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Mae Young Classic 2018- Round 1 Part 2- Sept 12, 2018

By Mark Rodriguez

The Mae Young 2018 all-female WWE tournament continues. So far Tegan Nox, Rhea Ripley, Lacey Lane and Meiko Satomura have advanced to the following round. The Mae Young Tournament has new episodes every Wednesday on the WWE Network with the final match being at the WWE Evolution PPV. Let's see who will advance in today's matches.

First Match - Deonna Purrazzo VS Priscilla Kelly

Both women started pretty even with submission moves and reversals until Kelly managed to kick Deonna down with a big boot to the face. She then grabbed Deonna with a Running Knee to the face and then a Dragon Sleeper. Even though Deonna got out of it, she was worn down until she managed to hit Kelly with a chop to regain control.She would follow up with an impressive Springboard into a Dropkick to Kelly's face.  In the end, Deonna grabbed Kelly into her Fujiwara Armbar and she had no choice but to tap out. Deonna Purrazzo, the Virtuoso won the match.



Before the match started it was explained Deonna was an alternate for the last tournament so she was heart broken to not take part. Now she got her chance to advance. Even though Priscilla Kelly lost, I do like her look as she reminds me of a more mean and viscous Paige, so I hope we see more of her.



Second Match- Aerial Monroe VS Zeuxis

Well, Aerial warned Zeuxis that if she messed with her hair, she'll get popped in the mouth, and when the Luchadora messed with her hair, that's exactly what happened. However, this wouldn't stop Zeuxis from still grabbing her by the hair and throwing her across the ring a few times, as well as getting her into a Camel Clutch. However, when Aerial managed to catch her kick, she got her chance to knock her down. Aerial managed to kick her in the face and slam her face into the mat. She cornered the Luchadora up against the turnbuckle and gave her some punches, but when she reeled back to run at her, Zeuxis was ready. The Luchadora would grab her onto the top turnbuckle and leap off with her with her finisher La Dulzura, a one woman Spanish Fly. Zeuxis got the pin and the win.



I do like Aerial's style though as she follows along the playful sass that her husband Cedric Alexander has. I do hope to see her again. I also liked that despite focusing a lot on Aerial's hair to piss her off, Zeuxis still showed off a lot of her moves. And La Dulzura is awesome, even though I had to replay several times to understand what the announcers were saying based on how they were trying to pronounce it.

Third Match- Kacy Catanzaro VS Reina Gonzalez

So Kacy is a newcomer who decided to try wrestling after being the first woman to complete the course on the American Ninja Warrior show... and her first opponent was Reina Gonzalez. Due to the size difference, Reina's legs are almost as big as Kacy. So the match started with Reina tossing Kacy around, and even though Kacy was more nimble and tried to do fancy moves, Reina would catch her and slam her around, or get her in a backbreaker. Once Reina accidentally ran shoulder first into the turnbuckle, Kacy got could get some offense in, including a missile dropkick off the second rope that actually knocked Reina down. In the end Kacy managed to slip Reina into a roll up pin and win the match and Kacy did not take it well. After the announcement of her victory, Reina stepped back into the ring to shake her hand. She would surprisingly lift Kacy on her shoulder to celebrate with her.



Both women were impressive here and Reina was also in the previous Mae Young tournament. I hope we see both of them. This was a real mismatch so we would see more of how well Kacy's moves will work once she has a match against someone her own size. I did like the bit of showwomanship as Reina congratulated Kacy 'cause for a moment there it looked like she was going to bodyslam her again.

Main Event- Ashley Rayne VS Mercedes Martinez 

A clash of veterans, it actually looked like it was going to end early on when Martinez hit Rayne with a nasty looking Brain Buster. With Rayne landing hard on the top of her shoulders, Mercedes would lock her in a hold to bring on the pain. She would also get her onto a vertical suplex but hold it there for a while so all the blood would rush to Rayne's head before slamming her. It looked like Martinez was going to try again but Rayne countered with a Neckbreaker. Rayne would finally get some offense and hit her with a Crossbody off the top turnbuckle and then nail her with a Guillotine Drop. Martinez would still break the pin and after hitting Rayne with a knee to the face, she would slam her down with a Fisherman Buster to secure the win. Martinez will advance to the next round.



This was an intense match and I knew Rayne had her work cut out for her since I've already seen Martinez give Tessa Blanchard hell in the Rise of the Knockouts PPV. Martinez was in the last Mae Young Classic as well, making it to the final four but tapping out to Shayna Baszler. It looks like she'll be making it far this time too. I do hope we see Ashley Rayne again.

My opinions

Another entertaining show, to seeing some great techniques from Martinez and Rayne, to seeing Kacy overcome the huge Reina Martinez. Again I have to say, I do hope we get to see Priscilla Kelly and Arial Monroe again. The shame about the people that lose the first matches is we don't get the chance to see more of what they can do. I did notice that Kacy will be facing Rhea Ripley next round, and though Rhea isn't as tall as Reina, she's still going to give Kacy a challenge due to the size difference. And it looks like Martinez will be up against Meiko in the next round... will it be the end of the line for Meiko?

Not much else to say though I do feel sorry for Cedric and Arial's kid in the crowd, crying after he saw his mom lose, especially after getting slammed in La Dulzura. At that age that's pretty scary seeing your mom taken down like that. Geez.

Anyways I can't wait for next week to see who else competes. We've so far seen 16 out of the 32 competing women, so we still have another 16 to go.


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