wrestling / Video Reviews
Kevin’s WWE Mae Young Classic Episode 3 Review
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...WWE Mae Young Classic
September 19th, 2018 | Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida
I’m a bit late with this but the Mae Young Classic continued with the third episode of season two. This one features tournament favorite Toni Storm and the return of former Divas Champion, Kaitlyn.
Mae Young Classic First Round: Kaitlyn vs. Kavita Devi
Devi is the first Indianan born female in WWE history. She lost to Dakota Kai in last year’s tournament. Kaitlyn is obviously known from her previous run with the company. Devi didn’t give the pre-match handshake. Kaitlyn looked good despite having not wrestled in a long time. She showed a lot of fire. Devi has improved a bit from last year and looked more mobile. However, this was all about Kaitlyn. She hit the Spear to win in 4:08. Yea, it was pretty one-sided, but they kept it short and entertained me. Better than I expected. [**]
Tyler Breeze was shown in the front row. So were the Iiconics, who had a nice little nod to fellow Aussie Toni.
Mae Young Classic First Round: Jinny vs. Toni Storm
These rivals have quite the history. Most recently, Jinny ended Toni’s near year long PROGRESS Women’s Championship reign. This got off to a slower start than expected. Once Toni fired off a series of strikes and kicks, the intensity picked up. You could feel that these are two women who don’t like each other at all. Jinny talked trash, slapped Toni, and pissed her off. Toni got going with some aggressive offense, including the hip attack and a great German suplex, and won with a Tiger Driver at 7:07. Good action here. They know each other well and had animosity that was clear in this one.[***]
Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae were shown in the crowd.
Mae Young Classic First Round: Karen Q vs. Xia Li
Xia is the first Chinese born female signee in WWE history. She lost in the tournament last year. Q is also Chinese and they opened this with a Mortal Kombat like bow and martial arts poses. The crowd ate that up. Xia won their first exchange, which angered Karen who responded with a slap. That allowed things to get more physical. Karen showed a confidence I wasn’t expecting. She missed a frog splash and Xia advanced with the Whipping Axe Kick at 4:21. That was more fun than expected. The Mortal Kombat style faceoff worked to get me interested and they kept up the fun for the duration.[**½]
Sonya Deville was in the audience now. Shelton Benjamin was there due to his longtime friendship with Mia.
Mae Young Classic First Round: Allysin Kay vs. Mia Yim
Kay was formerly known as Sienna in Impact Wrestling. Yim did well last year in the tournament. In the past, Yim broke Kay’s nose. Their opening lockup went to a stalemate, so they decided to just fire away on each other. Yim missed a chop and leveled the ring post. It looked brutal. From there, Kay brought an aggressive style and you could tell these two had some strong chemistry. They brought plenty of cool counters and near falls down the stretch. Yim survived Kay’s “Big D” finisher and you could tell that she was on the verge of rallying. She did and hit Sole Food off the top to advance in 9:39. A very good, hard hitting main event. [***½]
