If you look for it, you can see the referee walk over to each woman, tell them each something, and then they had Evers kick out of Bell's finish and Evers roll her up to the win. Evers also autopilots into a fist pump celebration, then a moment later it seems to dawn on her that she really did win and she's still around in this tournament after all.
But then I was looking for it, and I guess it could've been a time cue. It did seem like Bell was supposed to win - they were clearly aiming to have as many countries as possible in the 2nd round with only the very obviously inexperienced women (India, Brasil) going out in the first round.
I thought there were a few spots in that match that looked pretty bad, though it's beyond me who's fault it was. People who were there live said it was worse before editing.
Everything with Kairi Sane was fun (the Blanchard match could've been the final and everyone would've been OK with it), but the Bianca Belair match most blew away my expectations. They must've known what she could do to put her in that spot but I wasn't expecting near as much out of that match. She's going to be something if she keeps improving.
The strong tease for the Four Horsewoman vs Four Horsewoman match and how dominant she's been in the tournament makes it feel like it's a certainty Shayna's winning. But then I wonder how invested the normal SmackDown crowd will be in all of this, and how this match is actually going to happen: 205 Live set up a match for next week (TJP/Swann again) as if it's on as normal. Hopefully they just put the final on SmackDown itself, they've put too much work into this to make it hour four of a taping.
Episodes 5 & 6 were good, but the story was the same in every single match. The veteran or favorite takes a beating most the match before pulling off a quick fall while everyone acts surprised that they were taken to the limit. I don't blame the wrestlers, but the booking seemed incredibly lazy.
Well, I did pretty good up to the semi-finals, but now I'm done. Sane taking out my pick doesn't actually upset me too much, though, because Kairi Sane is now my favorite wrestler. I want them to sign most of these women, but nobody more than her, if for no other reason than so I can see whatever super-cool NXT Takeover pirate ship entrance HHH puts together for her.
Other great stuff - Toni Storm is a pretty lady version of Sexy Boy-era Shawn Michaels. I don't know if there's another pro wrestler in the world who's a better fit for the WWE. Signing her is the biggest no-brainer.
Piper Niven has unquestionably the best Vader-bomb I've ever seen. She's the most likely to be misused in WWE, but man is she great, too.
Mercedes Martinez is the mean brawler their women's division desperately needs.
Originally posted by thecubsfanThe strong tease for the Four Horsewoman vs Four Horsewoman match and how dominant she's been in the tournament makes it feel like it's a certainty Shayna's winning.
I think it could work just as well with Baszler losing in the final, but WWE does love them some MMA, and this could be the thing that finally seals the deal with Rousey. On the other hand, that's been in the works seemingly forever, so I don't know if any of this stuff actually means anything this time around.
Originally posted by thecubsfanIf you look for it, you can see the referee walk over to each woman, tell them each something, and then they had Evers kick out of Bell's finish and Evers roll her up to the win. Evers also autopilots into a fist pump celebration, then a moment later it seems to dawn on her that she really did win and she's still around in this tournament after all...
I thought there were a few spots in that match that looked pretty bad, though it's beyond me who's fault it was. People who were there live said it was worse before editing.
I rewatched it too, and I saw what you were talking about. I hadn't really considered what might have been edited out. Looking at what got aired, I still can't really say that Bell was any worse than Evers, but I suppose Evers is a bit more home-grown, and if Bell wound up being a lot worse than they expected her to be, that could be a reason to change the finish. I guess I just was thinking they would have a better understanding of Bell's abilities before booking the tournament.
Originally posted by Tenken347Well, I did pretty good up to the semi-finals, but now I'm done. Sane taking out my pick doesn't actually upset me too much, though, because Kairi Sane is now my favorite wrestler. I want them to sign most of these women, but nobody more than her, if for no other reason than so I can see whatever super-cool NXT Takeover pirate ship entrance HHH puts together for her.
Other great stuff - Toni Storm is a pretty lady version of Sexy Boy-era Shawn Michaels. I don't know if there's another pro wrestler in the world who's a better fit for the WWE. Signing her is the biggest no-brainer.
So far the women that are already under contract are Abbey Laith, Bianca Belair, Lacey Evans, Reina Gonzalez, Sarah Logan, Vanessa Borne, Dakota Kai, Kairi Sane, Rhea Ripley, Sage Beckett, Taynara Conti, Xia Li and Zeda.
This is...confusing? Disturbing? Kairi and Dakota are both really good and Bianca has future superstar written all over her, I like Rhea Ripley pretty well too. But for the most part this group is all the worst parts of the tournament while most of the great performers seem like they are possibly being passed over?
I guess it's possible they aren't going to sign them until after the tournament, especially since Shayna is inevitable, but I don't know, the pessimism I have towards how the WWE uses the women makes me think Toni, Mia, Candice, Kay Lee, Piper and so forth are headed back to the indies because the WWE wants to "make their own stars" or something. There have been great women on the indies for years but the WWE doesn't actually seemed interested in scooping them up the way they sign every male wrestler that gets their name chanted once in a gym in front of 10 people.
I agree that Toni should be the number one prospect here. Kairi is amazing but Toni has more size and can speak English. And honestly, I'd take 6 or 7 of them over where Shayna is right now, granted Shayna's potential is really high. Mia has the most on screen TV experience, which I think is important. Candice is about as perfect a plucky underdog as you can get. Mercedes is long in tooth but would be a good veteran and could maybe even transition into training the women. Yeah, lots of these women should be in NXT over the women they've already signed. Heck, these women are better than half the woman on the main roster, but I guess Carmella and Naomi can dance or whatever. I totally see what Dolph Ziggler is talking about now!
