Search Results: "mae young classic"

NEWS

WWE Tried To Bring In A Former Impact Wrestling Champion

November 18, 2021

It’s not for everyone. While it might not be the most popular at times, there is no denying that WWE is the biggest wrestling promotion in the world. The promotion is still the end goal for a lot of wrestlers, with several of them working as hard as they can to make it to the big leagues. That is not the case for everyone though, and that was the case with a fairly prominent name from outside the company. During a recent edition of her Wilde On podcast, former Impact Wrestling Knockouts Champions Taylor Wilde revealed that she was contacted by WWE to appear in the first Mae Young Classic. Wilde had been retired from the ring for six years but agreed to return to the ring for the chance. However, she got injured in training, meaning that she was unable to return to the ring. Wilde never appeared for WWE but did return to Impact Wrestling earlier this year, ending her ten year retirement. It makes sense that WWE would want Wilde on their roster. Check out what she can do in the ring: ..

NEWS

Another NXT Star Coming To SmackDown

July 10, 2021

Welcome to the team. It is no secret that the WWE roster is in a state of flux at the moment. Things are changing all over the place with wrestlers either being let go from the company or showing up on another roster. That can make for some fascinating changes and surprising moments, and now we know another name who is making the move from NXT to the main roster. This week on SmackDown, a vignette aired announcing that Toni Storm was coming to the show. There is no word on when Storm will be arriving. Storm has wrestled a pair of dark matches this month before Monday Night Raw and SmackDown as part of a series of tryouts for NXT wrestlers on the main roster. The vignette aired on the same night that Tegan Nox and Shotzi Blackheart debuted on the show as well. Storm signed with WWE since 2018, following an appearance in the 2017 Mae Young Classic. Storm would go on to win the 2018 Mae Young Classic at Evolution before becoming part of the NXT UK roster. After losing a tournament final..

NEWS

WWE And NXT Stars Slam Fans For Body Shaming Piper Niven

June 17, 2021

That is going to get them in some trouble. It can be rather interesting to see a new star debut on WWE television, even if they have been on another show before. That can make for some fun situations as you do not know how the new star is going to be received. However, that might not be the best thing in the world in some situations, which seems to be the case this time around. This week on Monday Night Raw, NXT UK’s Piper Niven made her debut, wrestling in Eva Marie’s place to defeat Naomi in less than a minute. Niven has wrestled for NXT UK since 2017, following an appearance in the Mae Young Classic. She was not given a name and commentary did not recognize her, but it seems that someone has some problems with Niven already. Since Niven’s debut, various fans have posted messages to Twitter, many of which have been critical of Niven’s size and weight. Various WWE and NXT stars have responded as well, criticizing fans for making such comments. Niven herself has responded as well, sa..

NEWS

WWE May Be Doing Something Weird With New Monday Night Raw Star

June 16, 2021

That’s what’s in a name. A name can mean everything in wrestling and the higher of a level that the wrestler reaches, the more important it becomes. It can make all of the difference in the world to whether someone is a star or little more than a warm body on the roster. WWE has a hit and miss track record for their names and now they are trying something new with an established name. This week on Monday Night Raw, Eva Marie made her return to WWE television and was scheduled to face Naomi in her first match. However, an unnamed woman wrestled on Eva Marie’s behalf and defeated Naomi in less than a minute. The woman, who wrestled in NXT and in the Mae Young Classic under the name Piper Niven, was not identified by commentary, who did not seem to recognize her. Now we might be seeing her under a very different name. According to Fightful Select, WWE is considering the names “Doudrop” or “Dew Drop” for Niven. It is not clear if WWE is looking at any other names or if this is the direct..

NEWS

VIDEO: NXT Star Makes Surprise Monday Night Raw Debut

June 15, 2021

Welcome indeed. WWE has so many different people on its rosters because there are so many different rosters. Some of these shows are treated as a bit more important than others, but there is still time for a lot of different people to get some attention. Every now and then you see some of them move around too, and that seems to be the case again, with a new name making their Monday Night Raw debut. NXT UK’s Piper Niven debuted during this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw. Niven came to the ring with Eva Marie and wrestled in her place, defeating Naomi in less than a minute. Eva Marie then announced herself as the winner and posed. Commentary did not recognize Niven and did not refer to her by name. Niven made her NXT UK debut in 2019 after appearing in the first Mae Young Classic. She had been rumored as a possible enforcer for Eva Marie. This was a cool debut. Check out Niven showing up and her time in NXT UK: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video,..

