Ever since the official announcement of WWE’s Women’s Tournament, later named the Mae Young Classic, women wrestling fans have waited and speculated which of their favorite wrestlers would participate in the 32 woman tournament.
A report from PWInsider has shed some light on some of the names that will partake in the tournament:
- Bianca Blair – Former cross-fit and track star that was signed by WWE in April 2016
- Danielle Kamela – Trained by Rikishi‘s Knox Pro school in Arizona, Kamela was an on air personality for Fox Sports Arizona, an Arizona Cardinals cheerleader and a former member of the Phoenix Suns’ dance team before signing a WWE deal. She was in the top 30 finalists for the most recent version of Tough Enough as well.
- Julia Ho – Canadian model and MMA fighter, who trained with Brian Kendrick before being signed.
- Kimberly Frankele (formerly known as Kimber Lee) – The former CHIKARA Grand champion.
- Lacey Evans – Former Marine, who recently debuted on WWE NXT TV.
- Mary Kate – The former Rosie LottaLove in Impact Wrestling, was originally trained at the Team 3D Academy, who completely remade herself on the independents and later toured in Japan.
- Sarah Logan – The former Crazy Mary Dobson, who recently debuted under that name on WWE NXT TV.
- Taynara Melo – A black-belt judoka from Brazil who was signed last year.
- Victoria Gonzales – The daughter of Rudy Boy Gonzales Gonzalez played basketball for two seasons at Texas A&M-Kingsville before transferring to Sam Houston State, redshirting one year and playing another before graduating in 2013. She was signed to a WWE developmental deal last year.
- Zhao Xia – The first Chinese woman to sign a developmental deal with WWE and was brought over as part of a group of Chinese trainees who have been working out in the WWE Performance Center. Xia has trained in martial arts and has had multiple first-place finishes in various martial arts and fitness competitions, including the Second World Traditional Chinese Wushu Championship, the Nike Challenge Competition and First China Throw Down: Battle on the Bund.
In addition to the 32 woman participants representing 17 different countries, it was also previously reported that female referees and commentators (along with WWE Hall of Famer commentator Jim Ross) would be included in the tournament.
The Mae Young Classic tournament will be filmed on July 13th and 14th, 2017 at Full Sail University in Orlando, Florida with the special live finale reportedly being set for the end of the summer. The first round of the tournament will be available on VOD in late august while the second round being released in early September.
The WWE Network will also be airing a special preview of the tournament on Sunday August 20th.
What do you think of the current names listed? What other names do you think will be added? Let us know in the comments below!
