Mae Young Classic 2 Preview & Predictions

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Last night began the first round of tapings for the second annual Mae Young Classic with them airing on September 5, but spoilers are already out if you want to see what happened.

It was also revealed last night that Renee Young, Beth Phoenix and Michael Cole will be doing the commentary for the tournament with a possible hint to the commentary team for the Evolution pay-per-view with Cole being involved in the show or this tournament the veteran will help improve Young and Phoenix before they got it out alone in October.

Anyway, let’s look into the 32 wrestlers competing this year with predictions of how far they’ll go. Additionally, with a number of women from the NXT UK brand involved, I won’t be surprising if one of them wins the tournament.

So let’s look at who’ll follow in Kairi Sane’s boots.

First Round

Vanessa Kraven

At 6 foot 2, Kraven is physically speaking a big person going by the nickname of “The Mountain”. Furthermore, she was at the same wrestling school as Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens but I fully expect her to be the monster heel for someone to make their name.

Kacy Catanzaro

Kacy is the biggest name that American mainstream audiences will know due to competing in American Ninja Warrior and is super athletic, but is massively inexperience in the ring.

Reina Gonzalez

After losing in the first round under 5 minutes last year and I fully expect the same at this year’s tournament, but being apart of the performance centre and being tag partners with Ripley at NXT live shows so WWE must see something in her.

Karen Q

Karen will be an unknown to plenty of wrestling fans, she's been in Ring of Honor and will be a lamb to a bigger name.

Kavita Devi

Devi became the first ever Indian female wrestler to make it in WWE and went on to make more history as part of the Women’s Wrestlemania Battle Royale. However, with the level of competition this year, it’ll be hard for her to make an impact.

Killer Kelly

After appearing on both nights at the Royal Albert Hall making her NXT UK debut, it’s no surprise the first ever wXw women’s champ would be involved. If there's one woman from the brand to not make it far it’ll sadly be the Portuguese star.

Jessica Elaban

Even though she joined WWE last May being apart of the performances centre, she’s still a newcomer so don’t expect too much from the rookie maybe next year. Though I will say I love her geeky character.

Nicole Matthews

With 12 years in the ring, Matthews is a seasoned pro fighting around the world against the likes of Becky Lynch and on NXT against Asuka.

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Taynara Conti

Qualifying for the MYC on last night’s NXT episode beating Vanessa Borne and the 23-year-old appeared at Wrestlemania Women’s Battle Royale but the 23-year-old has made much impact on NXT, so maybe this could spark a rivalry on the show going forward.

Mia Yim

Yim only got as far as the second round last year losing out to Shayna Baszler and since suffered a leg injury made her adjust her style and the fact the tournament is so strong and still coming back from injury I can’t see her go far.

Lacey Lane

A newcomer to the Performance Centre and clearly touted for big things being described as “one of the most all-rounded athletes in the entire Mae Young Classic” and has been trained by The Dudley Boyz. The fact she is a newcomer to WWE this will be a way to introduce her to wider audiences.

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Priscilla Kelly

The 21-year-old will be unknown to plenty of wrestling fans and I’m looking forward to seeing her perform and hopefully make some sort of impact.

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Zatara

As a mask female wrestler is something rare and we’ve got two in this tournament and is a massive star in South America especially in Chile where she picked up all four of RLL Grand Slam belts and will be a big early shock exit.

Aerial Monroe

Monroe is a major newcomer to the ring with only three years experience and this tournament has come a bit early for the rookie. Her background of being in the Air Force is awesome and is trained by current Cruiserweight champion Cedric Alexander.

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MJ Jenkins

Jenkins, like Lane, was trained under The Dudley Boyz and is also a new WWE recruit after making a name for herself in the indies and Impact Wrestling could be another future star and could come back to the tournament next year to bigger expectations.

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Hiroyo Matsumoto

Known as the Lady Destroyer and/or Lady Godzilla, Matsumoto was racked as the 25th best women’s wrestler in the world back in 2017 by Pro Wrestling Illustrated and is a 12 year veteran at one point holding four titles and has a range of brutal moves.

A crazy prediction that I’ll likely get massively wrong.

Second Round (Last 16)

Xia Brookside

The youngest competitor to be involved in the tournament at 19-years-old and you can guess by the surname, she’s the daughter of NXT coach Robbie Brookside and is the IPW champion with bags of experience wrestling in the UK and Japan.

Again this could be to boost the NXT UK brand.