NEWS

What Is Next For Mia Yim/Reckoning In WWE

May 11, 2021

It’s a place to start. There are so many wrestlers on the WWE roster that it can be hard to find something for all of them to do. That is kind of a nice problem to have as it means that WWE has more choices than it knows what to do with at the moment. It seems to be the case now, but WWE has a new plan in mind for one of their stars looking for something to do. According to Fightful Select, Reckoning, also known as Mia Yim, was scheduled to debut on last week’s SmackDown in a match against Carmella. The match did not take place due to reasons that are not clear, though Carmella did appear on the show, defeating Ruby Riott. It is expected that Yim vs. Carmella will take place, though it is not clear which name Yim will wrestle under. Yim has been part of WWE since 2018, following a pair of appearances in the first two Mae Young Classics. She spent just shy of three years in NXT, where she wrestled under the Yim name. In August 2020, she moved up to the main roster as part of the Retri..

NEWS

VIDEO: Star Making Return To NXT

June 18, 2020

Nice to meet you. There is a structured system in WWE, with names going from NXT up to the main roster on a fairly regular basis. That makes for some interesting developments and it can be fun to see when someone goes up to the main roster. At the same time though, that leaves holes in the NXT lineup. Someone has to replace them, and now we know someone who will be doing just that. The Mae Young Classic was an interesting idea for WWE and it helped boost up the NXT roster for a long time to come. There are all kinds of names who made their debuts in the tournament and then went on to become big stars in NXT, NXT UK and even WWE. It was a great way to replenish the division and it is not even done yet, with one more name making it up to NXT. During this week’s NXT, a vignette aired showing Mercedes Martinez was returning to NXT. Martinez has had two runs with the promotion, including her current time, which began with a return at the Royal Rumble and a win on the February 5 edition of..

NEWS

Coronavirus May Have Canceled Major Wrestling Tournament

June 11, 2020

What could have been. The spread of the Coronavirus has changed all kinds of things about the wrestling world and that may be the case for the time being. WWE, AEW and the rest of the wrestling industry have been forced to take several months off from running live events in front of fans, which can cause a lot of problems for everyone involved. Now we know one more thing that might have been wiped out. Tournaments are one of the easiest ways in the world to fill in a few weeks of wrestling programming. There is a reason that since the pandemic began, WWE, AEW, NXT and Impact Wrestling have all presented a tournament in one form or another. They make a lot of sense both in this kind of crisis, plus in regular time. That was almost on display before everything went haywire. According to Wrestling Observer Live, WWE might have been bringing back the Mae Young Classic for a third year had the pandemic not spread. The tournament has been held at Full Sail University in 2017 and 2018. A 20..

NEWS

Starrcade 2018 Live Report And Review

November 25, 2018

Sure why not. Last year, WWE brought back Starrcade in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, marking the first edition of the show in about seventeen years. Now it seems to be a tradition over Thanksgiving weekend (the show’s original time, at least in general) and I took in this year’s edition in the US Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show ran over three and a half hours, including a fifteen minute intermission. Before the show, they aired an ad for the Wednesday night lineup, including the Mae Young Classic. The show that ended a month ago. The crowd was hot all night and attendance was strong, with some sections blocked off. I didn’t see a hard camera so I’m not sure how this was shot, though there were regular cameramen around all night. The show opened with a tribute video to Dusty Rhodes, who created the idea for Starrcade. This was well received and you could tell the fans were slightly older here, with a lot of Ric Flair and Dusty fans all night long. After a Welcome to Starrc..

NEWS

NXT UK Results – November 21, 2018 (Second Episode)

November 22, 2018

NXT UK Date: November 21, 2018 Location: NEC Arena, Birmingham, England Commentators: Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness We’re at the semifinals of the tournament now and that means we should be getting to the final in another week or two. Other than that it’s…well fallout from whatever happened an hour ago which the announcers, who aren’t actually in the arena, will call last week. I’m sure someone we’ve seen recently will be around. Let’s get to it. Opening sequence. NXT UK Women’s Title Semifinals: Rhea Ripley vs. Dakota Kai There’s some history here as Kai eliminated her from the first Mae Young Classic. The fans sound like they’re behind Kai, even as Ripley takes her down with a test of strength. Ripley sits her on the top for a slap to the face, only to get kicked in the jaw to even things up. A rollup gives Kai two and Ripley is looking annoyed. Some kicks to the chest send Ripley bailing to the floor and a pair of running soccer kicks make it even worse. Back in and Ripley tosses..

NEWS

Why Did Madison Rayne Not Sign With WWE?

