Mae Young Classic Recap (9/26/18): The First Round Wraps Up, Io Shirai Makes Her Debut

The final week of the Mae Young Classic First Round matches came to a dramatic close with featuring two Joshi legends, a pair of second-generation stars, and an NXT return for redemption.

The first match had Rachel Evers, daughter of legendary manager Paul Ellering, going up against the ‘Lady Godzilla’, Hiroyo Matsumoto. This match became the sleeper match of the night and quite possibly the tournament so far, with Matsumoto and Evers delivering a hard-hitting performance that got the Full Sail crowd off of their feet. After 10 minutes of great action, the Destroyer finished off Evers with devastating powerbomb followed by a Backdrop Driver she calls the Rock Drop:

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Time for @hiroyomatsumoto to celebrate. She'll move on to Round 2 of the 2018 #WWEMYC! pic.twitter.com/nHWyfi7loC

— Mae Young Classic (@MaeYoungClassic) September 27, 2018

The second bout was Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner Tayanara Conti against the bubbly Jesse Elaban. Elaban showed a lot of poise but the growth and experience of Conti came through with a unique side slam to move on to the next round:

Ladies and gentlemen… this is @Jess10YES_. #WWEMYC pic.twitter.com/2MST0XgdVN

— Mae Young Classic (@MaeYoungClassic) September 27, 2018

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Natural villainess Nicole Matthews faced Isla Dawn in the third match. In a back-and-forth contest between the two, Matthews relied on her strength and will to overpower Dawn and win with a version of the Liontamer:

We're off to a tense start here…

It's @IslaDawn vs. @nmatthewsninja RIGHT NOW in Round 1 of the 2018 #WWEMYC! pic.twitter.com/SB7yE03mmv

— Mae Young Classic (@MaeYoungClassic) September 27, 2018

.@nmatthewsninja has @IslaDawn right where she wants her! #WWEMYC pic.twitter.com/H1b31x1GOp

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) September 27, 2018

WHAT A VICTORY for @nmatthewsninja! #WWEMYC pic.twitter.com/51KXahqEsV

— Mae Young Classic (@MaeYoungClassic) September 27, 2018

And in the main event, new WWE signee Io Shirai faced another second-generation star in Xia Brookside. Despite being the daughter of Robbie Brookside, her father never seen her wrestle in person and she hoped to make him proud. New motivation aside, it wasn’t enough to beat ‘The Genius of the Sky’, as Shirai destroys her with a moonsault off of the top rope in a quick sprint: