Mae Young Classic 2018 or MYC II is coming this autumn eventually, after taping at 8th or 9th August, at Full Sail University!
Swallowing down, that it's not going to be all-fresh, all-new talents from around the world or soem old-names from the WWE Alumni section, now I am looking with excitement o the tournament and I am waiting for new official names added to the mix!
Now let's browse through the announced names and see what we got:
KAITLYN (USA)
Do you remember when the Chickbusters debuted? I was like 'Wow! What a team?'. I didn't get them serious. They lost match after match. At the end their mentor (Natalya) even turned on them. And then...
Kaitlyn become a WWE Divas Champion, finally defeating the stunning heel Eve Torres, after long and heated rivalry! From a blond, strong girl to decorated Champion, Celeste Bonin (her birth name) wrote down her name in the history book. Later she sealed her success fighting her former BFF AJ Lee, participating in a funny, intensive segments and more.
Her final match was against her best rival AJ Lee in 2014! What a career!
Four years later she is heading back to WWE and she is returning with a boom, being shoot straight to Mae Young Classic! The renowned tournament presenting talents from around the globe and WWE PC, will be the stage for Kaitlyn's return in WWE and we are curious to see how far she will go, form here...
I, personally, am divided in my opinion about her return.
As much as I love the good old days, when she beat the hell out of AJ and Eve, I think that she is taking the spot of an indie talent, that needs it more than her, at this point. I am not sure how serious she is about her wrestling career. Yeah, she spend some time on the indies. Great! But is that enough?
On the other hand - Okay! Let it be! The girl was and still is in great shape. She is former one-time Divas Champion. She is sort of charismatic and she has her legacy in WWE, build in a very controversial time, when the Divas division was on its way on transitioning to its next stage of evolution. From Divas to Superstars!!! It will be nice to see her competing in totally new environment. It would be nice to see her facing indie workers like Nicole Matthews. It would be nice to be reminded of the old days!
So welcome back, Kaitlyn!
RHEA RIPLEY (AUSTRALIA)
Hm! As much as I loved Ripley's last year run in MYC (her match with Dakota Kai was begging for rematch), I was kind of 'left with a little bitter taste in my mouth' but I remind myself that in this year UK Tournament were included a lot of previous names. I remind myself, that the 'previous participants' appearance is needed to elevate and establish the new names, somehow!
So I accept it, respect it and now I will enjoy Rhea Ripley's inclusion in MYC 2018! Especially as there are no signs of seeing her on NXT TV episode soon. I am happy to see her talent put on display and working.
Until we see the brackets I can't say what we can expect from Ripley. Maybe second round, semi-finals, who knows? I am sure that she will put her best effort to over-jump her last year's participation and I hope that she will face a worthy opponent, that will help her with that!
IO SHIRAI (JAPAN)
Io Shirai!
Her reputation is preceding her.
I remember her unforgettable appearance at Lucha Underground as part of the Black Lotus Triad... She was the one who defeated Pentagon Dark!!! She was stunningly impressive. When last year WWE send her back home I was kind of sad and disappointing. They refuse to sign her because of a health issues.
This year I am happy to hear that they have signed her. Of course a little evil devilish voice in my head is asking 'What about her heart issues?'. But I am overjoyed and I can't stop thinking beyond MYC and her eventual tag team with Kairi Sane and the WWE Women's Tag Team title... Yeah, I am dreaming, awake!
I can't wait to see Shirai competing at MYC! I am sure that she will go far in the brackets, eventually yo the finals... and here the evil voice is telling me, that eventually WWE will not allowed another Japanese to win the tournament! I hope that it is wrong... But we'll wait and we'll see! Until then, I will dream awake!
Io Shirai! Danger!
NICOLE MATTHEWS (CANADA)
Lats year, a 12-years veteran Nicole Matthews was included in our post-of-rage 'Look who is waiting on the bench for someone to get injured' (that is not the exact name of the post). Come on! There were no Canadian or Italian represented! We had around 15-16 USA competitors, when the likes of The Kingdom of Tonga (Lei'D Tapa), Italy (Deonna Purrazzo) and Canada (Nicole Matthews) were sidelined! CANADA! The home of wrestling legends like Trish Stratus, Edge and Christina, Chris Jericho, Portia Perez, and many more current and past legends and working wrestlers.
This year WWE decided to introduce Canada with a BIG BANG! With a BOOM! Nicole Matthews is walking legend! Her team with Portia Perez - The Canadian Ninjas was one of the biggest women's tag teams legends in SHIMMER and outside of it! Matthews is great on her own and we hope to see her adding more legacy, to her stunning wrestling journey, representing Canada!
She deserves it! She deserve to reach as far as possible in MYC!!!
JINNY (ENGLAND)
Another well known in the indies talent, especially in Britain! As I have mentioned it before, UK become a really good factory for wrestling talents. Jinny has the unique opportunity to live and work with names like Viper(or Piper Niven. WWE, sign her, now!!!) and Kay Lee Ray, Saraya Knight and Nixon Newell/Tegan Nox and many more UK talents...
I was sad to learn that she was injured in her official WWE debut (she has participated at WWE Wrestlemania 33 axxess, where she was jobbing for Toni Storm, for two days). While she was not able to compete for the right to challenge Shayna Baszler for the WWE NXT Women's Championship, Jinny's name is related to several really good news. 1. She is officially signed to WWE NXT UK series and female roster, with Toni Storm (hope to see one of those as the first WWE UK Women's Champion). 2. She is officially confirmed for Mae Young Classic II!!!
I want to see this England talent! Dying to see her wrestle and I am expecting a lot from her aggressive, powerful style. Most importantly I am happy to know that MYC is not the end in WWE for this young but experienced talent!
KACY CATANZARO (USA)
A WWE Performance Center addition. The first woman to reach the American Ninja Warrior competition. That woman is having a really serious backgrounds in sports. But not in wrestling. She is in the position of Xia Li, Reina Gonzalez and Zeda, last year - a PC talent that will make her TV debut in MYC.
I think that Catanzano is really well advertised. Her signing was officially announced, with pride. Her name is presented in the first 6 announced names. Eventually, she will be more than 'high-profiled jobber'. For me, what is important is that I love new faces and I love to watch debuts, hoping and unofficially encourage them to develop.
This is definitely a huge opportunity for Kacy Catanzaro and we hope to see her getting the maximum of it!