Originally posted by Tenken347Well, I did pretty good up to the semi-finals, but now I'm done. Sane taking out my pick doesn't actually upset me too much, though, because Kairi Sane is now my favorite wrestler. I want them to sign most of these women, but nobody more than her, if for no other reason than so I can see whatever super-cool NXT Takeover pirate ship entrance HHH puts together for her.
Other great stuff - Toni Storm is a pretty lady version of Sexy Boy-era Shawn Michaels. I don't know if there's another pro wrestler in the world who's a better fit for the WWE. Signing her is the biggest no-brainer.
So far the women that are already under contract are Abbey Laith, Bianca Belair, Lacey Evans, Reina Gonzalez, Sarah Logan, Vanessa Borne, Dakota Kai, Kairi Sane, Rhea Ripley, Sage Beckett, Taynara Conti, Xia Li and Zeda.
This is...confusing? Disturbing? Kairi and Dakota are both really good and Bianca has future superstar written all over her, I like Rhea Ripley pretty well too. But for the most part this group is all the worst parts of the tournament while most of the great performers seem like they are possibly being passed over?
I guess it's possible they aren't going to sign them until after the tournament, especially since Shayna is inevitable, but I don't know, the pessimism I have towards how the WWE uses the women makes me think Toni, Mia, Candice, Kay Lee, Piper and so forth are headed back to the indies because the WWE wants to "make their own stars" or something. There have been great women on the indies for years but the WWE doesn't actually seemed interested in scooping them up the way they sign every male wrestler that gets their name chanted once in a gym in front of 10 people.
I agree that Toni should be the number one prospect here. Kairi is amazing but Toni has more size and can speak English. And honestly, I'd take 6 or 7 of them over where Shayna is right now, granted Shayna's potential is really high. Mia has the most on screen TV experience, which I think is important. Candice is about as perfect a plucky underdog as you can get. Mercedes is long in tooth but would be a good veteran and could maybe even transition into training the women. Yeah, lots of these women should be in NXT over the women they've already signed. Heck, these women are better than half the woman on the main roster, but I guess Carmella and Naomi can dance or whatever. I totally see what Dolph Ziggler is talking about now!
Most of the women you named were already under contract before the tournament, but I'm really glad to see Kairi and Dakota on that list. Candice has made at least one appearance (maybe two?) in NXT, so they must have something with her - but also possibly, it's a situation where she's not happy with the deal they're offering? That was the issue with Blue Pants a couple years ago. In fact, I wouldn't be too surprised if that wound up being the issue with more than one of the women.
That said, it would still be absolutely baffling if they didn't sign the most WWE-ready performer of the entire group.
It's too bad the finals is being used as a way to get the Four Horse Women thing going, but I get it ... I guess.
There have been some really enjoyable moments in the tournament, but this whole thing could have been better. If nothing else this tournament proved to me that there is enough talent out there to run a weekly Women's show, I just don't know if WWE can pull it off while filling three brands. At the same time I don't know if they are willing to clear enough space on those three brands to showcase all the talent.
I get why every woman is not signed. Some might want to see how the landscape looks after the tournament is over. They have already elevated their own brand and there is no use getting lost in the shuffle. Abbey Laith has been signed for almost nine months now and I'm not sure they knew what to do with her so they just threw her here. Now maybe she can be the Sami Zayn of the women, or maybe she gets lost again.
I would have been mildy surprised if the MMA fighter came into Vince's world and won a wrestling tournament, but the word on the street was this was building to bigger things. I think the right person won here and in the end they even won over a crowd who seemed to know very little about them.
I hope the Mae Young Classic is used as a launching point for more Women's content and not just a "see we did something historic with the girls" thing.
There are improvements to be made, but I'm glad they did this and I'm glad I watched it.
Originally posted by yamcharulezOver all I did awesome, I only called the final wrong. I really think Shayna Baszler could be the Brock Lesner of the Women division
The only problem is that Baszler, like Lesnar, could probably use a manager as mouthpiece and so far they haven't been invested enough in the women to give them managers. Unless Ellsworth counts?
Woohoo! Thanks. What a come from behind victory. Down 15 points before the finals and go exactly the 16 points I needed to win. Glad I got the finals right because my other two semi-finalists went out in the first round!
Congrats on those who saw the Sane win coming. She's fantastic, and I agree overall that she was the right pick to win the tournament. The final match was gangbusters - tremendous striking and selling from both wrestlers. I especially want to single out Baszler, who didn't get much opportunity to show us what she could do before the final, and especially didn't get to show off how good her selling is. Most of the guys wouldn't remember to keep selling the ribs after the bell.
And the match wasn't just hard-hitting. The story behind it was just as good. I especially loved the fact that the injured ribs of Baszler wound up being the key for every major escape Sane had to make. The match made Sane look like a world-class competitor, but it also made Baszler look tough as nails. I was a bit surprised that they didn't go for more bells and whistles on the show, but it was a great match, so no complaints from me.
Originally posted by Tenken347Congrats on those who saw the Sane win coming.
I Pun named my Picks after that opinion!
I picked her because 1. NXT loves pushing foreign talent 2. She's amazing 3. Her adorable cutesy vibe is a perfect contrast for Asuka's vicious killer aura 4. I will never bet on American Indies again in these things 5. [insert Kota Ibushi joke]
I said before, I'm more interested in a Sting/HBK match than a Sting/Taker match. That would be the two stars that repersented WcW and WWF the best in the 90's squaring off. Sting/Taker shouldn't be bad.