Mae Young Classic Episode Five: No Mercy Lives!
Mae Young Classic Episode #5
Date: September 4, 2017
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Jim Ross, Lita
The fast paced shows continue as we have four more episodes being released today before we get ready for next week’s live finale. We’re down to sixteen competitors to go and for the most part, I’m coming into this blind on the spoilers. It’s hard to say where some of these matches are going to go so let’s get to it.
Mauro handles the opening recap again.
The remaining entrants are on stage.
Video on Abbey Laith, who has wrestled for years and is here now.
Video on Rachel Evers, who was originally scheduled to lose in the first round but Marti Belle was so horrible that they changed plans mid-match.
Kassius Ohno is here.
Second Round: Abbey Laith vs. Rachel Evers
The fans sound split here as Rachel shoves her down to start, only to get wristdragged to the floor. Back in and a Stunner of all things puts Abbey down but they hit stereo bicycle kicks for a double knockdown. Abbey sticks with the kicks, including a high one off the side of Evers’ head to send her straight down. She’s up fast enough to catch Abbey on top with a super powerslam of all things for two. Cool looking move if nothing else. Evers tries another kick but gets dropped with a powerbomb, setting up the Alligator Clutch for the pin at 4:51.
Rating: C-. This started off a bit awkward but got better as things went on. Laith feels like someone they’re ready to push pretty hard, especially given her background on the indy scene. Evers just needs a lot more ring time, though she has the look and pedigree to make a pretty nice run for herself one day.
Video on Serena Deeb, who is very aggressive and will work hard.
Video on Piper Niven, who wants to be tough but with a big smile.
Second Round: Serena Deeb vs. Piper Niven
Niven powers her into the corner to start and falls on Deeb in a slam attempt. Well to be fair that was just kind of dumb. A hard belly to back suplex breaks up Serena’s headlock and there’s a splash for two more. With the holds not working, Deeb opts for just punching her in the face for a change. A middle rope Codebreaker (or maybe something like a monkey flip) drops Niven and a neckbreaker gets two.
Deeb is right back up with a modified Diamond Cutter for two more as the fans are split again. A charge misses in the corner though and Niven drops a Vader Bomb….for two. Dang I would have bet on that one. Niven heads up top (uh oh) and misses a splash, only to grab the Michinoku Driver to put Deeb away at 7:12.
Rating: C. What in the world was that ending? Niven missed the splash to seemingly give Deeb a hope spot but she was up less than five seconds later and hit the finish for the pin. I looked away for a second and my head swung back because I thought the video had skipped. They were trying to get into the Sting vs. Vader formula here but that ending REALLY knocked them back.
Video on Princesa Sugehit, who may be a veteran but needs to win this tournament.
Video on Mercedes Martinez, who has waited a long time for this opportunity.
Kalisto is here.
Second Round: Princesa Sugehit vs. Mercedes Martinez
Sugehit, in Wonder Woman themed gear, takes her down by the arm and tries a quick rollup for two. Another rollup, this time into the corner, gets the same on Martinez but she’s right back with Two Amigos into a draping swinging neckbreaker. Princesa grabs a Codebreaker but has to block a superplex attempt. Instead it’s a tornado DDT (now a big spot on the indy Bingo card) for two on Martinez and both of them are spent less than five minutes in. One heck of a Fujiwara armbar has Martinez in more trouble but she pops up and hits a fisherman’s buster for the pin at 5:09.
Rating: C. What is with these sudden endings? Sugehit was dominating and then got caught by one move, seemingly out of nowhere, for the pin. Mercedes winning certainly isn’t a surprise but they could have done a better job of laying the match out. You have almost all the time you want and there’s no need to cut them down this fast.
Video on Bianca Belair, whose hair whip thing is still stupid.
Video on Kairi Sane, who is perhaps the most awesome thing ever.
Second Round: Bianca Belair vs. Kairi Sane
Kairi gets taken down to start and we hit a headlock as JR continues to brag about how awesome of an athlete Belair is. Back up and Belair blows her a kiss, only to have Sane grab it out of the air and stomp it on the mat. One heck of a forearm drops Belair but she hits the hair whip (So you can use it to whip people but get yelled at for pulling it?) to take over.
A delayed vertical suplex with some squats gets two and we hit a seated full nelson. So she’s a No Mercy fan? Some ground and pound of all things has Kairi down but she gets her knees up to stop a splash. Kairi does those rapid fire chops in the corner that probably don’t hurt much but they’re done in Japan and therefore they must be awesome.
A seated double arm choke (another No Mercy move) has Belair in trouble until she fights up and gets in a double chickenwing slam. One heck of a 450 gets a red hot near fall on Sane and Bianca is stunned. Kairi kicks her down and hits a running corner clothesline, followed by the top rope elbow (which she almost completely misses as her hip makes contact instead) to eliminate Belair at 10:00.
Rating: B. I’ll give this one a higher rating for the No Mercy based offense and the hair thing being gone. Sane is clearly the top star in this whole thing and I’d be surprised if she doesn’t win the whole thing. Belair is a heck of an athlete and that 450 looked awesome. She’ll be a big deal in NXT for a good while and then on the main roster assuming she has any kind of talking ability.
A recap wraps things up.
Overall Rating: B-. Now we’re getting to the fun part where they’re having big names face other big names. The wrestling is getting better too and that can make for some sweet matches. I’m looking forward to where things go from here and the rest of the tournament, assuming it’s given time, should be a lot of fun.
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It seems the editing really killed the Deeb/Niven and Sugehit/Martinez matches. And besides the obvious rules paradox with the hair, it really plays against Belair supposedly being a superior athlete if she needs a hair whip to be effective.