Please note: there are FULL spoilers for the first five episodes of the Mae Young Classic here. If you have yet to watch these episodes, read my spoiler free reviews found here.
The final four participants in the quarter finals will be decided here, on the sixth of the first ever WWE Mae Young Classic. Nicole Savoy will face off against Candice LeRae, whilst the first lady of, Lacey Evans, must contend with the Australian rockstar Toni Storm. Another Australian will be in action, as Rhea Ripley gets in the ring with the New Zealander, Dakota Kai, and the dangerous “submission magician” Shayna Baszler battles the veteran, Mia Yim. Jim Ross and Lita call all the action from the home of NXT, Full Sail University in Orlando, Florida.
I’ll admit, I am only familiar with a handful of the competitors, so this will be mostly a ‘clean slate’ for me to form my opinions.
+ Mia Yim vs Shayna Baszler (Round of 16 Match): I’m not a fan of the way that Ronda Rousey is the focal point for all of the Baszler matches. We got the first big dive of the tournament in this match, but this was mostly a hard striking match. This was above average, and Yim in particular looked really good, but something about Baszler hs not yet clicked for me
+ Lacey Evans vs Toni Storm (Round of 16 Match): this was a good fight between the blonde badasses. Storm is so good in the ring I can see her heading to the WWE sooner rather than later, but it is Evans who already has the NXT contract. Storm busted out one of Okada’s moves (the over-the-shoulder neck breaker on the knee), and I loved it. This was another good match for the second round
– Nicole Savoy vs Candice LeRae (Round of 16 Match): unfortunately, this one fell a bit flat. I don’t know what order these were filmed, but this just couldn’t stand up against the Sane/Belair match from the previous episode. Both Savoy and LeRae are great, and both will be in the WWE in the future I’m sure, but this match was just not a great way to end the show
– Dakota Kai vs Rhea Ripley (Round of 16 Match): I thought Kai might have kicked Ripley’s chest off a few times in this match, gosh darn. Ripley really frustrated me in this match, as she telegraphed everything far too much, and the longer thsi went the less I enjoyed this match. This was the weakest of the round 2 matches so far
> Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair and Bayley were in the crowd, and there was some back and forth between them and the UFC Four Horsewomen, Ronda Rousey, Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke. Bayley was looking particularly fine
Should you watch this event: Put simply, the second half of the Round of 16 was not quite as exciting as the first, and the show broke even on good/bad wrestling. With four more women eliminated, at least the next round, the quarter finals, should only have the good wrestlers left.
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