By Mark Rodriguez
As many might know, I love female wrestling, especially nowadays that the girls are finally allowed to put on intense matches. Last year WWE had the Mae Young Classic, an all-female tournament on the WWE Network. Possibly some of the most noticeable names were Shayna Baszler and Kairi Zane, mostly due to to Shayna being NXT Champion for quite a while (defeating Ember Moon) until Kairi would finally defeat her to become current champion. And hey. Tessa Blanchard was in there too, as she faced Kairi earlier on.
This year brings one a new crew of wrestling ladies from around the world. So far the ones that are noticeable are the WWE veteran Kaitlin (who had a memorable feud against AJ Lee), Toni Storm who has quite the fanbase and Karen Q and Mercedes Martinez from RISE. The main event of Rise 9 was a 30 minute Iron Woman Match against Tessa Blanchard and it seems like Rise 10 will be the rematch, so Mercedez has her hands full.
New tournament episodes will be released every Wednesday on the WWE Network, and the final match to determine the winner will be part of the first ever All-Woman PPV, Evolution.
I'll try my best to cover these matches, though due to my busy work weeks, the reviews most likely won't be on Wednesday itself. While I realize the tapings aren't live, I will avoid all spoilers, so some of you might know who won each match before I even wrote this. So let's start with Round 1!
First Match- Tegan Nox VS Zatara
The biggest challenge for Tegan in this match was her surgically repaired knee. Zatara used most of her focus on that right knee, using all sorts of painful looking leglocks. The masked luchadora got her opponent in a deathlock which Tegan managed to fight out of. Despite the pain in her knee, she managed to land a crossbody lateral press off the ropes but Zatara would still kick out and hit her with a missile dropkick off the ropes. In the end, Zatara would run at her opponent and miss, which led her wide open to Tegan's Shining Wizard, basically a running kick to the face. With this, Tegan scores her first win, but the question is how well she will continue to advance in the tournament with her injured knee. Ember Moon and Alexa Bliss cheer in the audience.
Second Match- Rhea Ripley VS MJ Jenkins
MJ Jenkins was dancing and full of sass, but Rhea was here to kick some ass. Out to make up for her loss at the Mae Young Classic 2017, she impressed everyone with her power moves. While MJ was trying to climb into the ring, Rhea did a standing dropkick strong enough to knock her back out and onto the floor. She was also able to lift MJ in a vertical suplex before slamming her down. Rhea started slapping MJ around saying she didn't belong here, but this only got MJ fired up and she fought back. MJ landed several punches, a shoulder tackle and a missile drop kick. However, Rhea still managed to grab her for a Pump Handle Power Bomb and secured the win.
My only compliant were the announces constantly comparing Rhea to Charlotte or saying that Rhea wants to prove she's not Charlotte and other such nonsense. Stop trying to plant ideas into the fanbase's heads, Rhea is nothing like Charlotte. She's a savage wrecking machine out to hurt people, and that's the way I like her.
Third Match - Lacey Lane VS Vanessa Kraven
Vanessa was another large woman out to bring the pain, but with a more playful attitude, so there was a bit of a size difference to the smaller and more nimble Lacey. Lacey would grab Vanessa's arm while she was on the ropes and would jump and skip, and I'm not sure if she slip up was supposed to be intentional or a both, but she send Vanessa out of the ring while injuring herself. Lacey would try a suicide dive, but Vanessa caught her and hung her upside down upon the ropes, leaving her open for brutal chops. Vanessa got her in a Canadian Backbreaker and later on a Sidewalk Slam but Lacey would endure. In the end the agile Lacey Lane dodge a punch from her opponent and catch her in a Crucifix Bomb which looks amazing. It's like she wraps herself into a pretzel behind the opponent and uses her weight and momentum to bring them down. Lacey got the win.
I also want to say it was almost funny how during the intro footage showing some of Lacey and Vanessa's moves as they introduce themselves to the viewers, most of the shots from both women were against Tessa Blanchard, basically taking her down all sorts of ways. Ouch.
