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What's the story?
During the WWE Hall of Fame 2018 the WWE announced that it would be bringing back it's all women's wrestling tournament, the Mae Young Classic for a second time and that it will be on the WWE Network this year.
In case you didn't know...
The first Mae Young Classic took place in July 2017 and aired on the WWE Network over the end of August and into September. It featured 32 female wrestlers all vying for a chance to win the inaugural Mae Young Classic trophy and earn themselves a title shot against the NXT Women's Champion.
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The first Mae Young Classic was won by Kairi Sane who defeated Shayna Baszler in the finals. Both women as well as several other Mae Young Classic competitors such as Dakota Kai and Candice LeRae are now in NXT.
The heart of the matter
During the Hall of Fame the WWE aired an advert promoting a lot of their upcoming shows on the WWE Network, and amidst the many announcements of what's to come was the announcement for a second Mae Young Classic Tournament.
This is definitely great news for the women's revolution in wrestling and another fantastic opportunity for WWE fans to be exposed to several female wrestlers they otherwise wouldn't be familiar with.
It's also a great tool for the WWE to bolster their ranks of female wrestlers when the current crop of NXT ladies are ready to either move up to the main roster or move on from the company. However, with the WWE possibly bringing in a female tag-team title soon they may need an enlarged female roster.
What's next?
No more details about the second Mae Young Classic have been revealed, so we don't know if it'll be the same format with 32 women, if it will air and take place at the same time, or if the prize of an NXT Women's Title shot will be the same. We'll keep you posted as and when more is revealed.
Author's take
I, for one, am excited to see more quality women's wrestling as I was a big, big fan of the first Mae Young Classic Tournament.
