July’s WWE Mae Young Classic will have a first round consisting of 32 different women from around the globe, and we now know nearly half of the competitors who will be in that first round. We already know that some serious heavy hitters will be part of this tournament, from the renamed Kairi Hojo, to the renamed Kimber Lee, to Princesa Sugehit. Mostly we just like being able to type “Princesa Sugehit.”
On Thursday, WWE.com announced two more names for the competition, coming at opposite ends of the experience spectrum. Well, not “opposite ends,” but … well, just hang on and you’ll see what I mean. Rhea Ripley, from Australia, is only 20 years old, and wrestled on the independent circuit as Demi Bennett.
Check out one of her matches from her home promotion of Riot City Wrestling:
And the other name announced this week was Sage Beckett, which means nothing to you until I inform you that that is the new WWE-approved name for recently-signed wrestler Andrea, who tore it up in Shine and elsewhere in the WWN Network, and way before that, she was in Impact Wrestling as Rosie Lottalove.
We would also be remiss if we did not mention that the Mae Young Classic has an all-new logo.
It is … not a great logo. But it’s there!
Excluding spoilers from the most recent NXT tapings, here are the current officially-announced entrants in the 2017 WWE Mae Young Classic:
– Rhea Ripley (Demi Bennett)
– Sage Beckett (Andrea)
– Kairi Sane (Kairi Hojo)
– Dakota Kai (Evie)
– Piper Niven (Viper)
– Bianca Belair
– Tessa Blanchard
– Abbey Laith (Kimber Lee)
– Taynara Conti
– Jazzy Gabert
– Kavita Devi
– Toni Storm
– Lacey Evans (Macey Estrella)
– Sarah Logan (Crazy Mary Dobson)
– Princesa Sugehit