November 5, 2018

Current ROH superstar Madison Rayne was recently interviewed by the CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh, to promote a live taping that was taking place. She discussed a number of topics, including her decision to go to ROH, her dream opponent, not signing with WWE after the Mae Young Classic and more. Below are some questions along with Rayne’s answers: Let’s talk about you and Ring of Honor. You announced in September that you had signed a one-year deal with the company. What attracted you to go there? It was a long and unexpectedly exciting year for me. 2018 has been really good to me, and it’s allowed me the freedom to go a lot of places and see a lot of rocker rooms and be part of huge, monumental things like Mae Young Classic and like All-In. I was able to spend some time at Ring of Honor and spend some time back in the Impact locker room. That was awesome, and for a while, I thought, well, maybe in 2018, this is the culture of professional wrestling, and I don’t need to have one home ..

NEWS

Breaking: WWE Making Big Change To Its TV Schedule

September 15, 2018

In case Wednesday wasn’t busy enough already. Back in 2016, 205 Live debuted on the WWE Network to give the cruiserweight division its own show. While the show didn’t exactly light up the world to start, it has slowly settled down into its own niche and is now quite the entertaining hour of wrestling. However, things are about to change for one of the first times in the show’s history. The boss speaks. [This post contains video, click to play] As announced on 205 Live’s Twitter, 205 Live will now be moving to Wednesday nights at 7pm instead of Tuesday at 10pm. The show has been aired live after SmackDown Live since its inception in the fall of 2016. It will now be part of a three hour block on the WWE Network, followed by NXT and then the Mae Young Classic. There is no word on when the show will be taped in relation to SmackDown Live. Make sure to check out what’s going on around 205 Live with this week’s results. Opinion: As packed as Wednesday is going to be from now on, I see v..

NEWS

Mae Young Classic Results – September 5, 2018

September 9, 2018

Mae Young Classic Date: September 5, 2018 Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida Commentators: Michael Cole, Beth Phoenix, Renee Young Well it worked the first time. This is the first episode of the second edition of the tournament and this year’s version is being shown a little differently. Instead of having big batches of four episodes at a time, it’s a weekly show every Wednesday after NXT, which is probably a better idea. I’ve done my best to avoid spoilers here so let’s get to it. All matches are first round matches. We open with a look at last week’s tournament, with Kairi Sane defeating Shayna Baszler in the finals. Various women talk about how important it is to win the second tournament. Opening sequence. The announcers welcome us to the show. Zatara is a masked wrestler from Chile. She wants to show the world how great her country can be and says she’s smart. Tegan Nox (better known as Nixon Newell) is from Wales and is influenced by Molly Holly, who did ..

NEWS

Rumor: Will WWE Be Holding Future Evolution Events?

September 8, 2018

Evolution stage two? Earlier this year, WWE announced the first ever all women’s pay per view event, called Evolution. This marks another major step in the Women’s Revolution, which has been going on for just over the last three years. That’s a long time in the wrestling world, and it turns out that there might be several more years left in the movement still. According to Joe Peisich on the Barnburner Fired Up podcast by way of Ringsidenews.com, WWE is already making plans for future editions of Evolution, meaning that this year’s show won’t be a one off event. The show, which will be taking place on October 28, will be featuring every WWE Women’s Title as well as the finals of the Mae Young Classic and a few past vs. present dream matches. At the moment, only a few matches have been confirmed as the title matches have yet to be announced. The announcement alone is worth another look. [This post contains video, click to play] Opinion: I can’t say I’m surprised by this as WWE cert..

NEWS

Update On Toni Storm Injury; Will She Miss Any Time? (Includes Spoilers)

September 7, 2018

It sounds like everything will be OK, which is a VERY good thing. Toni Storm, who is currently participating in the 2018 Mae Young Classic, was recently injured while competing at a recent set of NXT U.K. tapings. She made to the finals of the tournament to crown a new Women’s Champion, but was injured during her match with Rhea Ripley, who ended up winning the tournament. The “X” was thrown up and Storm was helped to the back. According to the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Storm has a spinal injury. However, the belief is that it’s not serious, and will not be missing much time. She is currently scheduled to compete against Io Shirai in the finals of the 2018 Mae Young Classic; you can find the spoilers here. [This post contains video, click to play] Editor’s Opinion: This is certainly good news. Storm is one of the most well-known names in the “non-WWE” female wrestling circuit, and she deserves the opportunity to compete against some of the best of the wor..

NEWS

Who Else Is Confirmed For The Mae Young Classic?

