Here we are, the last of the episodic MYC shows. It's been a fun ride and it isn't over yet. We have two potentially great, and completely different, semi finals on the slate. Here is my final updated bracket.
Semi Final - Mercedes Martinez vs Shayna Baszler
These two know each other well, being in the same faction in Shimmer, and with Martinez having helped train Baszler. Baszler shakes hands for the first time in this tournament. This was a good first semi final. They went full bore with the strikes from the off. Martinez hit some great looking, and sounding, chops. She grounded Baszler and hit more strikes but this just pissed off Baszler who hits some gut wrench suplexes and applies a heel hook. They trade more strikes and Martinez hits some fantastic looking Saito suplexes. Martinez goes for a fisherman's buster but Baszler fights it off and hits a falcon arrow into the rear naked choke. Despite Martinez's best efforts she is forced to tap and Baszler is headed to the final. This was a really good match. Both women went fully in on this and it paid off. Baszler had to dig deeper than she had in any other match but she came out the other side. ***3/4
Semi Final - Kairi Sane vs Toni Storm
Lita claimed that these two have never wrestled each other before. She is wrong. She also claimed that Storm had wrestled for a period of time in Japan but she wouldn't be fully used to the style, even though she is a champion in Stardom, and a regular of the company, who went to a 30 minute draw with Io Shirai, the best female wrestler in Japan, or anywhere. Anyway that's enough of wishing Lita did her homework. Storm starts working over Sane's arm early on before hitting some European uppercuts. Storm ends up on the floor and Sane heads up top. She hits a cross body to the floor but in doing so she hits her face on the steel grating on the ramp. It looked really nasty and left Sane with cuts and bruises on the side of her face. I read that she suffered a concussion in this match and this would most likely be where it was, which makes how good the match was a minor miracle. Back in the ring Sane applies a Boston Crab which is a sensible thing to do if you are trying to shake the cobwebs out. Storm hits a German suplex and a hip attack in the corner that couldn't have felt good at all. Storm hits a great looking bridging Muscle Buster for a really good near fall. Storm applies an armbar for a really good submission spot. It really looked like Sane may have to tap out but she managed to escape it. What really blows my mind is that Sane's selling was brilliant here despite being concussed. That is some effort. Storm hits the top rope leg drop but couldn't take advantage. Sane hits the backfist and an elbow drop to Storm's back. Sane wants to finish this and heads up top for the diving elbow. Storm is quite far away but Sane absolutely nails it and picks up the win. Despite the concussion issues this was a great match, probably my favourite of the tournament. ****
After the match the two finalists face off.
Overall Thoughts
This was a great episode. You can't really argue with 2 matches of that quality on the same show. I am looking forward to the final very much.
Overall Tournament Thoughts
Was this better than the Cruiserweight Classic? No, but that is to be expected. With the CWC there was a higher percentage of the field that was already well experienced before they got to the tournament. At the end of the day the available talent pool for Cruiserweight wrestlers is significantly deeper than that of female wrestlers. That is part of the reason that there were quite a few inexperienced wrestlers in this tournament. I would say that this tournament was a success though, with numerous wrestlers coming out of it looking great. Sane, Baszler, Storm and Niven could walk into an upper card spot on NXT right now. Others, such as Laith and Gabert, would fit in well too. Of the wrestlers that are WWE products, Belair is the one that has benefited most from this tournament. Her match with Sane has basically made her a star already. I have thoroughly enjoyed the tournament as a whole and I look forward to seeing where they go from here. I just pray it ends up being handled better than the fallout of the CWC.
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