Main Event- Meiko Satomura vs Killer Kelly
What a main event, the legend of strong style Meiko VS the violent Killer Kelly who is also no stranger to strong strikes. This match was intense and full of strong strikes and submission moves. Meiko got Kelly in a painful looking crossface but her younger opponent managed to break the hold. Meiko tried to jump off the ropes but Kelly managed to catch her and hang her upside down in her own submission move which almost made the veteran tap out. Kelly got in some strikes and hit her with a running double kick to the face. With her opponent finally showing some damage, Kelly managed to grab Meiko and slam her with the Fishermen Plex but her opponent managed to kick out at the very last second. Kelly was shocked that she didn't win then and there, and Meiko was done playing games. She picked up Kelly and slammed her with the Death Valley Driver to win the match. Much respect was shown between both women for this awesome match.
Overall thoughts-
Man, that an intense main event! I was actually surprised Meiko won this one, despite her veteran and legendary status since it might have been a passing of the torch moment. Even though Kelly had the longer legs for her own strong style strikes, Meiko hit harder, was in control most of the match and took her down. I also felt a slight Geese Howard vibe from Meiko's theme and with the commentary saying she's considered The Final Boss in Japan, it suits her. I wonder how far she'll go in this tournament.
The other matches were cool, but I feel we didn't see too much of Zatara and MJ's moves, mostly due to Zatara focusing too much on taking out Tegan's knee and MJ was basically being mowed down by Rhea. I do dig the sass and the dance moves, but MJ was taken out before we could see more of what she could do besides her showwomanship.
Of the women eliminated, I do hope we get to see more of Killer Kelly and MJ Jenkins later on if they join NXT or something. I also wouldn't mind seeing Rhea take on Vanessa Kraven.
I always love these tournaments and can't wait to see round 2 next week. Even though it's still WWE technically, there's still a slight indie feel to it since not many the new competitors are well known unless you also follow the indies. I love it.
As many might know, I love female wrestling, especially nowadays that the girls are finally allowed to put on intense matches. Last year WWE had the Mae Young Classic, an all-female tournament on the WWE Network. Possibly some of the most noticeable names were Shayna Baszler and Kairi Zane, mostly due to to Shayna being NXT Champion for quite a while (defeating Ember Moon) until Kairi would finally defeat her to become current champion. And hey. Tessa Blanchard was in there too, as she faced Kairi earlier on.
This year brings one a new crew of wrestling ladies from around the world. So far the ones that are noticeable are the WWE veteran Kaitlin (who had a memorable feud against AJ Lee), Toni Storm who has quite the fanbase and Karen Q and Mercedes Martinez from RISE. The main event of Rise 9 was a 30 minute Iron Woman Match against Tessa Blanchard and it seems like Rise 10 will be the rematch, so Mercedez has her hands full.
New tournament episodes will be released every Wednesday on the WWE Network, and the final match to determine the winner will be part of the first ever All-Woman PPV, Evolution.
I'll try my best to cover these matches, though due to my busy work weeks, the reviews most likely won't be on Wednesday itself. While I realize the tapings aren't live, I will avoid all spoilers, so some of you might know who won each match before I even wrote this. So let's start with Round 1!
First Match- Tegan Nox VS Zatara
The biggest challenge for Tegan in this match was her surgically repaired knee. Zatara used most of her focus on that right knee, using all sorts of painful looking leglocks. The masked luchadora got her opponent in a deathlock which Tegan managed to fight out of. Despite the pain in her knee, she managed to land a crossbody lateral press off the ropes but Zatara would still kick out and hit her with a missile dropkick off the ropes. In the end, Zatara would run at her opponent and miss, which led her wide open to Tegan's Shining Wizard, basically a running kick to the face. With this, Tegan scores her first win, but the question is how well she will continue to advance in the tournament with her injured knee. Ember Moon and Alexa Bliss cheer in the audience.
