The SmarK Rant for the Mae Young Classic–S02E04

The SmarK Rant for the Mae Young Classic – S02E04

Aw man, it’s the new Forever intro now. I’m gonna miss the old one.

So the first round wraps up tonight with four more matches featuring trailblazers and Cinderella stories.

First Round: Rachel Evers v. Hiroyo Matsumoto

So apparently Rachel’s nickname is now “The Queen of Strong Smile” and they’re being completely un-ironic with it. On the bright side, she can’t possibly have a match worse than the one she had last year. Cole immediately declares that Rachel is “fun to watch”. And Hiroyo also likes to have fun in the ring. So this will be FUN apparently. Shut up, Cole. So they trade shoulder tackles and they’re having FUN, but Evers gets a dropkick for two and powers her into a gutwrench for two. Hiroyo necksnaps her while having FUN and goes up with a missile dropkick for two. That was a nasty Owen Hart style dropkick, too. Matsumoto with a chinlock and then she ties Evers up in the corner and stomps away, then goes up with a double knee pump splash. OUCH. I don’t feel like Rachel is having much fun at this point. Evers comes back with a short powerbomb and they slug it out, which goes badly for Evers. She comes back with a cutter and a senton for two, however. Matsumoto backdrops out of a piledriver and charges, but that misses and Rachel gets a legdrop for two. HIroyo slaps the shit out of her and puts her down with a clothesline for two. Evers with a rollup for two, but Hiroyo hits her with a german suplex and Rachel no-sells it and hits a big boot. Matsumoto is like “Fuck off” and puts her down with a lariat, but she tries a powerbomb and Evers reverses. So Matsumoto just overpowers her and finishes the powerbomb, then hits the backdrop driver to finish at 9:45. DAMN. Matsumoto carried her to a HELL of a match. Evers is cute and has a great tan, but I don’t see much star potential in her. Regardless, she did a great job of fighting from underneath and firing up at the right times here. Best match of the first round thus far. ***3/4

First round: Taynara Conti v. Jessie Elaban

Elaban is doing the “adorkable” character and also loves having fun, apparently. She’s pretty clearly first round fodder. Conti appears to be the real deal and they can build her up for Rousey pretty easily. Elaban escapes a go-behind with a high kick right to the face and gets a senton for two, but she misses a charge and Conti works the arm and takes her down with an STO for two. She works the arm and uses some small joint manipulation to be a dick, but Elaban fights back. This just makes Conti madder and she rips at the fingers, but Elaban catapults her and makes the comeback with developmental clotheslines and dropkicks. She looks super-green here. Conti wraps her up with a sideslam out of a judo throw and that finishes at 4:45. This could have been even more of a squash. *

First round: Isla Dawn v. Nicole Matthews

They trade lockups to start and Dawn throws kicks for two, but misses a charge and Matthews gets a neckbreaker for two. That looked hella awkward. Matthews with a backbreaker, but Dawn comes back with forearms until Matthews puts her down with a lariat for two. She gets some kicks on the apron and that gets two. More kicks, but Dawn fights back with her own kicks and a back suplex. Fisherman’s suplex gets two. More awkwardness as they trade forearms and can’t seem to get organized, and that leads to Dawn getting an ugly Angle Slam for two. OK, time to go home and wrap this up. Matthews puts her down with another kick and gets the Liontamer for the submission at 7:22. Woof. The crowd was DEAD for this and they couldn’t their shit together. ¼*

First round: Io Shirai v. Xia Brookside

Xia is the daughter of Robbie Brookside, but I’m not liking her chances here. Xia attacks to start but Io flips out of a headscissors and lands on her feet and she’s crazy over already. Shirai beats on her in the corner and follows with a knee to the face for two. She SNAPS Brookside down with a crossface and then puts her down with a high kick, but Xia makes a comeback with a faceplant. Io hits her with a palm strike and follows with the running knee into the corner and Xia is DEAD, but Shirai goes up and finishes with the moonsault at 3:14 for good measure. Now THAT was an awesome squash that made you want to see her against tougher competition in the next round. **

Really strong show this week, and go out of your way to check out Evers v. Matsumoto.

Next week: The second round begins!