Friday, June 16, 2017

The First Names for the Mae Young Classic Have Been Announced

Logan is one of four announced for the tournament
Photo Credit: WWE.com
WWE's big Mae Young Classic women's tournament is fast approaching, and finally, the company has announced some dang competitors for the thing, four to be exact. Two have actually made appearances on NXT television, one is a luchadora, and the other is a world-traveled Kiwi with a stellar resume in her young life. The time has come to dive into the first entrants into the latest WWE-sponsored tournament:

Toni Storm - While Storm wasn't on my wishlist of competitors for this shindig, her arrival is much appreciated and anticipated. I've never seen her wrestle, but she comes with a track record as stellar as it is long in her young, young career. For starters, she's a veteran of PROGRESS in England and STARDOM in Japan, two of the most highly-regarded promotions in the world, and her work in both comes critically acclaimed by many who know a thing or two about the graps. She also has quite the posterior, although that's not a, ahem, valid reason to rejoice at her inclusion in the tournament.

Sarah Logan - The former Crazy Mary Dobson has made a splash on NXT television, working both the number one contendership battle royale before Takeover Chicago and a singles match against Peyton Royce where she got a few nice comeback spots before ultimately losing. She's shown a knack for putting together a strong wrestling match since her rookie year in 2011, and her grungy brawling style will fit in well against nearly any opponent. I get the feeling that she is one of the favorites to win the whole thing, to be honest, although those hunches seem to be wrong more often than not.

Lacey Evans - Another competitor who made a splash first on NXT television in enhancement roles, I don't know much about her except for her brief appearances in matches putting over the likes of Nikki Cross and Sonya DeVille and that she's an alumna of the US Marine Corps. It'll be interesting to see how she plays in a match where she's considered to be the equal of the person she's facing off against, unless she goes up against like, I don't know, Storm or Mia Yim or some other huge outside name. But it feels like WWE has big plans for her.

Princesa Sugehit - Sugehit wasn't on the wishlist, not because I don't know her (I don't), but because TheCubsFan didn't even think of mentioning her. She's actually a 20 year veteran on the lucha libre scene, and she comes highly regarded from the people who replied to this tweet inquiring about her. Speaking of TCF, he seems to indicate that Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre may not have known WWE was courting her when it put the Mexican National Championship on her. Then again, communications between workers and management is not the strongest point of relations in Mexican wrestling.

So one-eighth of the field has been announced, with 28 wrestlers left to fill in the gaps. With Storm and Sugehit on board, it feels the tip of the iceberg in terms of starpower has been barely scraped. I will be waiting for the rest of the announcements with bated breath.