The 2018 Mae Young Classic starts tonight on the WWE Network. Judging from the talent pool and last year’s inaugural tournament, it should be a lot of fun. The MYC features thirty-two wrestlers from a variety of different backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, experience levels, and wrestling styles, some signed to WWE and some not. Mauro Ranallo and Beth Phoenix gave us the official WWE breakdown on the Bracketology Special (here on YouTube and on the Network), and I’m here to give you the With Spandex breakdown.
The promotional video about this year’s nine returning MYC competitors showcases what’s cool about this tournament, and what makes it special as a thing for WWE, women’s wresting, and especially WWE women’s wrestling. I think this video and the other MYC promotional materials so far show not just the best of how WWE can make women’s wrestling feel more important when they really want to, but how competing in the biggest promotion in the world should probably always feel for all their wrestlers.
We see the returning wrestlers talk about how they were driven to improve themselves after their performances last year, and it definitely elevates the tournament. It presents the Mae Young Classic as a not just a look-how-we-don’t-dehumanize-women-anymore-wow-Revolution PR gimmick, but as an athletic competition that draws out the most driven female wresters in the world, and then pushes them to do even better.
Especially as someone who grew up in an era in which WWE mostly did not treat women’s wrestling as worthwhile in the slightest, the progressiveness of the MYC is something makes me feel very good as a wrestling fan, and especially as wrestling fan who is also a woman. It presents a future of wrestling in which everyone can belong, as long as they can kick ass.
That being said, there’s a wide variety of experience levels in this talent pool, and that could make or break especially these first round matches!
On the right side of the bracket, we have Taynara Conti vs. Jessie Elaban in the first round, for which I have low expectations. I really want to love Conti because her “I’m the real black belt, and I’m gorgeous” gimmick cracks me up, but we haven’t seen much of her as a pro wrestler yet. Elaban’s gimmick reminds me of all preteen characters in musicals in a bad way, but it looks like she could be at least pushed as the next Bayley. Both these women have been at the Performance Center for a while and are basically PC originals, but haven’t been used much yet, so we’ll see what happens!
Lacey Lane is extremely cool and promising, with the Japanese-inspired black and white gear and “Lucha Strong Style” gimmick that immediately makes me think of Pentagon Jr. After missing last year’s MYC due to arthritis in her knee, she is now signed to WWE, and presented in such a way that makes me root for her to do well. She’s up against Vanessa Kraven, who has a lot more experience. This has at least the potential to be an entertaining, tough chick battle.
The focus of Kaitlyn vs. Kavita Devi will most likely be the returning former Diva. Her new look and comeback story are great, and her very much Guarded Work Language Around Men conversation with Beth Phoenix about their experiences not fitting the mold of the typical WWE Diva during most of their careers made my ears perk up. I think everyone’s rooting for Kaitlyn, and I’m interested to see how both she and Devi have improved since we last saw them in singles competition.
Neither Mia Yim nor Allysin Kay was promoted much by WWE before the tournament, but their first-round match against each other has a lot of potential. So does former Knockouts champ (and All In participant) Ashley Rayne vs. fellow vet Mercedes Martinez. So do [recent McMahonsplaining guest] Rachel Evers vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto, who have worked together in Stardom, and the Toni Storm vs. Jinny (why couldn’t they let her keep Couture???) UK indie battle.
Like last year, Storm is a fave, and, now that she’s signed, seems like she should have a long and successful WWE career ahead of her. She’s a good wrestler with a charismatic, punk attitude, and all in a way that it seems like this company should easily be able to package.
The mega-standout, the advertised-by-WWE-as-a-final-boss of this side of the bracket, Meiko Satomura, faces Killer Kelly in the first round. Satomura looks extremely badass in the section of Bracketology that highlights her. Phoenix says she’ll raise the level of competition for everybody, and Ranallo even talks about Sendai Girls and the Crush Gals! WWE recognizing the achievements, history, and value of someone like Satomura seems like a very good sign for the future of women’s wrestling in this company.
And on the other side of the bracket, we have… people I know less about, sorry! But here are my best takes!
Kacy Catanzo vs. Reina Gonzalez doesn’t seem like it will be particularly good since Catanzo, though crazy-atheletic, doesn’t have a lot of in-ring experience yet. It’ll be interesting though to see what they do with the bruiser vs. perky fitness freak dynamic, and full foot of height difference.
Tegan Nox vs. Zatara and Zeuxis vs Aerial Monroe are both matchups with lots of potential, and I’m happy about the lucha representation. I’m probably biased against Karen Q right now because her current tag team gimmick with Rachel Bostic annoys me, but her match with Xia Li is one to watch for. Li’s been at the Performance Center for a while and has an impressive background in Crossfit, bodybuilding, and martial arts including Muay Thai, but we haven’t seen much of her on WWE programming. But it seems like it must be only a matter of time, and maybe her performance in this MYC could give us a hint at said time.
Isla Dawn vs. Nicole Matthews and recent NXT-debut Deonna Purrazzo vs. goth dream/nightmare Priscilla Kelly seem like the most typical women’s indie matches to me, which isn’t bad thing. Purrazzo talks about her journey to this tournament after missing the cut for last year’s MYC on the Bracketology Special, and seems very driven and sympathetic.
Rhea Ripley vs. MJ Jenkins might be the match comics-fan kid me is most into from the promotional graphic alone, and could be a first-round highlight. Jenkins has experience in Impact, Shine, and CZW, and Ripley is already making waves in the WWE UK women’s division. I’m also extremely into Ripley’s new look and persona, which seems like a huge upgrade from her character last year.
The standout of this side of the tournament, though, has to be Io Shirai. You guys… Io Shirai is in WWE!!! If you haven’t seen her before, or have only seen her in that one Lucha Underground match, you should know that she’s the closest thing to Joshi Tanahashi. You can even see the influence in her extremely Ace hand gestures. And it looks like, at least so far, they are doing Shirai justice. She’s described as “preternaturally talented” and having “dominated the Japanese wrestling scene,” which are freakin’ true. She declares seriously that she “will lead the entire division.” Let her do it, WWE!!!
The biggest downside to this year’s MYC is that we can’t get Shirai vs. Satomura unless they both make it to the finals, and, with only one having signed to WWE, that seems unlikely. But despite that and all the iffy first round stuff, it looks like this year’s Mae Young Classic should be fun, and give us at least a few really excellent matches.
