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MAE YOUNG CLASSIC 2018 - EPISODE 2


RIPPA

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Deonna/Priscilla had some great opening exchanges but disappointed in how short it was. Zeuxis looked good. Kacy is gonna be the best underdog, she didn't get to show a whole lot but what was there was fun. Solid veterans main event from Mercedes and Rayne.

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Deonna looked strong, though I wish they had given Priscilla more offense and stayed away from the Paige comparison. Also felt Renee got a laugh out of Priscilla's gypsy background, which was odd. What Priscilla was able to show was good, but they didn't do much wth her.

Ariel has personality for days. Match with Zeuxis was a bit scattered, but fun.  That Spanish Fly to end it was great.

Kacy has the potential to be a breakout star. I liked Reina here too, but those denim chaps have got to go.

Nice match with Mercedes/Rayne. That modified Tombstone/brainbuster looked painful!

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Some pretty bad wrestling in this one. 

I don't know what a Priscilla Kelly is but she makes some faces. She says she gets in the head of her opponents but then does none of that. She didn't look at all comfortable doing some of Purrazzo's complicated spots. And then her spots felt like they didn't fit in the flow of the story. It just felt like over complicated wrestling by people who couldn't perform it all cleanly.

Then it got WORSE with the Aerial Monroe match. I like her look and her presence. I don't know about her nickname. I feel like if you're going to have the name Aerial Monroe, you don't also get "Big Swole". But if her heart is set on it, she should probably be more Big. And more Swole-y. Once this thing got started it just looked like a sloppy mess. I'm pretty sure early on Monroe got hit, but Zeuxis sold it like she got hit, and Monroe looked up confused. It looked like someone was going to get hurt at a couple of points. Zeuxis was the second person to say she was Strong Style and..was not. I'd like to see Monroe wrestle again with anyone else. This was a bad pairing. 

Thankfully Kacy and Reina got in the ring, simplified the shit and told a great story. It's amazing how new  at this Catanzaro is, and how much better she is than several women I've seen in this so far with more experience. For one thing she has TWO big spots that are fucking clear and easy to follow and she hits them perfectly. Reina is pretty good too. Liked how she took her time with her moves. Made a show of it. Good match.

I really wanted Reina to lose it and kick Kacy's ass after the match. Just maul her. It would have been awesome. Then she got back in the ring and held her up. I was fucking PISSED. 

Martinez was good as usual, but Rayne was off. She has a way of not looking like she can generate any force.  Still it was a solid match, perhaps helped by the less than stellar ones that preceded it. And it leads to what I hope to be a great Martinez/Satomura match

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Aerial/Zeuxis was better live than on tape but it was still awkward. I like the Big swole gimmick but those two didn't work well together. Good finish though.

The post-match of Kacy/Reina was funny. Originally, Reina went to the back then ran back out to lift Kacy up. The crowd was wating for her to drop her but it never happened. They edited it because live it went like 2-3 minutes.

The commentary on this show was really bad. Especially Renne. I don't know if it was because it was edited or what but she kept getting cut off by the other announcers and then she would finish her thought and it wouldn't make sense. 

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Count me in on wanting to see Reina destroy Catanzaro post match, it would have just generated more support for Kacy as an underdog for the rest of the tourney.

That Storm Cradle Driver by Mercedes on Rayne was nasty business and probably needed to be a finish as opposed and early transition spot.

Overall a dip in quality from the first episode for sure.

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So as someone who hasn't seen tons of Purazzo, I came away decently unimpressed. A lot of her stuff just seemed like slower versions of stuff I watched years ago. Was kind of a bummer for me since I keep seeing so much talk about her.

Kacy has "female Rey Mysterio" potential to me. Incredibly small, but potential to be the best pure high flyer women's wrestling has ever seen, just off athleticism. Add in natural flexability and early signs being strong on selling, the sky is literally the limit. I really am eager to see how good she can be in 2-3 years. The over the top rope springboard off the 2nd is absolutely crazy to me. 

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Just finished the episode.

Deonna/Priscilla was decent enough. It was more a showcase for Deonna than anything else. Not surprised Kelly couldn't show much here since I think her stuff is more in the creep range like licking her opponents and whatnot. I know some were wondering why they brought her in since she wasn't going to be able to do her normal act.

Ariel/Zeuxis was ok. Ariel has tons of personality, but she was a bit too loose here and the match suffered a little because of it. Zeuxis was ok, but kind of a standard heel outside of the Spanish fly finish.

Kacy/Reina was fun and both looked good. This was the match I was looking most forward to this episode so I'm glad it delivered. Kacy is going to be big if she can keep this up. She is a natural underdog and does some impressive high flying. Reina is a pretty solid big girl. Hope she pops up on NXT soon.

Mercedes/Rayne was solid. Rayne got in a ton of offense, and I thought Mercedes showed a bit more here than she did in most of last year's tournament so she is already off to a better start.

This was a fun show overall.

1 hour ago, Brian Fowler said:

When we getting Shirai vs Brookside? That's the match I'm really waiting on in the first round.

Don't expect too much. It wasn't much more than an ok match in Stardom, and nothing I've seen of Xia there speaks to her being particularly good. She will have had to have improved a decent bit in the last 5 or so months to really impress.

The match should be the last one of the first round if they are still going in order of the tapings (they have so far).

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First match was a good showcase for Deonna. Still don't feel that Priscilla got the chance to really show what she can do.

I can see why the crowd took to Ariel. Tons of personality and a cool look. But the match itself was a little too awkward. Spanish Fly finisher was cool. 

