5 surprising moments from the Mae Young Classic - Episode 3

Have you ever had the feeling you were seeing the same match over and over again? I certainly have now.

The third episode of the Mae Young Classic followed a similar formula of the previous two episodes. Showcase the talented performers, struggle through the more inexperienced wrestlers and finish each show with a solid main event: I see what you are doing, WWE, and I hope the second round is a lot better in terms of match quality.

With all of this in my head as I finished the third episode, I present my list of the top five most surprising moments from the improved but formulaic third episode of the Mae Young Classic:

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#5 The same style of match over and over again

Do you like watching slower, powerful wrestlers? This is the show for you!

I think the problem with a 32 women tournament is the WWE has to fill in the roster with some wrestlers they simply don’t care about. They cannot all be the indy stars or the NXT developmental talent.

It leads to a lot of green wrestlers or veterans they simply don’t care about. But does it also have to lead to the same match over and over again?

The third episode surprisingly fell into that trap the most. It had four matches with the exact same idea. It was a power wrestler versus a smaller wrestler. It was a slower, bigger wrestler throwing around the smaller talent.

I watch professional wrestling for a variety of styles. This was very surprising to see the WWE fall into the trap of this same formula in episode three.

#4 Toni Storm’s character work is strange

Toni Storm: The Cocky Face

Do not take the title of this part as an insult to Toni Storm. Toni Storm is a star in the making. The 21-year-old has been wrestling for six years and is quite popular in Progress in addition to Stardom Wrestling, and she got the crowd behind her right away. However, that is also the issue.

In her opening promos, she came across as the cocky heel. She even talked repeatedly about being the best. Then she came out to the Full Sail crowd and immediately played the good guy.

Especially since her opponent, Ayesha Raymond, was yelling at the crowd. It was a weird character choice that took away from the brief four-minute match. Let us hope Toni Strom’s character work matches her natural charisma in future rounds.

#3 Dakota Kai can take a beating

No one takes a beating like Dakota

Poor Dakota Kai, she seems destined to be the underdog, Bayley-style babyface of this Mae Young Classic. Her look and the “girl next store” vibe places her in that natural role. So it is a good thing that she can take a real beating from sloppy, inexperienced workers like Kavita Devi.

Kavita Devi was trained like The Great Khali. That makes sense since other than a top rope walk, Kavita Devi slowly walked around the ring doing her best Khali impression and throwing Dakota Kai around the ring.

It was a terrible match but clearly presented Dakota Kai as the underdog of the tournament. I hope she can take the abuse because that is literally all the WWE let her do in her bad first round match.

#2 Bianca’s hair attack is awesome

Hair attack!

I have a feeling the WWE likes Bianca Belair. She was the only talent who had a qualifying match on NXT television. That gave her extra attention that no other women in the tournament received. She certainly has a unique offence that will help get her remembered in the Mae Young Classic.

The match sadly was like the others on the show: power wrestler versus smaller wrestler. Sage Beckett attempted a lot of moves on Belair and Bianca simply tried to survive. It was only the end part that was truly surprising for me.

Belair used her hair braid as a weapon before hitting a spear for the pin. Using a hair braid to whip someone? That is a surprising and unique way to end a match.

#1 Piper Niven put on a great show

Watch out below!

It seems like in each Mae Young Classic show the main event always steals the show. For some reason, the WWE is willing to have two really good wrestlers, that deserve future matches, fight each other in a great main event. The third show did not disappoint in that regard. Piper Niven and Santana Garrett gave an amazing fast-paced match with many believable near falls. It is, at the moment, the match of the tournament.

Santana Garrett is already well known to me. She has constantly had some solid NXT matches and didn’t disappoint with her high flying offence against Niven. Sign her now WWE. The biggest surprise of the entire show is Piper Niven. She is a bigger wrestler but can do all the same moves as the high flyers do.

She reminds me in a lot of ways of Kevin Owens and I mean that as the massive compliment it should be. Both wrestlers shouldn’t be able to do the variety of moves they pull off but they still do. Piper is the unique, bigger wrestler that Nia Jax should be. I hope everyone can enjoy the surprise of seeing a wrestler like Niven in this tournament.