Xia Li

An impressive martial artist and the first full-time superstar from China, Li will be looking to improve from her first round exit last year but not by much.

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Ashley Rayne

Ashley Rayne aka Madison Rayne was competing for the Impact Knockouts title on the company's biggest show not three weeks ago so the fact Rayne is involved in this tournament is a massive surprise.

She didn’t need WWE as she was doing well with Impact and will be fighting at All In. I expect Rayne to get past the first round and could get as far as the semis.

Mercedes Martinez

This will be the biggest shock result of the tournament with last year’s semi-finalist not making it past the second round. The 18-year veteran will be a major scalp for any competitor as Martinez is one of the biggest stars of the tournament.

Allysin Kay

Her look is pretty awesome and could be a surprise package of the tournament as the former two-time Knockout champion and has shared a dojo with WWE performance centre coach Serena Deeb.

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Meiko Satomura

Satomura is a legend in women’s and Japanese wrestling founding the Sendai Girls promotion and a career spanning 20 years, currently Fight Club: PRO champion, and it’s not crazy to think she could win the whole thing. However, she’ll likely be a major scalp for a WWE signed star *cough* Io Shirai *cough*.

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Isla Dawn

Scottish Dawn made her WWE debut at this year’s United Kingdom Championship Tournament on the Network. Being apart of the NXT UK the company might want to make sure fans gets to know her before the tapings are aired.

Rachel Evers

Another wrestler returning to the tournament, losing to Abbey Laith in the second round. It’ll likely be the same this year for the daughter of Paul Ellering due to the improved quality in the tournament.

Quarter Finals

Zeuxis

It’s hard to predict where Zeuxis is going to finish up as the 10 year veteran with 800 matches under her belt could make South America wrestler could either be a major surprise losing in the opening two rounds or get to the semi-finals making fans lose their mind with her top rope Spanish Fly.

Kaitlyn

The former diva’s champion is back on WWE and was the first name announced to massive support and excitement. This could be a way for the experience powerlifter to be involved as a part/ full-time superstar like a Mickie James or work with Sara Del Ray as a trainer at the performance centre and be on NXT.

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Tegan Nox

A name I hate so much, Nox aka Nixon Newell will finally be making her WWE Network debut signing with the company last year. In this year’s Mae Young Classic will be the perfect opportunity for her to make her name.

Deonna Purrazzo

Purrazzo is no stranger to the WWE taking on a number of their top stars like Bayley and Asuka as well as a few NXT tapings. She’s a massive talent could be a future NXT champion.

Semi-Finals

Toni Storm

Last year’s semi-finalist, the face of the women’s NXT UK division, probably NXT UK women’s champion, 22-year-old Storm will be in the final four once again because as you saw from last year’s tournament WWE love this Aussie.

Similar to a lot of these women in this year’s tournament will be the future of WWE women’s wrestling and will get a push in the main roster in the future.

Rhea Ripley

Ripley is returning to the tournament after losing out to Dakota Kai and has been at the performance centre and live NXT shows since. It’s tricky to see where she’ll finish because the first round defeat would be a back step for the 5 foot 7 Aussie, which is why I believe she’ll make a be impression.

Even though she's been a heel in the live events she has the look and athletic ability to take on Baszler. In a lot of Ripley looks like Charlotte, but with the added strength.

Runner-Up

Io Shirai

When it comes to women’s wrestling there’s no bigger than Shirai, who is regarded as the best women’s wrestler in the world. There will be hardcore wrestling fans who probably think she doesn't need this tournament and go straight into the main or NXT roster, but this will be a great showcase of her skills. I have no doubt Shirai will make her main roster debut at the Royal Rumble.

She could dominate either brand and I’d have Paul Heyman be her manager both being face to fight the likes of Ronda Rousey, Alexa Bliss Asuka and Charlotte.

Shirai will be the top pick for plenty of professional wrestling journalist and pundits to win the whole thing. However, I think the Japanese star will full just short in a classic match in the final at Evolution.

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Winner

Jinny

The YAS Queen is fucking great and has all the potential to be the future of WWE that’s how good she is. The current Progress champion and one of the faces of the new brand to make an impact and have NXT UK a must watch for audiences then the Londoner will go far as the top heel for the brand.

The only reason why they might swap between Jinny and Shirai is so Jinny takes on Toni Storm for the NXT UK women’s title and Shirai wins the NXT women’s title at Takeover at Wrestlemania.