It will be Allysin Kay vs. Santana Garrett to decide the new NWA Women’s Champion. Kay, who was formerly known as Sienna in Impact Wrestling, was originally supposed to challenge Jazz for the title at the Crockett Cup.
A women’s legend will present the title to the winner. The NWA will announce who the legend is tomorrow.
The Crockett Cup is taking place at Cabarrus Arena in Concord, North Carolina this Saturday (April 27) and will air live on HonorClub, pay-per-view, and Fite TV.
Jazz posted a statement yesterday about why she had to vacate the title: “Due to medical and personal issues in my life at this time. I’m having to turn the belt over without defending it. I will post again soon… Thanks for your support. S/O to @nwa for giving me the opportunity of being the best Women’s Champion. One helluva run. Got to work some of the best talent in the game today.. hopefully this will not be the end. Until. #Andstill.”
The winners of the Crockett Cup will be crowned in a one-night tag team tournament at Saturday’s show. Marty Scurll challenging for Nick Aldis’ NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship is also set, and Willie Mack will defend the NWA National Championship against Colt Cabana.
Here’s the bracket for the Crockett Cup:
Block A —
The Briscoes (Jay & Mark) vs. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson)
Villain Enterprises (PCO & Brody King) vs. Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata
Block B —
Flip Gordon & Bandido vs. Stuka Jr. & Guerrero Maya Jr.
Crimson & Jax Dane vs. the winners of a wild card battle royal (which will take place that night)
UPDATE: Jazz tweeted after it was announced that she’s vacated the NWA Women’s title: “Due to medical and personal issues in my life at this time. I’m having to turn the belt over without defending it. I will post again soon… Thanks for your support. S/O to @nwa for giving me the opportunity of being the best Women’s Champion. One helluva run. Got to work some of the best talent in the game today.. hopefully this will not be the end. Until. #Andstill.”
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The NWA will be crowning a new Women’s Champion at this Saturday’s Crockett Cup event.
It was announced today that Jazz has vacated the NWA World Women’s Championship and won’t be appearing at the Crockett Cup.
Jazz was supposed to defend her title against Allysin Kay (formerly known as Sienna in Impact Wrestling) at the Crockett Cup. Kay will be in the match to crown a new champion, with the NWA noting that her opponent will be announced this week.
Kay was a two-time Knockouts Champion in Impact. She was also a participant in last year’s Mae Young Classic and is a former SHINE Champion.
Jazz had been NWA Women’s Champion since September 2016.
Cabarrus Arena in Concord, North Carolina will host the Crockett Cup on Saturday. The NWA is partnering with ROH for the event, and it will air live on HonorClub, Fite TV, and pay-per-view. NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis is defending his title against Marty Scurll, while NWA National Champion Willie Mack is defending against Colt Cabana.
The Briscoes vs. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express and Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata vs. PCO & Brody King are the matches on the left side of the Crockett Cup bracket. On the right side, Flip Gordon & Bandido vs. Stuka Jr. & Guerrero Maya Jr. and Jax Dane & Crimson vs. the winners of a wild card battle royal (which will take place that night) are the tournament matches.
Welcome to yet another fun, action-packed edition of the Mae Young Classic.
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Kaitlyn defeated Kavita Devi in a first round match
As a lot of you reading this probably remember, I used to review NXT. The very first match on the very first show I reviewed was Kaitlyn vs. Maxine, which was such a terrible three minutes that it won the Wrestling Observer Worst Worked Match of the Year Award. Kaitlyn did improve quite a bit over the years and is a former Divas Champion and the winner of NXT season three. Ironically, she never had a match at WrestleMania — while Kavita Devi has been in developmental for under a year and was in the Women’s Battle Royal this year.
This match was mostly fine. It was a little rough in the middle, but they held things together and Kaitlyn won with a spear after a cannonball in the corner. Kaitlyn seemed ready to cry when her hand was raised.
Kaitlyn will next go one-on one with the winner of Mia Yim vs. Allysin Kay, which is our main event this week.
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Toni Storm defeated Jinny in a first round match
Jinny is a fashionista, but she at least wants to use the MYC to catapult her career from modeling to WWE. If this were 1995, she would be wrestling to become a bigger star in modeling. Storm competed last year and made it to the semifinals before losing to Kairi Sane.
Tyler Breeze was shown at ringside watching on for this one. Makes sense since he’s a model and Jinny’s a model. The Iiconics were also shown watching.
Jinny tapped out to an armbar, but apparently it didn’t count. Storm nearly booted Jinny’s head off her neck, but Jinny gave Storm an STO into the middle turnbuckle. Jinny used an armbar and a crossface, which was unique. Jinny gave Storm an arm drag near the corner. Not sure if Storm was supposed to hit the turnbuckles, but she didn’t and bumped on the mat.
