Mae Young Classic (2017)


The Mae Young Classic is a multi-night special event and tournament promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion, WWE. The tournament comprises various matches, that result from scripted storylines and have predetermined results. It is constituted by a 32 competitor tournament exclusively for women from both NXT and the independent circuit. The inaugural tournament took place on July 13, and 14, 2017, which aired on the WWE Network on August 28 and September 4, and the final match aired live on September 12, 2017, also on the WWE Network. The winner of the inaugural tournament was Kairi Sane.
A second tournament was scheduled for 2018.

Background

WWE announced that a women's tournament would be taking place in the summer of 2017 at a press conference during WrestleMania 33 weekend. There will be a total of 32 wrestlers competing. The name of the event is in honor of the late WWE Hall of Famer Mae Young. It was announced on their official website that the first four wrestlers to be competing would be Sarah Logan, Lacey Evans, Princesa Sugehit, and Toni Storm. The second set of names announced were Tessa Blanchard, Abbey Laith, Taynara Conti, Jazzy Gabert, and Kavita Devi. On June 26, 2017, Lita and Jim Ross were announced as the commentators for the tournament. The third set of names announced were Kairi Sane, Dakota Kai, Piper Niven, and Bianca Belair. The fourth set of names announced were Rhea Ripley and Sage Beckett. The fifth set of names announced were Kay Lee Ray and Ayesha Raymond. Later in the day, Vanessa Borne qualified to the classic. On July 13, 2017, WWE held the Mae Young Classic: Parade of Champions, a pre-tournament event streamed live on YouTube and Facebook and revealed the remaining tournament participants. The Mae Young Classic also featured WWE's first full-time female referee, Jessika Carr.

Qualifying matches

; NXT tapings'' – June 23

Participants

Replaced

This participant was taken out of the tournament for a specific reason and therefore was replaced by another competitor.
WrestlerCountry representingProgression in the tournamentReasonReplacing wrestler
WalesReplaced before the official start of the tournamentACL injury Miranda Salinas

Alternates

If any of the official participants had suffered an injury, they would have been replaced by one of the following wrestlers:
WrestlerCountry representing
United States
United States
United States
Tonga
Canada

Broadcast team

Referees

Results

Finale

Tournament bracket

The following time limits were in place:

Aftermath

Performers on the tournament such as Bianca Belair, Dakota Kai, winner Kairi Sane, Lacey Evans, Reina González, Rhea Ripley, Sarah Logan, Taynara Conti, Vanessa Borne, Xia Li already had signed contracts with the company. Nixon Newell, who missed the tournament due to injury, also already signed a contract with the company.
On October 3, WWE officially announced that finalist Shayna Baszler had signed a contract with the company and started training at the WWE Performance Center. On October 15, 2017, WWE announced that performer Kavita Devi had signed a contract, and will start training at their Performance Center in January 2018.
On January 16, 2018, WWE announced that Candice LeRae had been signed to a contract, performing on the NXT brand.
On February 8, 2018, WWE announced that Serena Deeb had been signed by WWE to become a coach at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
On March 8, 2018, WWE officially announced that Abbey Laith and Sage Beckett were released from their NXT contracts.
On May 31, 2018, WWE announced that Deonna Purrazzo had been signed to a contract by WWE and will be performing in their developmental territory NXT.
On June 2, 2018, Zeda was released from her NXT contract.
Rhea Ripley, Rachel Evers, Xia Li, Mercedes Martinez, Taynara Conti, Kavita Devi, Reina González, Toni Storm, alternate Deonna Purrazzo and Nixon Newell all competed in the 2018 Mae Young Classic.
On January 12, 2019, Toni Storm defeated Rhea Ripley to win the NXT UK Women's Championship.
On February 27, 2019, WWE announced that Kay Lee Ray and Jazzy Gabert had been signed to a contract by WWE and will be performing in their NXT UK.
On March 27, 2019, WWE announced that Piper Niven had been signed to a contract by WWE and will be performing in their NXT UK.
On August 14, 2019, WWE announced that Santana Garrett had been signed to a contract by WWE and will be performing in their developmental territory NXT.