wrestling / TV Reports

411’s Mae Young Classic Bracketology Report

August 21, 2017 | Posted by Robert Leighty Jr.
mae young classic Women's Wrestling

411’s Mae Young Classic Bracketology Report

-Corey Graves welcomes us to the show and he is joined by WWE Hall of Famer, Lita. They joke that they decided to do this show all on their own.

-What we have is 32 competitors from 13 countries, and a few of them will be on this show for some interviews.

-They put over Mae Young and Lita calls her the perfect figurehead for this tournament. She talks about Mae being in the business for 8 decades, and how wrestling was in her blood.

-First profile is for Mercedes Martinez. She is a 16 year veteran, and she says she is not a high flyer. She just wants to punch people in the face. They show footage from Shimmer, and so far this is off to a good start in giving some background. The graphic lets us know that her finisher is the Fisherman’s Buster and powerhouse is listed as her fighting style.

-They show a video package of the 32 women getting to work out and tour the Performance Center.

-Hall of Famer, Alundra Blayze joins Graves and Lita at the desk to add some of her thoughts on the tournament. Lita asks for a favorite from Alundra and she names about 5 girls that have a MMA style. Then just that quickly, Alundra takes her leave.

-Back with Lita as she puts over the first full time female ref in the WWE and then we get a profile on Kay Lee Ray. She is from Scotland and her style is listed as brawler. Her finisher is the Gory Bomb. She calls herself the Hardcore Daredevil as she is willing to do anything. She talks about times where she hasn’t been paid and times where they were more people in the back than fans in the crowd. With wrestling there are ups and downs, and this tournament is one of the biggest highs. She isn’t gong to let this chance pass lightly.

-Back to the desk and Graves loves Kay Lee Ray. She is his pick to win the tournament. Next they profile Marti Belle, who is another brawler and uses the Marti Makeover to finish. She is from The Dominican Republic. She moved to NYC when she was 7 years old, and talks about watching wrestling as a child. It is in her nature to fight and she is honored to be in the Mae Young Classic. She calls herself scrappy as she learned to fight in New York.

-Marti Belle is at the desk for a sit down interview with Graves and Lita. She puts over Lita and calls her a legend as she mentions watching her on TV when she was a kid. Lita asks if Marti has anything left to prove to herself. She talks about being sent to New York as a kid to learn English and she needs to prove to everyone that what she has gone through has been worth it.

-Next seems to be everyone’s favorite: Shayna “The Queen of Spades” Baszler. She has fought in MMA for 16 years and is a member of MMA’s 4 Horsewomen. She puts over being on the 1st Female Ultimate Fighter, and says that this tournament has reignited something in her. She promises that what we see with the UFC is what she will do in the ring. She won’t be amazed by the bright lights and the crowd. She puts herself over as a legitimate bad ass, and back at the desk Graves jumps horses as now he is going all in on Shayna winning this tournament.

-Jazzy Gabert from Germany is next up. She saw wrestling as a child and remembers seeing The Undertaker and The Ultimate Warrior. To her, they were perfect, where she wasn’t. So she started working on her body and has fought hard to be where she is right now. She wants her opponents to feel pain and her most favorite thing is to hurt little girls. Awesome! For those keeping track, Graves now has her pegged as his pick to win the tournament. I guess that will be the running joke of this show.

-They throw it to Charly Caruso in the Control Center, and it seems we are finally getting brackets. On the left side we get: Jazzy Gabert vs. Abbey Laith; Rachel Evers (daughter of Paul Ellering) vs. Marti Belle; Princesa Sugehit (masked luchadore) vs. Kay Lee Ray; Xia Li (China) vs. Mercedes Martinez; Nicole Savoy (Queen of Suplex) vs. Reina Gonzalez; Renee Michelle vs. Candice LeRae; Sarah Logan vs. Mia Yim; and Zeda (background in BJJ) vs. Shayna Baszler wraps up that side of the bracket.

-Charly hypes the debut of the classic on August 28th with the first 4 episodes and also mentions the brackets can be printed from the WWE website.