July 19, 2018

The brackets keep filling up. Earlier this summer, the WWE announced the second annual Mae Young Classic Tournament, which will be taking place next month. The announcement immediately brought up the discussion of who would be participating in this year’s tournament. Several names have already been announced but with thirty two names in total, the tournament has several spots left. As of today though, four more of them are filled up. In a new article on WWE.com, four more names have been confirmed for the tournament. Added to the field today are Tegan Nox, Deonna Purrazzo, Jessica Elaban and Reina Gonzalez. Nox signed with WWE last year after wrestling in Europe under the name Nixon Newell. Purrazzo has wrestled around the world, including in Impact Wrestling, Ring of Honor and NXT. Elaban has been in NXT since last October but hasn’t appeared on television. Gonzalez participated in last year’s tournament, losing to Nicole Savoy in the first round. Who else might you be seeing this y..

NEWS

Update On Toni Storm Potentially Signing A WWE Contract

May 26, 2018

We have an update on independent star Toni Storm potentially signing with WWE via Dave Meltzer and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Storm famously took part in the Mae Young Classic last year, ultimately coming short. When she wasn’t signed to WWE after the tournament, many thought she’d never appear in a WWE ring again… but that may be about to change. Storm, a New Zealand native, appears to have signed with WWE. Her new deal is not for the next Mae Young Classic itself, but a U.K, deal similar to that of the U.K. Championship competitors. This contract means that Storm can compete with other promotions, but any time WWE calls for her to compete with them, they take priority. This is the same deal for other talents such as Pete Dunne, Trent Seven, Wolfgang, Tyler Bate and others. We noticed that Storm is listed on advertisements for the upcoming U.K. Championship Tournament, so we expect that she’ll be there in some fashion over the coming weeks. Now while we mention Storm hasn’..

NEWS

Big Update On The Mae Young Classic II Tournament

May 24, 2018

Save the date. Tournaments have always held a special place in wrestling fans’ hearts but now they’ve turned into a much bigger deal in WWE. It’s rare to not see at least one big tournament a year at this point, often at Full Sail University. Whether it’s the Cruiserweight Classic or the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, there’s almost always something big going on. Now, we might know the taping dates for another major WWE tournament later this year. According to Wrestling Observer Live, the Mae Young Classic II will be taped on August 7 and August 8 at Full Sail University. If the same pattern as last year is used, the two days of tapings will be put together into four episodes each and released on the WWE Network at the same time. Last year’s tournament, won by Kairi Sane, saw several future NXT names make their debuts, such as Sane, Shayna Baszler, Dakota Kai and several others. There are no names announced at this point. If nothing else, we might get another awesome opener like this...

NEWS

Rumor: Major International Star Negotiating With WWE Again

May 24, 2018

Before the Mae Young Classic last year, a lot of potential names were rumored for the tournament. One of the biggest names was Io Shirai from Japan. Unfortunately, she was not available for the event and didn’t participate because of prior dates with Stardom. Despite not being able to compete in the tournament, there were still rumors about her signing with the company. However, it was reported that a heart issue during her pre-signing medical evaluation spooked WWE doctors and she was not signed as a result. Related: Why Did WWE Pass on Signing Top Japanese Star? It took some time, but it’s being reported by WrestlingNews.co that Io Shirai and WWE may be willing to resume negotiations to bring the Japanese superstar to the company like Asuka and Kairi Sane before her. Shirai recently dropped the Wonder of Stardom Title and a lot of people are taking that as a sign of a potential move to WWE very soon. Here’s a taste of what “Purple Thunder” is capable of doing inside the squared c..

Other

Fight Size Update: Mae Young Classic, United Kingdom Tournament, Young Bucks Texting CM Punk

April 20, 2018

This is the Fight Size Update for the evening of April 19th. - In the video above, Pro Wrestling Unlimited discuss the advertisement that may have leaked the Great Khali and Rey Mysterio Jr being in the 50 Man Royal Rumble at the Greatest Royal Rumble event. - IMPACT Wrestling returns to pay-per-view this Sunday, April 22 for Redemption, emanating from the IMPACT Zone in Orlando, Fla. The three-hour event kicks off at 8:00 p.m. ET and will be available globally on cable, satellite and digital pay-per-view, including DISH, DirecTV, iN Demand, Vubiquity, Rogers, Bell, Shaw and the FITE.tv live streaming app for a suggested retail price of $39.95. - Impact Wrestling Redemption will be available exclusively in the U.K. for subscribers of the Global Wrestling Network (GWN) digital multi-platform app. A premium subscription is priced at US$7.99 with a 30-day free trial available for new members. Redemption will premiere exclusively on GWN in the U.K. on Wednesday, April 25 ahead of next..