Csonka’s Early Mae Young Classic Takes

– Welcome back to column time with Larry. Today we’re going to talk about The Mae Young Classic. The Mae Young Classic has finally arrived, dropping its first four episodes on Monday. Today, I will share some of my takeaways from the first four episodes. Have a good time and feel free to share your opinions. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful of other’s opinions, and don’t be a dick.” We all have opinions, we’re going to disagree, just be cool about it. You can read my reviews below…

* Episode 1
* Episode 2
* Episode 3
* Episode 4

There Is A Ton Of Potential Female Talent in WWE Developmental: You always have people discussing how stacked WWE developmental is with male talent, and it is, but after watching the first episodes of the Mae Young Classic it really hit me how stacked they are with female talents and potential female stars. Right now, you have Royce, Kay, Riot, Cross, and Moon as the main roster NXT women. And then you have the women like Aliyah, Liv Morgan & Sonja Deville who make occasional appearances on TV, looking for a full time role. And then after them you have the next level ready to move up…

Next wave/TV ready
* Kairi Sane, age 28, was one of the top stars for STARDOM before being signed by WWE. She’s been working since 2012, and is a veteran of 302 matches. She looked great in her debut, the fans already treat her as a star and her elbow drop was over even before she was able to hit it.

* Abbey Laith is better known as Kimber Lee, is 27 years old and has been working since 2011. She is under a WWE developmental deal and is a veteran of 390 matches. She could be on TV (as a regular) at anytime with ease.

* Sarah Logan, age 23, is a WWE developmental talent, formerly known as Crazy Mary Dobson. She’s been working since 2011, and is a veteran of 256 matches. She could be on TV (as a regular) at anytime with ease.

* Dakota Kai, better known as Evie, is 29 and under a WWE developmental deal. She’s been working since 2007, and has had 109 matches. Kai is an absolutely fiery babyface that could be NXT’s next Bayley.

* Rhea Ripley (aka Demi Bennett) is a 20-year old competitor from Australia. She’s been working since 2013, and is signed to a WWE developmental deal. She’s worked 69 matches in her career thus far. She came off like a big time star, ahs a great look, and they presented her very well.

Has potential but needs more PC & in ring time
* Bianca Belair, age 28, is a WWE developmental talent and former CrossFit competitor and powerlifter. She’s been working for just under a year, and has 38 matches under her belt; she has great charisma, a good look and just needs more experience but is way ahead of the rest of this pack.

* Sage Beckett, age 32, started working g in 2007, but took time off due to health issues. She is a WWE developmental talent, who was trained at the Team 3D Academy, and has worked 98 matches. They just need to figure out what kind of performer she will be for them; she’s stuck in between athletic powerhouse and monster.

* Lacey Evans is a WWE developmental talent and former Military Occupational Specialty officer in the marines. In just around a year of experience, she’s worked 64 matches. With her family and military background, she has tremendous upside as a big time babyface.

* Taynara Conti, age 22, is another WWE developmental talent, working for just around a year. She is a black-belt judoka and a blue belt in jiu-jitsu, but has only worked 10 matches so far. Conti has a legit background, and shows great heel potential.

* Zeda has a background in MMA, amateur wrestling, wrestling, singing, acting and modeling. She has a great look and good charisma. She’s only worked limited NXT live events.

* Xia Li is a WWE developmental talent from China. She has trained in martial arts and is the co-founder of her own fitness studio; she has multiple first-place finishes in various martial arts and fitness competitions She’s only worked limited NXT live events.

* Vanessa Borne, age 28: She was previously a broadcaster for Fox Sports Arizona, as well as a dancer for the Phoenix Suns and a cheerleader for the Arizona Cardinals. She is currently under a WWE developmental deal, and has only worked 25 matches, all under the WWE umbrella. She has a good look and great confidence, just needs to get out and work more.

* Reina Gonzalez is a WWE developmental talent, who started training in 2014 and is the daughter of Ricky Gonzalez. She played basketball at Sam Houston State University, but has only worked 12 matches, all under the WWE umbrella. She needs a lot more ring time so that she can properly learn how to use her size; she was way too tentative in her match with Nicole Savoy..

* Mandy Rose, age 26, came from the Tough Enough show, and signed with WWE in 2015. She’s been working almost exclusively on the NXT Florida shows, has a great look, and has worked 128 matches

The feedback on the @MaeYoungClassic has been nothing short of extraordinary.
Thanks! pic.twitter.com/W7vL1DNJIZ

— Jim Ross (@JRsBBQ) August 28, 2017

Jim Ross and Lita… are not good.: I went into the overall product very excited, unfortunately I can’t say the same for Jim Ross and Lita. We al know that Ross and Lita had to re-do commentary for 16 Mae Young Classic matches, with Ross claiming that, “the creative change, the things that we were talking about were planned and now they had been tweaked. That’s entertainment, that’s the business. Anytime you get a chance to do the rewrite, you’re gonna do the rewrite. Always make it better, always make it better.” Now I don’t know how many, if any, of the first round matches were re-done, but I have to say if any of them were, I can’t imagine then being worse. It’s not so much that I would call it “bad” commentary, it’s just that Jim Ross and Lita weren’t “good” on commentary; Ross felt as if he was reading a script and relying on sound bites. Lita is so delayed on her reactions, feeling as if she’s thinking way too hard about what to say next. There is no emotion at all from their work. Through four episodes, I am not feeling JR & Lita on commentary at all, there’s just no emotion or passion there to add to the matches. In fact at times, their lifeless calls took away for the action. I wish the network had an option to mute the commentary, because I still want to hear the crowds. And no, this isn’t some big shit on Jim Ross session I have been a defender of his for years, his AXS TV work has been good, and his work with Nigel in the UK special prior to his work at Takeover Chicago were high quality. And then at the NJPW US G1 specials, he shit the bed. He didn’t know who anyone on the undercard was, he angered fans and performers, and called approximately 6 people BUSHI in one match. Post producing commentary should make it better, Lita felt like a robot and neither of them brought anything resembling excitement.

The Best matches So Far: So I will freely admit that the first four episodes of the Mae Young Classic didn’t exactly wow me or make me think that this will be the greatest tournament of all time. It was solid but unspectacular. But now that we’re past the first round and some of the less experienced talent has been weeded out, I am greatly looking forward to round two. Often times the opening round of a tournament can be lackluster, but I have hopes that this picks up. The next round will feature Princesa Sugehit, Serena Deeb, Shayna Baszler, Abbey Laith, Mercedes Martinez, Rachel Evers, Rhea Ripley, Mia Yim, Toni Storm, Dakota Kai, Bianca Belair, Piper Niven, Candice LeRae, Lacey Evans, Kairi Sane in action.

* Below, in my opinion, are the best matches so far…

– From Episode 1 – Abbey Laith vs. Jazzy Gabert [***¼]
– From Episode 2 – Mia Yim vs. Sarah Logan [***¼]
– From Episode 4 – Kairi Sane vs. Tessa Blanchard [***¼]
– From Episode 3 – Piper Niven vs. Santana Garrett [***½]

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”