WWE Mae Young Classic Episode 5

Abbey Laith vs Rachel Evers

This was a step up for Evers after her wretched first round performance, but this wasn’t as good as Laith/Gabert from the first round. Laith hits a scary looking dive early where they cut to an angle that disguises the fact that she’s caught her for on the middle rope. Evers hitting an RKO as a random early move seems a bit odd. I like them basically hitting reset on a double big boot, and I really liked Evers hitting a big second rope slam. Laith seems to win out of nowhere, catching an Evers big boot into a powerbomb, and pinning her with the Alligator Clutch. This was fine.

Piper Niven vs Serena Deeb

You have to question the logic of Deeb deciding to try and slam Niven just moments after failing to take her over with a headlock takeover – unsurprisingly it doesn’t work. Despite that, I did quite enjoy how Deeb built up to finally getting Niven on the mat, working a headlock and using the rope to get elevation to take Piper over. A second attempt at a powerslam looks poor, I don’t buy Deeb having the strength to pick up Niven, and it looks really sloppy. With that being the case, her decision to try and pick up Piper into a fireman’s carry seems like a rookie mistake, and inevitably ends up with Niven countering and hitting a cannonball in the corner. Vader Bomb only gets two, despite it looking like a finisher. The actual end is good though, as Piper misses a splash but is able to sidestep the spear and whip Deeb straight into a Michinoku Driver to win. Another good Piper performance.

Princesa Sugehit vs Mercedes Martinez

Not a bad match, but ultimately a little forgettable. It starts with a nice little mat sequence, before a schoolboy in the corner sends Mercedes head backward into the bottom turnbuckle in a nice spot. Martinez goes for the three amigos, looking a bit laboured in the transition (and really, it’s only Eddie Guerrero who has ever made the swivelling of the hips look believable) but I liked it ending with a draped neckbreaker. The end felt like it came from nowhere, as Martinez escapes Sugehit’s armbar finisher and, using the affected arm, hits a fisherman buster to win.

Kairi Sane vs Bianca Belair

Feels like a real breakout performance by Belair here. Everyone knows how good Sane is, but Belair is right there in the match with her. Her hair-whipping was brutal here, making a loud sound as she beats down Sane in the corner. She also gets to show impressive strength – doing squats whilst holding Sane up for a delayed vertical suplex – and some nice highflying – missing a perfect looking 450 splash. You got the feeling that Belair will really be something in a few years if she keeps up at this rate. However, Sane was also impressive here, and facing a larger, more powerful opponent she needs to be convincing at taking down a stronger opponent. Her sliding D in the corner and vicious spinning backfist will certainly do the job. The big elbow gets the victory, and this was a great showing by both.

WWE Mae Young Classic Episode 1

Kay Lee Ray vs Princesa Sugehit

Pretty fun match to kick off the tournament. Liked Sugehit laying in some nice kicks early, bringing the fight to KLR. Kay Lee has some nice early touches too, loved her spinning Sugehit around on the apron to swing her into a nice looking forearm. A sliding flatliner by KLR looks a bit off, but this is the only glaring moment. Sugehit rolls KLR around the ring with a cradle, and it nicely leaves Kay Lee dizzy for some big kicks to the head. A Gory Bomb gets two for Ray, but she misses a Swanton and Sugehit locks in an armbar for the tap.

Serena Deeb vs Vanessa Borne

Interestingly worked, as even though Deeb is the veteran, Borne has a slight size and power advantage that allows her to control the match for the most part. Liked her nasty headbutt that rocks Deeb. It allows Deeb to gain sympathy and she’s really good at working from underneath. Deeb makes a comeback, but hurls herself into the corner in a nice missed move. It leads to a Borne swinging neckbreaker that feels like the ending, but only gets two. Samoan Drop also gets two and Borne starts getting frustrated. This leads to a missed splash, a missed clothesline and Deeb nailing a spear for three. Decent story, nicely told.

Shayna Baszler vs Zeda

This only goes two minutes, but is pretty fun for it’s runtime. They work a nice little grappling sequence before Baszler goes to the strikes. Liked Baszler blocking a suplex, so Zeda instead locks in a standing choke from the same position. Unfortunately for her, Shayna powers her into a suplex, transitioning straight into a rear choke for the tap. Zeda looked pretty competitive considering the length, it’s just that Baszler got a sudden death move for the win.