I really liked Kacy/Reina and was also one of those people that wanted Reina to decimate her afterwards lol Kacy has so much potential.

Good match between Rayne/Martinez as expected given their levels of experience. I agree that Mercedes looks better now than she did in the earlier stages of the classic last year. I felt like she really got going during the later matches last year. 

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7 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

When we getting Shirai vs Brookside? That's the match I'm really waiting on in the first round.

Since it appears they are showing in taping order - it is the last match of the Episode 4

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BTW - for those doing the math at home - this means Meiko Satomura vs. Mercedes Martinez in Round 2 in what I am pretty sure is a first time matchup.

So excited...

Oh and the other "known" matchup is now Kacy Catanzaro vs. Rhea Ripley

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Deonna Purrazzo defeated Priscilla Kelly was OK, but I think they were a little ambitious with the spots they chose.  Purrazzo is someone they are clearly high on, but she needs an editor.  Priscilla Kelly reminded me of Wolf Girl from Glow.  I honestly don't understand what her character was supposed to be, other than strange.  Purrazzo also has dope gear.

Zeuxis vs. Ariel Monroe didn't impress me at all.  Ariel Monroe wrestles like she's trying to cash in on an insurance policy.  She took a few bumps that made me cringe.  Between her subpar work and her nonsensical character work, she's the least impressive worker so far.  Zeuxis wasn't that much better, but I didn't think she was going to cripple herself.  I think she could be carried to something decent, but I'm not looking forward to seeing her or Monroe again.

Kacy Catanzaro vs. Reina Gonzalez was where the show started to pick up.  First, Reina Gonzalez is massive, we were talking last week about how Rhea Ripley projects larger than what she is, Gonzalez projects Giant.  I like her "I'm going to show you how many different ways I can powerslam you" offense, but I hate her gear.  Those jean chaps were absolutely ridiculous, and couldn't have been comfortable to wrestle in.  I'd understand chaps as entrance attire, but they seem ridiculous as wrestling gear. 

Kacy Catanzaro is still really green, but she also seems like she's right on the edge of something fairly unique.  She's tiny, like super tiny, she's going to make people like Kairi Sane look large in comparison.  I actually think that is going to be a positive for her, because she has crazy potential as a high-flying, underdog babyface.  Last week @RIPPA posted a description of a move that didn't seem to be possible, and people started posting gifs of what we thought the move was.  Except, she did the impossible move, she jumped from the apron, over the top rope back into the ring, landed on the second rope and did a missile dropkick.  Not only did she do it, she did it so smoothly that it didn't really register how insane that move is.  The fact that they didn't replay it is a crime, she did something that a bunch of lifelong wrestling fans hadn't even considered possible, and the announcers no sold it.  I'm not ready to put her in the Bianca Belair/Rhea Ripley over-the-top super athlete category, but she's on the list of contenders.

Mercedes Martinez vs. Ashley Rayne was OK mostly because Mercedes Martinez is a solid veteran.  When Michael Cole said, "Mercedes Martinez is a single mother who works 2 full-time jobs, and wrestles on the weekend," I thought to myself...if only there was a wrestling company that could use a veteran heel wrestler/coach who could help at their in-house training facility, she could work one job.  Maybe I'm crazy, but I'm not someone who finds nobility in people having to work crazy schedules to survive.  I value hard work as much as the next guy, but having to work 2 and a half jobs to make ends meet isn't something that should be celebrated.  Hey, back to the match....Martinez has some pretty dope offense, and had to hold this match together because Rayne seemed lost throughout this match.  Rayne didn't impress me at all, she seemed like she is a generation or two behind as a worker.  She is closer to Kelly Kelly than to Sasha Banks.  I really like Mercedes Martinez' new gear, especially that entrance cape/mask thing.  

This was a step down from last week, but I still enjoyed it.  Between this tournament and last years, I think this is probably the worst episode so far.  There were plenty of green workers last year, but Ariel Monroe didn't feel anywhere close to ready for this stage.  Of the workers eliminated, the only one I'd like to see more of is Reina Gonzalez, she just needs to lose those chaps.

 

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I think my biggest mark out moment was Beth Phoenix getting to call "the blood rushing to her head!" moment during the delayed suplex in the main event. She jumped on it so hard, you could tell she'd been waiting to do that maybe her entire wrestling fan life.

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Kelly's rope running, which was first day of wrestling school bad, and her double jump for the hip toss, got some good laughs from me. Purazzo forgetting to hook the leg on the Russian leg sweep was not that much better.

The early stuff of Zeuxis vs. Monroe was really cringe-worthy, not even the heavy cutting they did, could hide that. At least they recovered towards the end.

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Aerial Monroe, she's got potential... it's just too bad both of them were not even on the same page let alone book.

Just freakin sign Priscilla Kelly and bill her as Paige's cousin from the states. She didn't really have a chance to sell her character but it still showed through.

Kacy Catanzaro, probably my dark horse so far. Amazing seller, rag dolls everything; helps that it's all believable coming from someone who's tinier than Bliss. The ending was 80s level feels. When they start the women's tag team division, I hope they bring in Reina Gonzalez to tag with Kacy.

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Met Kacy at a show on the Florida loop back in February. She was helping to record video of the show along with a couple of the Chinese recruits. I was probably the only guy in the building who recognized her and she couldn't have been more friendly and pleasant to chat with for a few minutes. Genuinely hope she has a long and wealthy career. She certainly didn't look out-of-place here with Reina.

Spoiler

Me_Kacy.jpg

 

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