The SmarK Rant for the Mae Young Classic–S02E05

The SmarK Rant for the Mae Young Classic – S02E05

Taped from Full Sail.

Your hosts are Michael Cole, Beth Phoenix & Renee Young

Hey, welcome back. All the morning reviews you’ve been reading for the past week were written in a frantic one-day session last Friday before I flew out for a work conference, and now it’s time to catch up on the stuff I missed while I was gone. And I fixed my kitchen tap tonight. So I’ve got a lot going on.

So we’re onto ROUND TWO. What trailblazers and Cinderella stories will we discover this week? Let’s find out.

Second round: Toni Storm v. Hiroyo Matsumoto

Toni works the arm to start and they reach a stalemate off a headlock, but then Toni offers a handshake and Matsumoto turns on her. She likes having fun, according to Michael, and she’s fun to watch. Insightful commentary as always. Matsumoto with a missile dropkick for two and she reverses a suplex and gets two off that. Backbreaker and Storm retreats, so Lady Godzilla stomps her down in the corner, but then walks into a german suplex. Storm comes back with the hip attack in the corner and a fisherman’s suplex for two. They slug it out and that goes badly for Toni, as Matsumoto puts her down with a clothesline and follows with a rollup into a Boston crab, but Storm makes the ropes. Matsumoto goes up with double knees for two. Storm with a german suplex for two. Matsumoto powers her into a backdrop driver, but Storm lands on the ropes and it only gets two. Storm with a rollup for two, but Matsumoto puts her down with a clothesline again for two. Matsumoto with a pair of nasty short-arm clotheslines, but Storm rolls her up with a bridge for the pin at 9:17. Really good, hard-hitting match here to kick off the second round. ***1/4

Sound round: Kacy Catanzaro v. Rhea Ripley

It’s another David v. Goliath battle for Kacy, and she quickly gets a rana on Ripley, but Rhea tosses her into the corner. Kacy with a small package for two, but Ripley dropkicks her for two. Rhea uses the good old clubbing forearms and a delayed suplex for two. Sample of the commentary: “She doesn’t care about gaining respect, she’s just in there to beat people up!” Wouldn’t that also gain respect? Anyway, Kacy comes back with a complex spinning DDT ala Rey Mysterio and Rhea bails to escape, but Kacy follows with a corkscrew plancha and makes the comeback. She’s BUILDING MOMENTUM. And then she tries a springboard and completely botches it, before hitting a springboard dropkick on a second attempt for two. Kacy tries a handstand rana, but Rhea just kicks her in the gut and finishes with a powerbomb at 7:06. Once Michael Cole started believing that Kacy could win it, she was dead meat. So Goliath wins this one. Kacy looked super-green but she’s got potential. **1/2

Second round: Taynara Conti v. Lacey Layne

Layne gets a rollup for two, but misses a charge and gets beaten down in the corner by Conti. She tries to grab the ropes and Conti kicks her hands off and goes to a wristlock. Layne comes back with a hammerlock into a flatliner for two, but Conti hooks for a judo slam, only to have Layne reverse to the crucifix bomb for the upset pin at 2:38. So the Cinderella story continues for some reason. Layne looked completely out of her league here and there wasn’t much to this one. *1/2

Second round: Mercedes Martinez v. Meiko Satomura

Meiko works the arm to start and pounds her with knees for two. Meiko with a facelock, but Mercedes powers out with a slam for two and goes to her own facelock. They slug it out and it’s ON, so Martinez hits her with a tree slam for two. Martinez with a neck vice on the mat and she pounds away in the corner, but Meiko puts her down with a high kick and goes up while screaming hysterically. She’s pretty scary, yo. Martinez counters with a neckbreaker to bring her down, and that gets two. Meiko counters a suplex into an armbar and Martinez needs three tries to roll into the ropes and break. Meiko with strong kicks to put Mercedes down again, and she follows with a frog splash for two. Martinez comes back with a backdrop driver for two, but Satomura gets a pair of DDTs and follows with the handspring into the double knees for two. Martinez blocks a Pele kick and hits the fisherman’s buster for two. She keeps coming with a surfboard, but Meiko elbows out of it and hits a leg lariat and axe kick for the pin to advance at 11:35. That was something else. **** Meiko is hopefully going to squash the shit out of Lacey Layne in the quarterfinals.

Hell of a show this week. Next week: More of the second round, and more Io Shirai!