2018 Mae Young Classic

Post #1 » by **Stanford** » Wed Aug 8, 2018 11:32 pm

Cole, Renee and Beth Phoenix on commentary.

improper · Post #2 » by **improper** » Thu Aug 9, 2018 12:00 am

Thank god they didn't have JR and Lita do it again. JR clearly didn't give a crap and Lita was just outright bad.

Cole sucks on main roster productions, but he seems fine when he doesn't constantly have Vince in his ear telling him what to say.

Post #3 » by **Stanford** » Thu Aug 9, 2018 12:40 am

improper wrote:Thank god they didn't have JR and Lita do it again. JR clearly didn't give a crap and Lita was just outright bad.

Cole sucks on main roster productions, but he seems fine when he doesn't constantly have Vince in his ear telling him what to say.

Agreed. JR and Lita were mostly bad last during the last MYC.

Cole was good establishing lore during the Parade of Champions. I love the idea that this tournament exists outside of the WWE Universe, with wrestlers having an arc that gets updated once a year. It's going to be interesting to see how someone like Toni Storm does, given how far she made it last year, and how that story gets told the following year, if at all.

I wasn't convinced by Beth in the MMC. It sounded like her mic was turned down by half and she couldn't find a rhythm with either of the other commentators. She wasn't necessarily bad, but I can't remember a time when she stood out, despite it being obvious that she did her homework.

Renee is Renee. I'm sure she'll be as good at this as she is at everything else she's been asked to do.

On appearance and reputation alone, I'm interested in Aerial Monroe, Deonna Purrazzo, Io Shirai, Xia Brookside and Hiroyo Matsumoto. Cool to see Kaitlyn back, and very strange to see Madison Rayne in WWE.

improper · Post #4 » by **improper** » Thu Aug 9, 2018 12:43 am

Yeah, not a huge fan of Beth either, but Renee is always great. To be honest, kind of surprised they haven't had her do more commentary. Seems like she could step in on a show like NXT and do play-by-play pretty easily. Cole was good during the UK Tournament, so it's pretty clear he knows how to be a decent commentator. He just never gets to be that guy on Raw or Smackdown because it's all screaming THE BIG DAWG over and over and shilling whatever other crap Vince wants him to.

Post #5 » by **Stanford** » Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:28 am

Read on Twitter

bestnamezRtaken · Post #6 » by **bestnamezRtaken** » Thu Aug 30, 2018 12:31 pm

When is this officially being released? I don't want to look it up for fear of spoilers.

Post #7 » by **Stanford** » Thu Aug 30, 2018 7:33 pm

bestnamezRtaken wrote:When is this officially being released? I don't want to look it up for fear of spoilers.

Sept 5th is the first episode.

Why oh why did they leave the Tegan Nox segment in the Bracketology episode? Really depressing.

Post #8 » by **Stanford** » Thu Sep 6, 2018 9:09 pm

I love the lack of cynicism from the Full Sail crowds. The way they unironically cheered for a clean handshake to start the match was great. It makes sportsmanship look like a good thing, which it is, and makes handshake refusals look more heelish.

Spoiler:

Rhea Ripley gets it. She doesn't look or act anything like Charlotte though. Don't know why they went in that direction on commentary.

MJ Jenkins has good fire. Match was pretty good.

Great booking putting Lacey Lane against Kraven in the first round. They wrestled the classic "big vs small" match really well, including a dope near fall toward the end of the match. Loved the finish too. I'm sure both wish they had a few of those spots back though.

Meiko Satomura is cool as ****. WWE needs about ten of her. The **** cartwheeled into a brutal looking kick and then flexed on em. Cole, you can't tap someone out on the ropes, you goof. You've been doing this a long time. Good match. I'm pretty confident we'll be getting a good Meiko match each round. Hope she goes to the final. I like Killer Kelly too.

Good first episode! Needs a lot more Mauro and a lot less of what we currently have on commentary though.

improper · Post #9 » by **improper** » Thu Sep 6, 2018 9:51 pm

Stanford wrote:Rhea Ripley gets it. She doesn't look or act anything like Charlotte though. Don't know why they went in that direction on commentary.

She's tall, blonde, and fit, which means she basically satisfies the same "Vince McMahon Championship Material" requirements as Charlotte, although Charlotte also checks the bonus box "Related to a Legend."