Jinny used a rolling surfboard but eventually had to let go. Jinny ran face-first into Storm’s foot, which began Storm’s comeback. She hit a snap German suplex, a running hip attack, and the Storm Zero Tiger Driver for the pin!
Storm will face the winner of Rachel Evers vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto.
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Xia Li defeated Karen Q in a first round match
Li is the first Chinese female signed to WWE and was in last year’s Mae Young Classic, where she lost to Mercedes Martinez in her first-ever match. Q is a former gymnast, who has a master’s degree in nursing and has wrestled in ROH and SHIMMER.
Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae were ringside for this one.
The match started with a show of respect and a martial arts demonstration. Q got the worst of it — so she slapped Li, much to the chagrin of the fans. Q periodically did a mocking bow towards Li during the match. Li made her comeback with a series of kicks to the thigh. Q ducked a high kick, but Li came up with the other foot to knock Q out.
The finish saw Q miss a frog splash and get pinned after a twisting ax kick. Li moves onto the Sweet 16 to face Deonna Purrazzo.
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Mia Yim defeated Allysin Kay in a first round match
If the rumors are true, congratulations to Mia Yim on being signed to WWE. Both Kay and Yim are former Impact Knockouts Champions, and Kay beat Yim for the title when they were known as Sienna (Kay) and Jade (Yim). They also have wrestled each other all over the world, including a match where Yim broke Kay’s nose.
Sonya Deville and Shelton Benjamin were at ringside for this one.
Yim got the better of the early exchanges, including her running down the apron and kicking Kay squarely in the chest. Back in the ring, Kay laid Yim out with a Pounce that sent her halfway across the ring and out of it. Yim rebounded from that and hit a suicide dive. However, her advantage ended there as she backed Kay to the post and went for a chop, but Kay ducked and Yim chopped the ring post! That echoed across Full Sail.
An exchange of submission holds led to Yim blocking a high kick and the two enemies going forehead-to-forehead before resuming their battle. Kay backdropped out of a package piledriver attempt, but she got caught with a Code Red for a near fall. Yim went to the middle rope, and after a brief scuffle, hit Sole Food (Gail Kim’s Eat Defeat) for the win.
Probably the best match of the first round so far. Yim now faces Kaitlyn in the next round.
So that does it for this episode. The first round comes to an end next week, so make sure to come on back next Wednesday!
All 32 wrestlers have been confirmed for this summer’s Mae Young Classic.
The final five participants were announced for the tournament today, with Sienna, Xia Li, Rachael Ellering, MJ Jenkins, and Zatara rounding out the lineup. Tapings for the tournament will be held at Full Sail University next Wednesday and Thursday, leading into the finals taking place at WWE Evolution on October 28.
Sienna was announced by her real name (Allysin Kay). She is a former two-time Knockouts Champion in Impact Wrestling and recently left the company when her contract expired while she was out of action with blood clots in both of her lungs.
Li and Ellering are both returning from last year’s Mae Young Classic. Li is from China and made her in-ring debut in the 2017 tournament, losing to Mercedes Martinez in the first round. She’s under WWE contract and wrestles on NXT house shows in Florida.
Ellering is again going by “Rachel Evers,” which is a reference to her trainer Lance Storm’s real last name. She defeated Marti Belle in the first round last year, with Dave Meltzer reporting that WWE changed the finish midway through after Belle had originally been booked to win. Ellering lost to Abbey Laith in the second round and has wrestled outside of WWE since the tournament.
Jenkins was signed by WWE as part of the most recent group of wrestlers to report to the Performance Center. She wrestled on the indies before joining WWE and was formerly part of the Impact Wrestling roster.
Zatara is a masked wrestler from Santiago, Chile. She is 26 years old and started wrestling in 2008.
The full Mae Young Classic 2018 lineup is listed below. Taynara Conti won a qualifying match at July’s NXT television tapings but has yet to be officially announced by WWE.
Former Knockouts Champion Sienna revealed a scary situation that caused her to be hospitalized during the latest set of Impact television tapings.
Sienna wrote that she went to the hospital due to experiencing short and labored breathing, along with severe back spasms/sharp pains at the top of her inhale. She expected that she had a displaced rib or a collapsed lung but found out that she has a blood clot in each of her lungs.
Sienna noted that she won’t be wrestling for now but will still be making appearances. She wrestled twice at the Impact tapings, facing Kiera Hogan last Friday and Allie on Saturday.
Eddie Edwards also had to go to the hospital this past weekend after being injured. There was an angle where Sami Callihan went to hit him with a baseball bat and it ricocheted off a chair and accidentally hit Edwards in the face.
