Mae Young Classic Results courtesy of WWE.com.
Mae Young Classic results, Sept. 12, 2018: Mercedes Martinez drops the hammer on Ashley Rayne
Four more athletes advanced to the Second Round of the 2018 Mae Young Classic following a thrilling night of First-Round action. Capping off the evening was a veritable dream match between returning Classic competitor Mercedes Martinez and the world-traveled Ashley Rayne.
Deonna Purrazzo def. Priscilla Kelly in a First-Round Match
Living up to her reputation for playing mind games, Priscilla Kelly wasted no time tying to get under Deonna Purrazzo’s skin, slapping away The Virtuosa’s pre-match handshake.
As the psychological warfare turned physical, Purrazzo used mat-wrestling magic to confound Hell’s Favorite Harlot and stay one step ahead. A big boot helped Kelly turn the tide and cleared the way for the mischievous mauler to stretch Purrazzo’s spine with a Dragon Sleeper.
The Virtuosa endured the attack and fought back with a hip toss/dropkick combination before coolly dropping Kelly with a side Russian legsweep. She followed up with her signature hold, the Fujiwara Armbar, forcing Kelly to tap out in agony.
Zeuxis def. Aerial Monroe in a First-Round Match
With her husband Cedric Alexander and her 4-year-old daughter watching at ringside, Aerial Monroe was determined to make the most of her first Mae Young Classic debut. Unfortunately for Monroe, her opponent in the First Round, Zeuxis, couldn’t care less about Big Swole’s support system.
Zeuxis enraged Monroe by tussling her emerald hairdo in the opening moments. The blatant show of disrespect sparked a lightning-quick exchange that saw Zeuxis score with a knee strike and Monroe dodge a subsequent dropkick. Monroe trash-talked Zeuxis and delivered rapid-fire palm strikes, but the masked luchadora withstood the blasts before throwing Monroe around the ring by her green locks.
Monroe rebounded to drill Zeuxis with a head kick, but once the battle moved to the top rope, she was firmly in Zeuxis’ territory, at which point there was no turning back. Zeuxis grabbed Monroe tightly and backflipped into the ring, bringing Monroe crashing to the mat with an eye-popping Spanish Fly for the win.
Kacy Catanzaro def. Reina González in a First-Round Match
In her first televised match, former “American Ninja Warrior” star Kacy Catanzaro showed exactly why she is one of the most widely hailed prospects to ever be recruited by WWE. Despite being a foot shorter and 100 pounds lighter than her opponent, the rugged Reina González, Mighty Kacy refused to accept anything less than victory in her debut.
It wasn’t easy, of course. González muscled Catanzaro around the ring with an assortment of power moves. Whenever she broke free of Gonzalez’s grip, Catanzaro unleashed innovative moves (including hand-standing on the top rope and leaping into a flying headscissors).
Catanzaro frustrated Gonzalez with her speed, too, using a breathtaking springboard dropkick to try to take down the tough Texan. Gonzalez rallied and lifted Catanzaro high overhead, but Catanzaro reversed it into a tight rollup to pin Gonzalez’s shoulders to the mat for the upset victory.
Clearly impressed by her opponent’s clever maneuvers, Gonzalez shook Catanzaro’s hand after the match, and in a display of good sportsmanship, she lifted the spectacular rookie onto her shoulder. Can Catanzaro reach even greater heights in the Second Round, where she’ll face another powerhouse, Australia’s Rhea Ripley?
Mercedes Martinez def. Ashley Rayne in a First-Round Match
A big-fight feel hung in the air inside Full Sail Live as two of the Mae Young Classic’s most experienced combatants, Mercedes Martinez and Ashley Rayne, squared off.
Martinez opened the match in the most brutal fashion imaginable, driving Rayne head- and neck-first into the mat with a package slam. Having fought for more than 13 years for her chance to compete in a WWE ring, Rayne would not give up that easily and somehow kicked out at two.
The Latina Sensation stunned Rayne with a stalling suplex, but when she went to the well a second time, Rayne countered with a modified RKO for a near fall. The action went back and forth from there, with The Queen Bee relying on her superior quickness to offset Martinez’s brute force.
Late in the match, Rayne avoided Martinez’s first attempt at hitting the Fisherman Buster (one of The Latina Sensation’s preferred methods for trouncing opponents), but she couldn’t escape fate for long. Rayne went for a guillotine, but Martinez shook her off, clobbered her with a knee strike and planted her with the Fisherman Buster once and for all.
The pin was academic from there. With the win, Martinez returns to the Mae Young Classic Second Round for the second year in a row, where she’ll meet Japanese legend Meiko Satomura.