Abbey Laith vs Jazzy Gabert

They start this really nicely, as Laith tries repeated blows on Gabert only to get thrown away time and again. The audience reacts really well to this. Gabert looks great dominating early, hitting some blows to the neck of Laith and hooking in a neck crank. Loved the flurry of brutal punches Gabert hits in the corner. Laith has some nice comebacks, including an Octopus Stretch in the ropes. Her kicks look pretty weak in comparison to some of Gabert’s strikes. Gabert’s lariat looks terrific. Jazzy seems to be in control, but Laith escapes a Gory Bomb with a cradle for three. Really good match, Laith looks great in surviving and Gabert looked like a monster in control.

TNA Knockout's Knockdown

So, this is the latest in TNA's One Night Only PPV series, which airs free in the international markets. Markets like the UK, so this was a free show on Challenge. I enjoyed the TNA Knocked Out DVD I reviewed last year, so I went into this with some, admittedly minor, hopes that it might be good.

Gail Kim vs Alissa Flash
Gail is a a bit cocky early on, at least until she gets planted by a Flash German suplex. Flash tries a giant swing into the safety rail, but Kim grabs the rail to stop it, and instead rams Flash into it to take control. Gail retains control with some fun offence including the slick corner cross body. They also show Kim's smarts, as she grabs the ropes to break a deathlock variation, then delivers a quick kick to the head before Flash can react to regain control. Flash comes back with some nice aggression, culminating with curb stomp for 2. Ultimately, Kim is victorious, as she avoids a corner charge, before hitting Eat Defeat for 3. Fun match to open up.

Lei'D Tapa vs Ivelise
Tapa is substantially bigger than Ivelise. Because of this, Ivelise has to fight from below, using a quick flurry of kicks to try and take control. Tapa is not at all graceful, but her size means moves have a bit more oomph than they would otherwise. Tapa hits a really sloppy press slam, bearly getting Ivelise up. Tapa hasn't got much offence so keeps using clothelines to stop Ivelise comebacks. An Ivelise comeback rana looks awkward as Tapa struggled to bump for it. Ivelise locks in a guillotine and bizarrely what I thought was an Ivelise DDT turns out to have been a shonky looking Tapa slam for 3. This wasn't great, but Ivelise looked really good

Tara vs Mia Yim
Tara uses her relative strength early on to dominate, but spends a lot of time flirting with Jesse Godderz at ringside, which allows Yim back into the match. Some Godderz interference gives Tara the advantage, and I like how Tara shows a bit more aggression, as if Yim has embarrassed her by getting in some offence. We do get one odd blown spot, where Yim runs the ropes and barely touches Tara, before getting back on track with Yim getting her knees up on a standing Tara moonsault. Yim hits a nice Asai and a German suplex for two. Some more Godderz interference causes Yim to miss a corkscrew moonsault and Tara hits the Widow's Peak for the win.

Miss Techmacher vs Santana
Santana dominates and takes Tessmacher to the mat early. This is the first match where the outside talent has dominated a good chunk of the match, as Santana works over Tessmacher's arm and . Tessmacher has to fight back to get back in and, even after hitting a running corner charge, she goes back on defence as Santana quickly regains control. A missed handstand moonsault by Santana gives Tessmacher the chance to hit a facebuster to win, but Santana really was in control for most of this and looked good doing so. Fun match.

ODB vs Trinity
First time Trinity has been in TNA for years. Some early ODB advantage sees Trinity leave the ring, but ODB chases her out there to dish out a bit more. A missed splash by ODB gives Trinity the advantage, though nothing much really happens. It's pretty unexciting until ODB comes back with a meaty looking clothesline. ODB gets pissed up from her hipflask, and hits a corner splash, a bronco buster and a TKO for an easy win. Pretty much a squash.

