WWE Mae Young Classic Episode 1 Recap – Domination

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 kicking the tournament off in style, and establishing an aura of dominance, mixed with that of dynamic storytelling both in the ring and in the athletes.

Abbey Laith def. Jazzy Gabert
This was the right match to main event the first episode of the Mae Young Classic, if only for its surprising conclusion.

On the one hand, maybe it wasn’t all too surprising considering Abbey Laith, in her introductory video, admitted that she was essentially the proud owner of Mae Young’s finishing move. The writing may have been written on the wall the minute that was admitted – but I sincerely doubt every single one of us wasn’t expecting the German powerhouse Jazzy Gabert to walk away the victor in this match at some point.

Gabert’s power was the talking point throughout, much the same as Shayna Baszler in the match prior (more on that shortly). Gabert’s dominating presence bore similarities to the Four Horsewoman but WWE instead focused on Gabert’s stature and strength, rather than Baszler’s accomplished MMA background. Each of those are enough reason to assume that the competitor is a force to be reckoned with, and would make for an interesting match-up if opposed with the other.

If tournaments in WWE have taught me anything it’s that the preliminary rounds are often where the most dominant competitors blitz their way through, when they are faced with a very evenly contested match-up later down the line. I was CONVINCED that WWE would build to a Gabert-Baszler match at some point just by watching this episode. But alas, I was mistaken.

Laith stood out as being a very unconventional women’s wrestler but one who was capable of ushering in a flurry of offensive, unique manoeuvres. She was the more agile of the two and in a split second, was able to capitalise on Gabert’s power and momentum to score the 1-2-3, in the most fitting way possible.

It certainly shocked me, in a good way. Because now the more I think about it, Laith has more potential to get intriguing and competitive matches with more participants in the tournament. She is adaptable at striking, mat-based and creative offence, which works more in her favour than it does a predominantly-powerhouse performer like Gabert.

And ultimately, that’s the best way to go far this tournament. By being unpredictable and effective.

Whilst I remain unconvinced that Laith will win the entire tournament at this stage, I am rooting for her more than any other of the three winners tonight purely for her tenacity and the way she won me over by her performance, and emotion. She definitely showed characteristics of a babyface character that would do well in NXT, whilst I see Gabert herself also doing well as a heel in Full Sail over the coming months. So, I hope that whatever the conclusion of the Mae Young Classic, we see more of these two.

Shayna Baszler def. Zeda
It is no secret that the former UFC competitor Baszler was going to be one of the favourites of the Mae Young Classic. She, much like her Horsewoman counterpart Ronda Rousey has something of a following with WWE audiences, but primarily is drawing outside interest from casual MMA fans. And WWE definitely showcased her in the best way possible by having a quick, MMA-style wrestling match against Chinese-born Zeda.

Baszler has a definitive strong side, and already the makings of a WWE gimmick akin to that of Brock Lesnar. They know that Baszler is a killing machine, and she will literally do whatever she wants in that ring. Who in their right mind would tell her that she can’t, or shouldn’t?

Much like Gabert, Baszler was dominant throughout her bout with Zeda, and I cannot recall a moment where Baszler was made to look vulnerable at any point. No disrespect to Zeda whatsoever, but she stood absolutely no chance against the vicious MMA-accomplished submission specialist.

Whilst I am usually against squash matches in tournaments, this one was absolutely justified. The idea that a preliminary round be booked in such a way takes away from the equal likelihood that all 32 competitors have in the tournament, by suggesting that Zeda never had a chance to begin with. But one look at Baszler against the much smaller Zeda, there was no denying of her victory.

Expect Baszler to go very far. And if rumours are anything to go by, it’s that we can also expect even more from Baszler and possibly the other MMA Horsewomen this year in WWE.

Princesa Sugehit def. Kay Lee Ray
The opening match of this episode was the most evenly contested, in the sense that the hardcore, high-risk style of Kay Lee Ray meshed very well with the lucha libre-influenced Princesa Sugehit. Being British, I have been more exposed to Kay Lee Ray’s match-ups – and from having been a huge fan of the Cruiserweight Classic last summer, I was intrigued to see if WWE would handle Ray in the same vein as they handled British wrestlers like Noam Dar, Zack Sabre Jr and Jack Gallagher last summer.

Well, they might do, but it won’t come from Ray winning the Mae Young Classic. I remain hopeful that in the long run, Ray is still utilised though.

When I watched the Bracketology special on the WWE Network the other day, Ray was one of the more prominently featured athletes on the program. Normally this sends signals that WWE are valuing the prospect highly, before they have even stepped into the ring. So, I was convinced that Ray was going to do well, and at least win her opening round – if only because WWE had subtly told me to expect such. But for the second time tonight, I was mistaken. And once again, not in a bad way.

I was impressed by Sugehit too. The match these two women had featured some good technical action on the mat, off the ropes and everything in between. So ultimately, I didn’t have a preference as to who won.

But this match also showed me that the Mae Young Classic is going to be unpredictable – literally anybody can win this tournament. And now in the second round we have Sugehit versus Laith and I am already stoked for that. If only for a brief moment, I am invested in these two more than I was when I looked at the brackets.

That can only be a good thing.

Serena Deeb def. Vanessa Borne
It is good to see Serena back in a WWE ring.

Admittedly, when Serena was on WWE television as a member of the Straight Edge Society with Luke Gallows and CM Punk, it was a time when very little on Raw and SmackDown interested me. I had drifted from wrestling entirely at this point. I also never truly accustomed myself with Serena’s style of wrestling, and much to my disappointment, I had never really sought after her when she was in SHIMMER etc.

The fact that WWE portrayed Serena as the returning, experienced ‘veteran’ of the tournament suggests that they entrust her to carry some responsibility, akin to the likes of Brian Kendrick in the Cruiserweight Classic. Someone who is capable of having good matches with a variety of younger stars, and someone who recognises that they had jeopardised their first opportunity and are grateful for the second chance to prove that they are a better person literally and figuratively.

What is good is that this match was mainly focused on Serena’s road to re-establishing herself, through respect and determination. She had a good quality match with the less experienced Vanessa Borne, who had won a qualifying match on NXT prior to entering the tournament. While Serena carried most of the match and Borne wasn’t necessarily fabulous, the latter did show flashes of slick moves, including a swinging neckbreaker that I was convinced was going to get Borne the upset victory. But Serena was able to walk away victorious when it was all said and done.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS

If there was an opening episode to get me hooked on this tournament, this was it. Good, solid wrestling in 3 out of the 4 matches, a plethora of interesting moments from submissions, counters, holds and high-risk offence make this an 8/10.

The commentary team of Jim Ross and Lita has an interesting dynamic, and I liked their feeding off each other. JR is still capable of keeping this guy invested in the match with his play-by-play, even if it’s painfully obvious which segments have been re-dubbed and which have been the more organic.

Bring on the rest of the MYC.