-Graves says that he knows he is having fun, but it is hard to pick a winner in this thing. That leads to our next profile and this is on Lacey Evans. She uses the Lady Lace Up as her finisher and is from the Good Ol USA. She is the lady of NXT and it means a lot to her to represent NXT. She is a wife, mother, and military veteran. It seems she was a member of a military swat team, and kudos to her for that. At home she has a 4 year old daughter and she breaks down talking about her being there in the crowd during the Tournament. Nice!

-Graves picks her to win the tournament as this gag continues. Lacey is at the desk and she discusses going from the military to the Performance Center. She gives everything 100% and she has passion with everything she does in life. She is proud to represent the USA and she will walk out learning something from everyone in this competition.

-Kairi Sane from Japan is next and she is another one I have heard is a favorite. Her persona is that of a Pirate and she puts over the other 4 WWE stars from Japan: Nakamura, Asuka, Tozawa, and Itami. She is the only rep from Japan in this tournament and she asks the fans to cheer for her.

-Daokta Kai is the first woman from New Zeland to make it to anything WWE related. She calls her style quick and puts over how hard she can hit. She was influenced by Finn Balor and uses a version of his finisher. She promises to do everything in her power to win this tournament.

-Lita picks Dakota Kai to win the tournament and Graves calls her out for doing so, as it is his thing to pick everyone to win. Kai is there and talks about the self confidence issues she has had. She has worked in a lot of different countries and thinks that will help her. They mention she has been on the WWE radar for a long time. She warns people not to underestimate her.

-Former WWE Diva, Serena Deeb (one of CM Punk’s followers in SES) is next and they show her first run in the WWE as she broke in through FCW. They show Punk shaving her head in what was her WWE TV debut. She had a lot of fun with her first run, but it was cut short. She mentions she was irresponsibly using alcohol and she had to look in the mirror knowing she ruined a great opportunity. This tournament is her chance back.

-Lita says that Serena is her real pick, as she has a soft spot for her. She gave Serena advice on how to get the WWE and until this tournament they haven’t run into each other. When they did meet up again, Serena pulled out a photo of that first meeting. Lita wants it all to come full circle and that is why she is picking Serena.

-Our final profile is on Toni Storm. She comes from Australia and she has rock star energy. It is important to her to give young girls positive role models. She started wrestling when she was 13 years old and then moved to England to get better opportunities. At this tournament people will see what she can do and she promises to take heads off. Wonderful!

-Storm is on the set and Graves asks what is going through her mind sitting in the Performance Center next to Lita. She jokes it is a lot nicer than they shed she is used to working out in. She has made countless sacrifices to get her and she can’t wait to call her mom to let her know where she has made it.

-Back to Charly as we will get the right side of the bracket: Kaira Sane vs. Tessa Blanchard (daughter of Horseman, Tully Blanchard); Sage Beckette vs. Bianca Belair; Dakota Kai vs. Kavita Devi (first WWE female from India, so expect her on SmackDown to win that Woman’s Title in no time); Miranda Salinas vs. Rhea Ripley; Vanessa Borne vs. Serena Deeb; Santana Garrett vs. Piper Niven; Taynarra Conti vs. Lacey Evans; Ayesha Raymond vs. Toni Storm.

-HHH is the final guest as Graves calls him the man who put all this together. HHH won’t take the credit as there are a lot of people that put this together and gives the women all the credit. He has always wondered why the women weren’t given the same chances. He puts over Lita, Alundra, Chyna, Moolah, and Mae Young. He had the idea to do a 16 woman tournament, but realized he could easily do 32 and probably do more if needed. Lita says that HHH mentioned the possibility of this tournament a long time ago to her and she is thrilled they are finally here. He is impressed that this women have worked so hard without ever knowing they could get a chance like this. HHH mentions that there are alternates if needed and that no matter if eliminated early or late, this is the launching pad for all of these women.

-Graves closes things and we are out.

-This was a fun show which did a good job of getting over the stories of a lot of these ladies. I came into this with very limited knowledge on 90% of these women, so this was much needed for me. It did the job it needed to and it has me intrigued in seeing this tournament. Thanks for reading!

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Robert Leighty Jr.