The best and worst of the Mae Young Classic episode 3

Picking up after a clunker of an episode last week, the Mae Young Classic showcased a solid night of wrestling. Even though the Meiko Satomura vs. Killer Kelly match from the first episode remains the best match of the tournament so far, tonight's lineup was the overall strongest of the bunch to this point.

Let's take a look at the best and worst of episode 3.

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Best: Still clunky, but better commentary

Thankfully, the commentary was passable this time.

While it still wasn't great, the commentary for this episode merits a passing grade. After the Kaitlyn vs. Kavita Devi match (where the team tried to get across that Devi was a "trailblazer" in its usual bludgeoning way), it didn't do much to take away from the action in the ring, in contrast to the previous two episodes.

Hopefully, subtlety will grow more and more as we advance into the tournament. We don't need to hear about the participants being "trailblazers" or "making history" every time we see them. Let the work speak for itself. The Mae Young Classic commentary has resembled the main roster more than NXT so far, and that's why it's been one of the worst parts of the tournament.

Let's hope the trend of improvement continues!

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Worst: Kaitlyn vs. Kavita Devi

Kaitlyn looked crisp in her return and Kavita Devi improved from last year, but that isn't saying much. This match was the worst of the bunch. Kavita Devi still isn't ready for any kind of role on television and Kaitlyn proved incapable of elevating her in the match.

The best part about this was that it was short. Kaitlyn will be better served in the second round. It was also good that the two women were of comparable size, because the David vs. Goliath trope has been played out in this tournament over the past few weeks.

Best: Toni Storm vs. Jinny

This match was slow to start, but picked up as it went on. Toni Storm and Jinny are very familiar with each other, having worked together for years on the independent circuit, and that came through in last night's episode.

The result was never in any doubt, but Jinny was an integral part in the match regardless. She showed up in a major way and cemented herself as one of the important parts of the UK women's division.

Best: Xia Li improves

Her match last year with Mercedes Martinez was very bad. This year, Xia Li showed off her improvement. She's picking this up very quickly, and not only in the ring, but in her character work too. The charisma she had on display last night took me by surprise. Xia Li wasn't a big blip on my radar as a top prospect before, but she is now. I'm sure having NXT Women's Champion Kairi Sane as her roommate has helped in the process of her improvement!

This match wasn't brilliantly worked, but it was a lot of fun, and the crowd was very into it. Karen Q played her part well. I hope to see more of Xia Li's grappling game in the next round.

Best/Worst: Mia Yim vs. Allysin Kay

This was a good match, though the story it told was weird at times. Mia Yim's hand hitting the turnbuckle looked brutal, but the injury wasn't sold much afterward and didn't play a huge role in the match, making the other sequences feel incongruent.

Both women nevertheless put on a good performance and highlighting their history outside of WWE was a nice touch. Rumor has it that Mia Yim has indeed been signed, which would be a big boost to an NXT women's division that badly needs main event talent. With Mia Yim, it would have one immediately.