Second Match- Rhea Ripley VS MJ Jenkins
MJ Jenkins was dancing and full of sass, but Rhea was here to kick some ass. Out to make up for her loss at the Mae Young Classic 2017, she impressed everyone with her power moves. While MJ was trying to climb into the ring, Rhea did a standing dropkick strong enough to knock her back out and onto the floor. She was also able to lift MJ in a vertical suplex before slamming her down. Rhea started slapping MJ around saying she didn't belong here, but this only got MJ fired up and she fought back. MJ landed several punches, a shoulder tackle and a missile drop kick. However, Rhea still managed to grab her for a Pump Handle Power Bomb and secured the win.
My only compliant were the announces constantly comparing Rhea to Charlotte or saying that Rhea wants to prove she's not Charlotte and other such nonsense. Stop trying to plant ideas into the fanbase's heads, Rhea is nothing like Charlotte. She's a savage wrecking machine out to hurt people, and that's the way I like her.
Third Match - Lacey Lane VS Vanessa Kraven
Vanessa was another large woman out to bring the pain, but with a more playful attitude, so there was a bit of a size difference to the smaller and more nimble Lacey. Lacey would grab Vanessa's arm while she was on the ropes and would jump and skip, and I'm not sure if she slip up was supposed to be intentional or a both, but she send Vanessa out of the ring while injuring herself. Lacey would try a suicide dive, but Vanessa caught her and hung her upside down upon the ropes, leaving her open for brutal chops. Vanessa got her in a Canadian Backbreaker and later on a Sidewalk Slam but Lacey would endure. In the end the agile Lacey Lane dodge a punch from her opponent and catch her in a Crucifix Bomb which looks amazing. It's like she wraps herself into a pretzel behind the opponent and uses her weight and momentum to bring them down. Lacey got the win.
I also want to say it was almost funny how during the intro footage showing some of Lacey and Vanessa's moves as they introduce themselves to the viewers, most of the shots from both women were against Tessa Blanchard, basically taking her down all sorts of ways. Ouch.
Main Event- Meiko Satomura vs Killer Kelly
What a main event, the legend of strong style Meiko VS the violent Killer Kelly who is also no stranger to strong strikes. This match was intense and full of strong strikes and submission moves. Meiko got Kelly in a painful looking crossface but her younger opponent managed to break the hold. Meiko tried to jump off the ropes but Kelly managed to catch her and hang her upside down in her own submission move which almost made the veteran tap out. Kelly got in some strikes and hit her with a running double kick to the face. With her opponent finally showing some damage, Kelly managed to grab Meiko and slam her with the Fishermen Plex but her opponent managed to kick out at the very last second. Kelly was shocked that she didn't win then and there, and Meiko was done playing games. She picked up Kelly and slammed her with the Death Valley Driver to win the match. Much respect was shown between both women for this awesome match.
Overall thoughts-
Man, that an intense main event! I was actually surprised Meiko won this one, despite her veteran and legendary status since it might have been a passing of the torch moment. Even though Kelly had the longer legs for her own strong style strikes, Meiko hit harder, was in control most of the match and took her down. I also felt a slight Geese Howard vibe from Meiko's theme and with the commentary saying she's considered The Final Boss in Japan, it suits her. I wonder how far she'll go in this tournament.
The other matches were cool, but I feel we didn't see too much of Zatara and MJ's moves, mostly due to Zatara focusing too much on taking out Tegan's knee and MJ was basically being mowed down by Rhea. I do dig the sass and the dance moves, but MJ was taken out before we could see more of what she could do besides her showwomanship.
Of the women eliminated, I do hope we get to see more of Killer Kelly and MJ Jenkins later on if they join NXT or something. I also wouldn't mind seeing Rhea take on Vanessa Kraven.
I always love these tournaments and can't wait to see round 2 next week. Even though it's still WWE technically, there's still a slight indie feel to it since not many the new competitors are well known unless you also follow the indies. I love it.
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