Post #10 » by **Stanford** » Thu Sep 6, 2018 9:55 pm

improper wrote:
Stanford wrote:Rhea Ripley gets it. She doesn't look or act anything like Charlotte though. Don't know why they went in that direction on commentary.

She's tall, blonde, and fit, which means she basically satisfies the same "Vince McMahon Championship Material" requirements as Charlotte, although Charlotte also checks the bonus box "Related to a Legend."

But I thought Vince's boner was for Carmella and Alexa Bliss? That's all I heard after Mania. Doesn't seem like the type you're describing.

And I'm fairly certain Vince has nothing to do with producing commentary in this event.

improper · Post #11 » by **improper** » Thu Sep 6, 2018 9:57 pm

Stanford wrote:But I thought Vince's boner was for Carmella and Alexa Bliss? That's all I heard after Mania. Doesn't seem like the type you're describing.

Did you miss the parts where I wrote "fit" and "blonde?" Those are basically the two most important factors in main roster women's success.

They can talk revolution all they want, but the main roster is still a glorified Divas division.

Post #12 » by **Stanford** » Thu Sep 6, 2018 10:24 pm

Did you miss the parts where I wrote "fit" and "blonde?" Those are basically the two most important factors in main roster women's success.

I would say the ability to cut an in-ring promo is the most important factor in main roster women's success. I like how you conveniently left out tall when making your follow up list though. "Fit" is a hilarious one too. Everyone is fit. They're wrestlers. Who isn't fit? Nia maybe?

improper wrote:They can talk revolution all they want, but the main roster is still a glorified Divas division.

Which, I believe, would make Becky Lynch a glorified Eve Torres.

improper · Post #13 » by **improper** » Thu Sep 6, 2018 10:29 pm

Stanford wrote:I would say the ability to cut an in-ring promo is the most important factor in main roster women's success. I like how you conveniently left out tall when making your follow up list though. "Fit" is a hilarious one too. Everyone is fit. They're wrestlers. Who isn't fit? Nia maybe?

Carmella's a pretty terrible promo and she still got to go over both Asuka and Charlotte.

Meanwhile, Sasha Banks is great on the mic as a heel and has never turned heel nor had much main roster success. Sasha's main roster role was basically just to inflate Charlotte's number of title wins.

Post #14 » by **Stanford** » Thu Sep 6, 2018 10:33 pm

Sasha should just go blonde. She's already fit. That's half of the requirements right there.

Post #15 » by **Stanford** » Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:55 am

The commentary is really hurting this tournament. Beth and Renee have no idea what they're doing.

That said, Matsumoto Evars was fun. Loved the last couple minutes.

improper · Post #16 » by **improper** » Fri Sep 28, 2018 1:05 am

Stanford wrote:The commentary is really hurting this tournament. Beth and Renee have no idea what they're doing.

That said, Matsumoto Evars was fun. Loved the last couple minutes.

Commentary in general really hurts the WWE product. NXT does a pretty good job, but Raw and Smackdown are just a wasteland of awfulness.

Post #17 » by **Stanford** » Fri Sep 28, 2018 1:07 am

I don't mind the commentary on Raw and SD!

Did Big Shaq do Conti's theme tune?

Post #18 » by **Stanford** » Fri Sep 28, 2018 1:36 am

Uhh... are we sure Io Shairi isn't the best wrestler on the planet? Yes, this is my first time seeing her. She is perfect!

Xia Brookside is good too. Shes going to be a big deal for sure.

improper · Post #19 » by **improper** » Fri Sep 28, 2018 1:38 am

Stanford wrote:Uhh... are we sure Io Shairi isn't the best wrestler on the planet? Yes, this is my first time seeing her. She is perfect!

I thought general consensus was that Io was the best female wrestler in the world. It's what I've been reading for the past two years or so at least.

Post #20 » by **Stanford** » Fri Sep 28, 2018 1:44 am

I'm sure that's true. I've read the same things. There's nothing like seeing it for yourself though. Everything she does is wrestling perfection. There was a tiny bit of a lull in the match towards the end and she went to the corner and started stomping in that way that looks cheesy for most wrestlers, except she woke the crowd the **** up with them. What a star, man.