Mae Young Classic 2018 - Round 2 #2

Zeuxis vs Io Shirai

This was a better showing for Zeuxis than her first round match, she looked nicely aggressive and the equal of Shirai here. Neat fast rope running exchange ends with Zeuxis baseball dropkicking Io off the apron with full force into her shoulder. I liked this, Shirai had steamrolled her way through her first round match, this was she started the match with a disadvantage. Shirai hits a nice handstand knees to the face and a nice suicide dive, but her crossface is easily broken by Zeuxis thanks to the bad wing. Zeuxis misses a moonsault with a nice thud, and her Spanish Fly is reversed to a top rope rana. Overshot moonsault gets the win for Io, and this was nice stuff.

Xia Li vs Deonna Purrazzo

Xia Li is legit, guys. Considering her experience levels, she looks tremendous here. Her first round match had seen her work in some neat kung fu, but here she bumped like a boss, faceplanting on a drop toehold, and nailed some lovely looking moves. Some neat strikes, good legdrops and a really great elbow drop. She also hit a great kick from the second rope. Purrazzo wisely focuses her attack on the arm to set up the armbar, she hits a great divorce court. Li escapes an armbar by rolling though to a cradle for two, but her aggressiveness proves to be her downfall. She kicks Purrazzo from the corner, but dives off the top into an armbar and Purrazzo locks in a Rings of Saturn to get the tap. Really loved this.

Tegan Nox vs Nicole Matthews

The shortest match of the show, and Matthews suffered from wardrobe issues again (despite it being a different outfit, hard not to feel sorry for her). Nox dives right into a forearm from the floor in the opening stages, made it look like she wasn’t expecting it. Matthews hits nasty kicks on the apron, as well as a big clothesline and a neat Northern Lights suplex. Nox hits a vicious headbutt (complete with woozy sell) and a great Wild Boar style cannonball, before the shiniest wizard gets the win. Good little sprint.

Kaitlyn vs Mia Yim

Hey, Mia Yim’s phantom hand injury returns. Despite suffering no ill-effects from chopping the post during her first round match, they’ve seemingly decided to run with it as a story point here. Kaitlyn looked great here, loved her sliding clothesline and her bodyscissors, due to the muscularity of her legs, made it look deadly. Yim starts working Kaitlyn’s leg after a missed baseball slide, and you can see the bruising on the thigh after a bunch of nasty kicks. Yim hits some punches with the “bad hand”, but when she punches the mat, Kaitlyn really goes to work on it, wrenching it backwards in a manner not previously seen on this apparently devastating injury. It looked nasty from Kaitlyn, and actually made it feel like a real disadvantage. Yim hits a shaky Eat Defeat for two, and a great looking Kaitlyn spear also only gets two. Kaitlyn misses a stomp on the hand, and Yim takes her down, locking on a kneebar for the submission. Thought Kaitlyn looked great here, hope it’s not just a brief return.

Mae Young Classic 2018 Episode #3

Kaitlyn vs Kavita Devi

This felt like it veered between really good bits and being very amateur. At times, Devi looked pretty lost, and there were awkward transitions where neither looked like they were sure what to do next. On the positive, Kaitlyn really whipped Devi over with a snapmere, hit a really nice shoulderblock and flew into the corner on a cannonball. It wasn’t a pretty match, but was quite nicely hard-hitting. Kaitlyn won with a spear.

Toni Storm vs Jinny

This was comfortably match of the episode, both ladies worked a nice competitive opening and gave a real air of aggression. Jinny slapping Storm feels like a mistake, as it prompts Storm to fire back, with Jinny taking a big bump from a Storm kick. Jinny comes back with a nasty kick to the spine, and I loved her Japanese armdrag into the corner. She locked in a surfboard that looked absolutely vicious, and it felt like Toni really had to battle to make the ropes. Eventually, she does escape, planting Jinny with a German suplex, charging her in the corner and hitting a Tiger Driver to win. Great stuff here.

Xia Li vs Karen Q

Li really impressed in last years tournament, and she looked like the extras year’s experience had helped continue her progress. The opening exchange, where both girls went for each other with some martial arts, really popped the crowd by being so different. Q slapped Li in the face, and at a monstrous barrage of strikes in the corner. This was briskly paced, with Q hitting a lovely back elbow and an exploder to take over, Li firing back with a nice range of kicks, before Q missed a frog splash, giving Li an opening for a flipping ax kick for three. Only 4 minutes long, but I really enjoyed this.

Mia Yim vs Allysin Kay

Bit of a disappointment here, both ladies have big reputations and are experienced working together, but this felt like they were just throwing things out there with no rhyme or reason. There’s a poor opening scuffle supposed to indicate animosity between the two, but the hatred never feels that real. There’s some nice wrestling, loved Yim’s big kick from the apron and her suicide dive, but then you get the moment like Yim violently chopping the post by accident that never goes anywhere, and you wonder what the point of that was. Kay taking over and choking Yim with her hair was nicely done, and she does nail a lovely discus clothesline, but then there’s a strike exchange that almost feels like a reset. Yim gets the win in the end with a top rope Eat Defeat, but I didn’t love this.

WWE Mae Young Classic Episode 2

Mercedes Martinez vs Xia Li

Li has a massive disadvantage in terms of experience, as this is played up as her first ever match. In contrast, Martinez is the veteran, and obviously someone the WWE trust to work with their green talent. With that said, Li looked terrific here. She’s got a unique look that makes her stand out, but her offence was really on point here. Loved her range of kicks and her movement to slide into a crucifix behind Martinez. Her running punch to a kneeling Martinez was really great before she gets caught in a lovely looking spinebuster. Mercedes gets the win by locking in a surfboard into a Dragon sleeper. Bit of a Li showcase, but an effective one, with Martinez moving on to get more chances to shine later.

Marti Belle vs Rachel Evers

Considering how good Li looked in her match, the fact that these two put on such a stinker is more telling. On the positive side, Belle does some nice character work as a condescending heel, but the rest…terrible. There’s an early tell as Evers barely gets over on a suplex. Evers and Belle exchange some woeful looking punches, though Evers does hit a nice looking senton. An Evers spinebuster looks sloppy, and she then takes an odd looking bump from a Belle Stroke. They just don’t look to be on the same page, so it’s a relief when Evers gets the win with a roll up. The worst match of the tournament so far.

Rhea Ripley vs Miranda Salinas

Another match with some impressive rookie performances. Ripley in particular had some great looking dropkicks, a lovely running boot in the corner and a diving dropkick into the corner. Salinas does some nice work in getting over as a heel despite being substantially shorter and her heel control was perfectly fine. Ripley gets the win with a full nelson slam, and both girls looked promising here.

Mia Yim vs Sarah Logan

You can really tell the fact that these two are more advanced than a lot of the competitors, as this is a really good match. They cut a much faster pace, working fluid looking sequences. Loved the sudden dropkick Logan hits to a kneeling Yim, and Yim fires back with some stiff kicks. They also exchange some nasty blows on the mat. A German suplex to Logan looks a little off as Logan has to roll into place to have her shoulders down after initially landing out of the pin. Logan misses a leaping kneedrop and Yim hits Eat Defeat for the victory. Really good stuff.