Mae Young Classic 2018: Predicting the path of every participant

#5 Killer Kelly

From Royal Albert Hall to Full Sail.

Though she's likely to be one of the mainstays of the NXT UK division, now isn't her time. She might have a good showing with somebody like Toni Storm to open the tournament, but with the triple threat match at Royal Albert Hall in June not impressing too highly, it seems logical that a Performance Center mainstay who will soon be on NXT regularly will be chosen to go to the second round ahead of her.

#6 Isla Dawn

Will she cast a spell on the tournament?

Isla Dawn might benefit from her association with Aleister Black, and as a likely NXT UK mainstay, she might have better chances to advance to the second round of the tournament. However, ultimately I think that the company will want to choose to give the platform to a full-time Performance Center mainstay instead, especially considering that the triple threat match she took part in at Royal Albert Hall, again, wasn't terribly impressive.

#7 Karen Q

Karen Q has a chance to show the world what she can do.

Karen Q's work on the independent circuit has been praised by a lot of people, and it seems that she would be somebody on the company's radar as a potential recruit. If this was last year, I'd have considered her a given for the second round. But this is a stacked tournament, and there's a lot of full-time Performance Center mainstays that could be given a spotlight there opposite world-class talent like Io Shirai, Meiko Satomura, and Toni Storm.

So it's likelier that she gets defeated in the first round, but she is someone to watch in the future. The company might make her an offer.

#8 Madison Rayne

Looking to impact the tournament.

The former five-time Knockouts Champion is a formidable entrant into the tournament, but with her unlikely to be hired by the company, she's also unlikely to get past the first round, especially with other veterans and full-time talent in the tournament. She's ideally suited to work with a newer talent and make that person look great in the first round.