about sheer recognisable name value. Baszler carries real fighting experience, and she alone brings a sense of legitimacy to the bout before it’s begun. Mia Yim was the perfect opponent, who shone in her main event against Sarah Logan in the first round, and going up against Baszler, who won in quick fashion against Zeda could have spelled disaster.
It could have, and arguably should have. But it didn’t.
We can look back on her quick victory over Zeda last week and not take anything away from the bout other than Baszler is a force to be reckoned with. She views her opponents as nothing more than fodder. She likes to fight. She likes to kick. And my god there were a lot of kicks in this match. Which, when I mentioned last time how WWE are trying to make Baszler’s matches seem more legit, works so well. This in turn furthers the point that a taekwondo expert like Mia Yim is the perfect opponent.
We saw it in the video packages. This was going to be a fight, and it was just that. Yim was excellent and although she didn’t make it to the Quarterfinals, she should absolutely be signed for further matches in WWE. She deserves it.
But Baszler was the focal point entirely. We got more of a sense of what she can do in the ring, by having a competitive, close, back-and-forth match with a ring expert like Yim. While Baszler might be lacking in a fluidity of Charlotte, a character of a Sasha Banks or Bayley or a tenacity and sheer lovability of Becky Lynch, Baszler is one thing that these aforementioned women are not, and that is scary.
Which, as she walked by Bayley, Lynch and Charlotte who were sat in the front row, and stared them down with Ronda Rousey, Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir behind her, made this so much more epic. We know exactly where this is headed and I could not be more stoked.
WWE wanted a women’s evolution, and they accomplished this entirely by the middle of this episode. This is exactly what I love about pro wrestling.
The crowd said it themselves; “Women’s Wrestling!”
Dakota Kai def. Rhea Ripley
I liked how they presented the showdown between Dakota Kai and Rhea Ripley being a New Zealand versus Australia dynamic.
It might be seen as a needless bit of drama to add to a match between two women with otherwise no prior history with each other. They just happen to be from neighbouring countries who have a long rivalry in rugby, which is cool.
But that was all forgotten when Dakota Kai, an ultimate underdog in her natural habitat, overcame an onslaught once again to progress.
It was executed perfectly.
Having just gone right after the aforementioned Baszler-Yim match, the crowd seemed somewhat drained, save for the international contingent of fans who, as a whole, tended to support Ripley moreso than Kai.
The strongest elements of Kai’s character and arsenal are her kicks. She might be small in stature but her kicks are enough to take down a much stronger, physically imposing opponent. We saw plenty of kicks in Baszler-Yim before this contest, and Kai’s kicks still seem so lethal.
Because they are.
Ripley could have executed the most hard-hitting series of moves and Kai, if she had enough strength within her to hit just a few kicks, she would be able to turn the tables. That’s exactly what happened.
Kai looked to be done for, but she was able to find enough drive to hit a series of missile dropkicks, a corner punt and a subsequent diving foot stomp on Ripley who was locked in a tree of woe. It was slick and vicious looking. It was a move out of sheer desperation, because Kai kicks with as much vitriol as her heart will let her.
Kai is an underdog, and her route in the tournament has been met with opponents who physically outmatch her. Yet she still survives. She is the smallest in the Mae Young Classic but she is no slouch by any means. She should not be overlooked, which seems to be what her opponents do. How could this “girl next door” be so nimble and tenacious?
Because it’s all about heart. And that’s one thing that Kai has more than the other seven in the quarter finals.
Or does she?
Candice LeRae def. Nicole Savoy
This match, the main event no less, for once, wasn’t the one that single-handedly stole the show.
No, on this occasion, the main event was outshone by all other matches on the card, in terms of match quality.
But as a show-closer, it tends to leave the biggest impression. That impression was that Candice LeRae might just have the biggest heart of the entire tournament. You could say the same about Dakota Kai (see previous paragraph), but LeRae, an experienced veteran of women’s wrestling, gives Kai a run for her money.
LeRae, opposed on this night to a legitimate badass, Nicole Savoy, was once again physically outmatched and barely got much of an offensive in. Again, it makes sense – is she really going to try and play Savoy at her own game of suplexes and submissions?
No, LeRae’s game plan would have always been to just withstand, and fight by any means necessary.
That’s why she is so likeable. She can withstand so much damage and it just makes you like her more. She’s not the first lady to be able to present natural charisma like her husband Johnny Gargano that just makes you root for her through thick and thin. You can also give props to Savoy who just doesn’t care about anyone or anything and she makes for a classic heel in this scenario.
I get it, it works. It’s perfect.
But it did feel repetitive as we had just seen the same type of presentation for Kai in her match against Ripley.
LeRae is another underdog. She has experience and every babyface quality in her favour going into this tournament. But having just witnessed Kai have a good match with Ripley, LeRae-Savoy just felt like a rehash of the same match that preceded it.
It was different because of Savoy’s persistence and just by being a nasty unforgiving bully. Going in, it felt as though this match lacked hype, less so even than any of the prior three matches. Going on last means it has a big spot to live up to, and looking at the time allowed, it didn’t have that main event feel at the end of it.
At the end of the day, LeRae is superb at pro wrestling. She possesses every quality there is to like about a babyface. She is most comfortable in that role, and in a match like this, it was exactly how it should have been done. The match itself was all about exemplifying the support for LeRae. It makes sense for her to win a match out of desperation, which again, like Kai-Ripley, was a high risk move, her diving neckbreaker.
It just fell a bit flat for me.
Toni Storm def. Lacey Evans
If we’re continuing the theme of presentation of babyface wrestlers, then Toni Storm is your trendsetter. Someone with such a natural gift at wrestling, a unique character and moveset, and a slick presence in her deliver makes for the ideal hybrid of a wrestler.
She is great at doing all of that and making matches interesting, and going up against Lacey Evans was an evenly-presented contest. Evans, to her credit, showed a more vicious side and it suited her. Just her looks of frustration and delivery made her look infinitely fiercer. Do that more, please, Lacey!
Storm decisively won after hitting her tremendous Strong Zero finisher, and Evans, while she had a nice showing, should be commended for powering through what looked like a rough landing on the backstabber earlier in the match.
We know Toni Storm is something of a prodigy. The first PROGRESS Women’s Champion does, once again, have an outlook that is similar to Kai, LeRae, Laith and Sane. That’s five pure babyfaces in the Quarter Finals. Not all of them are going to make it through, so it’s not a huge deal in the long run.
It’s just a little bit of a shame because Storm seems to be lost in the shuffle of underdog, likeable babyfaces, that something is going to have to give one way or another.
But the positive is, that Storm has already won over a large majority of the audience, that she can (and absolutely should) be given a chance at competing again at Full Sail.
If history is anything to go by, it’s that she will, as we still see Cruiserweight Classic competitors from time to time. Storm deserves that same chance.
I’ve probably resigned myself to thinking she will be eliminated in the next round, which is also a shame because I want her to win probably more than any of the other seven.
Argh! Wrestling.
FINAL THOUGHTS
An awesome segment and match in the middle of the show, and better quality in the ring from all competitors give this episode an 8/10. Conflicting thoughts about how the winners end up winning and revamping the same characteristics in two competitors bring it down a notch than the last episode.
But I do like the ambiguity around match-ups that exist outside of the tournament brackets, as well as the Quarter Finals themselves.
And my god, the Four Horsewomen showdown is something to get excited about.
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