Mae Young Classic Episode 2

1. Mercedes Martinez vs. Xia Li

ER: If this was actually Li's first legit wrestling match, it's not really fair to be that critical, but there wouldn't be much need to as she looked far better than most anybody else I've seen having their first match. Her opening headlock and wrestling looked good, and the spin kicks to Martinez's hip were neat (the spin kick to a kneeling Martinez was awesome), and her running snapmare was really cool. What's surprising is just how much Martinez let her have. I fully get letting Li get some shine since she was obviously not advancing, but Martinez handled it kind of weird, lying down and just sitting on the mat for an awkwardly long amount of time. I'm not sure if Li was supposed to hit that superman punch earlier or what, but it didn't seem like it. It really just seemed like Martinez was overselling the kicks. It felt odd.

PAS: I thought this was worked pretty perfectly for this type of match. I loved Martinez taunting Li and the beginning of the match, tooling her on the mat early, only to get caught with big shots. I had no problem with her selling, as it came off like she was just stunned by stiff kick. I also liked how when Mercedes took over, she just planted her and submitted her. Li got in some stuff, she really didn't need a bunch of your turn, my turn or a bunch of near falls.

2. Marti Belle vs. Rachel Evers

ER: OOF this was some ugly business right here. These two were not only on different pages, they were in different libraries. I think each of them may have been out of position for 80% of the things done in this match. I don't think you can blame nerves, as Belle was still doing solid trash talk throughout, and if someone freezes up in a match they tend to freeze up in every way. These two just did not work together. Evers hit a flush senton. That might have been the only thing that landed correctly. Kicks were completely whiffed, moves were taken as if they had no idea what move was being performed. I mean there were some clumsy landings in this. I had seen Belle several times in TNA and don't remember her looking this bad. I had high hopes for her as I like her look and personality but...man something went majorly wrong here.

PAS: Yeah this was a mess, they probably should have just video packaged this, like when a not great singer advances on the Voice "Also advancing to the second round Rachel Evers." It is always hard to tell when something goes this bad, but it really looked like Rachel didn't know how to bump or apply her own moves, that fisherman's buster thing.. ooof. There was also a terrible Evers pantomime when she got hung up on the ropes, it looked like a 14 year old girl scout miming choking so her friend could demonstrate the Heimlich for a merit badge.

3. Rhea Ripley vs. Miranda Salinas

ER: Ripley seemed fine, but they let the wrong giant woman advance. I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking Jazzy should be in round 2 instead. I liked Salinas although I'm not sure I'm buying the 5' billed height. MAYBE in heels. But I liked Salinas' personality, thought she looked awesome baiting Ripley with a hair pull and a slap and then catching her with a snapmare as she charged out. Ripley had a nice corner dropkick and a decent full nelson slam and Salinas landed with a big thud. Perfectly fine stuff here.

PAS: I think Ripley and Jazzy play really different roles, and we could have had both of them advance pretty easily. This was basic stuff, the kind of thing you would see from two black trunks NJ rookies. Ripley had a couple of nice dropkicks and is clearly a good athlete. She will be good in a couple of years, but probably should be off TV until then.

4. Sarah Logan vs. Mia Yim

ER: We saw Sarah Logan at an NXT house show earlier this month and I thought she was the least impressive woman on the show, but that was before I knew she had to wake up early to catch that evening's dinner. But this was pretty easily the best match of episode 2. Logan looked much better here than at the NXT show, mixing up strikes nicely (liked her chop/jab combo and running knee). Yim is a professional, but I don't like how she gets kind of stuck in pre-determined kick combos, and I still don't think there's been anyone who can plausibly pull off the tarantula. But I liked her suplexes, liked Logan's knees, we got a couple good nearfalls, etc. Good match.

PAS: I really liked Logan here, I remember enjoying a Crazy Mary Dobson match or two but she felt at another level here. Her offense felt more violent and sudden then Yim who felt a little mechanical. Loved Logan's head but to the shoulder blades and her finishing off the slap exchange with those nasty thrust kicks to the mouth. Yim v. Bayzler will be fine, but I think we missed out on a special bit of violence by not getting Logan v. Shayna

ER: So, an obvious step back from episode 1, with a match that honestly shouldn't have been allowed to air. I don't think I'm exaggerating with that statement. But Xia Li was a nice surprise and I hope she sticks around, and Ripley/Salinas each showed promise.