Taryn Terrell vs Jackie Moore
The announcers hype up how tough Jackie is, and she in in charge early to prove this, just throwing Taryn around the ring. A lot of Jackie chinlocks do nothing to help make this match exciting. Taryn gets back on offence and, though not everything looks too crisp, she always looks suitably fired up which covers up a lot of flaws. Spear gets two for Taryn. Taryn misses a bulldog and Jackie dropkicks her in the face for three. Pretty brief and not too good whilst it lasted, though I liked Taryn's energy.

Sojo Bolt vs Taeler Hendrix vs Hannah Blossom
Sojo and Taeler look to be teaming up early, and fool Hannah into joining a three way lock up, only to double team her. A double team submission on Blossom looks particularly nasty. However, their partnership breaks apart as they clearly hadn't planned ahead to realise only one of them could win, and they too start to fight. This allows Blossom to fire back on Hendrix, though her offensive flurry doesn't last long. More miscommunication between the heels allows Hannah to nail a big boot to Hendrix for the win. This was ok, played mainly for comedy, but perfectly fine.

Velvet Sky vs Jillian Hall
Jillian treats us to some pre-match singing. Even early on, this is pretty poor as Velvet's offence is paperthin. They clumsily tumble to the outside, where Jillian throws Velvet into the steps in a tough looking bump. Jillian retains control, which is probably for the best, as at least her offence is better. I love Taz telling Velvet off for kicking out of a pin, when grabbing the rope would've used less energy. A terrible suplex-facebuster gives Velvet an opening, but Jillian hits one of the shittiest victory rolls in history for a two. Velvet gets In Yo Face for three. This was really bad.

Serena Deeb vs Mickie James
Nice hug to start, which sort of previews the story of the match. The opening sees both girls battling for position, trying to get control of the match. They shake hands again, and the second stage features a bit more aggression and a higher pace, highlighted by a few Serena elbows to the face. The third handshake is more of a hand-slap as a bit more edge comes into their exchanges. Things start getting really good, with a nice knucklock exchange before Mickie sends Serena out of the ring. I love Serena subtly showing how the Mickie chants are getting to her with her facial expressions, and she grabs a headlock instead of accepting the next handshake. Having sent Mickie to the floor, she kicks Mickie as she climbs back in the ring, before unleashing a flurry of blows. This aggression goes against her though, as she misses a corner charge at full speed and Mickie hits a desperation neckbreaker. James hits the top rope Thesz press and the DDT to win. Easily match of the night.

Queen of the Knockouts Gauntlet
As with usual TNA rules, it's through the rope elimination to start, before the final two face off in a normal match. Hannah Blossom and Gail Kim are the first two. Gail blitzes her from the get go and, despite a small flurry of offence, Hannah is swiftly eliminated. Tapa is next in, and provides more of a test to Gail, though it's more a case of dominating her with size than offence, as Gail doesn't seem to be in trouble. Tara's entry provides a break for Gail, as Tara and Tapa face off, though Tara can't life Tapa up due to her size. By the time Mickie comes in, Tapa is dominating both. Mickie takes over on Tapa with a bit more success, though soon Tapa is dominating all three. Her offense isn't great, but she's got a great look. That said, she's soon eliminated as all three team up on her. Tessmacher comes in, as Tara and Kim start to team up on Mickie. Tessmacher goes straight for her ex-tag partner Tara in a nice bit of continuity. Jackie Moore is next up, and the heels start to work over Tessmacher and James. Not much is really happening, and ODB is in, which at least livens things up. Jackie is removed at roughly the same time as Velvet Sky enters. Velvet and ODB end up fighting on the apron, leading to Velvet outchopping ODB to eliminate her, before Gail and Tara swiftly eliminate Velvet and Tessmacher, leaving Mickie 2-on-1. Mickie manages to eliminate Tara with a kick to the midsection, and we end up with the pinfall section of the match between Gail and Mickie. Top rope Thesz press gets two for Mickie, but Gail feigns ankle injury after falling from the ropes. Mickie, clearly not having watched any wrestling in the last 30 years, falls for this and Gail rolls her up from behind to win. This was so boring, if they'd gone through the eliminations quicker and given us a longer Mickie/Gail match, this would've been so much better. The only effective bit of the battle royal was the early bit to make Tapa look like a monster, the rest was average at best.