The best and worst of the Mae Young Classic episode 4

Episode 4 of the Mae Young Classic was easily the best of the tournament yet. Obviously, the big story of last night's show was the long-awaited WWE debut of Io Shirai, but there was a ton of good abounding elsewhere throughout this episode that you wouldn't go wrong if you want to watch the entire thing again. Every match was at worst good.

This was a clear preview for the second round, where things should get better very quickly.

What were the best and worst aspects of the show last night?

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Best: Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Rachel Evers

While Io's debut was the big story, Horoyo Matsumoto vs. Rachel Evers was easily the night's best match, and one of the best matches of the tournament so far, rivaled only by Meiko Satomura vs. Killer Kelly from the first episode on September 5th.

These two women boasted similar powerhouse styles and went at each other blow for blow, exciting the crowd up from the get-go. There were a few false finishes and jaw-dropping moments that admirably amped up the excitement in this match. Matsumoto's dropkick on Evers from the top turnbuckle felt more like a tree trunk careening with an unfortunate body than a typical dropkick.

The crowd was clearly on Evers' side throughout this match, and Hiroyo didn't do as much as she could have to play heel, as it seemed she tried to pander too much instead of running with it and playing the heel. That, however, was the only flaw of the contest. Matsumoto's victory was a surprise to the crowd, and it certainly doesn't look good that Rachel Evers exited the Mae Young Classic in the first round for the second year in a row, but this was an excellent show opener.

Worst: Crowd exhaustion

The electricity at the beginning and end of the show masked it, but the middle sagged because of one thing - the crowd was exhausted at this point in the tournament. They had just sat through over a dozen matches during the taping, after all.

The middle two matches on the card suffered because of this, even though they were both solid contests. The Isla Dawn vs. Nicole Matthews match in particular though, felt like the crowd did a real disservice to it, because both women put on a great effort, even if it ended abruptly.

Best: Taynara Conti improves, Jessie Elaban has potential

This match was disjointed at times, but that shouldn't be surprising when it comes to two Performance Center rookies. All that said, it was an admirable effort despite the competitors' lack of experience.

Taynara Conti has improved a lot from last year. She's ready to regularly appear on NXT TV now and hopefully, she will. Taking a page from Pete Dunne and Shayna Baszler's playbooks, her small joint manipulation looked nasty, and she even did them one better by using the ropes for it. Conti has to improve her character, but that will come with time.

Jessie Elaban, meanwhile, did far better than you would expect someone to do in her first televised match. The reports from the house show circuit weren't exaggerated in their praise. She still has a ways to go, but that will come with time.

Best: Io Shirai lives up to the hype

This is the moment we'd been waiting for and WWE was wise to keep us waiting until the end to see it. Io Shirai had a squash match against Xia Brookside last night, but she shined as one of the brightest stars in the tournament even with that format. She was incredible, doing things that no one else has done before.

It was humorous to see Michael Cole talking about Io loving to have fun as she toyed with Xia Brookside. There was obviously the foundations of a great heel in the making during this match. With Kairi Sane being showed at ringside, there was no way not to think about that potential rivalry in the months to come and get super excited!

Brookside, for her part, shined even despite her thrashing. She had a surprising level of charisma and her ring work looked solid too. Io herself is supposedly high on Xia, having worked with her before, and this match showed us why. At 19 years old, Xia can be a big star in the future.