Full List of 32 Women’s Wrestlers Participating in WWE’s 2018 Mae Young Classic

The field is set for the 2018 Mae Young Classic, which starts taping this Wednesday, August 8 and Thursday, August 9 at Full Sail University in Orlando where NXT is regularly taped. It’s the second year in a row where WWE is doing this all-women’s wrestling tournament.

The matches will air on WWE Network over the next few months. The finals of the 2018 Mae Young Classic will take place at the WWE Evolution pay-per-view on October 28, 2018, at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Long Island, New York.

There are some notable names in this year’s field including former WWE Divas Champion Kaitlyn as well as Ashley Rayne (aka Madison Rayne), Allysin Kay (aka Sienna) and Mia Yim, who were Women’s Champions in TNA/Impact. Io Shirai is also a huge name coming in from Japan after having a lot of success over there just like last year’s Mae Young Classic winner Kairi Sane.

Here’s a listing of the 32 women in alphabetical order.

Aerial Monroe
Allysin Kay (Sienna)
Ashley Rayne (Madison Rayne)
Deonna Purrazzo
Hiroyo Matsumoto
Io Shirai
Isla Dawn
Jessie Elaban
Jinny
Kacy Catanzaro
Kaitlyn
Karen Q
Kavita Devi
Killer Kelly
Lacey Lane
MJ Jenkins
Meiko Satomura
Mercedes Martinez
Mia Yim
Nicole Matthews
Priscilla Kelly
Rachel Evers
Reina González
Rhea Ripley
Taynara Conti – She won a match at the recent NXT tapings to qualify. The match hasn’t aired yet.
Tegan Nox (Nixon Newell)
Toni Storm
Vanessa Kraven
Xia Brookside
Xia Li
Zatara
Zeuxis

For more info all the competitors, check out the WWE.com Mae Young Classic page.

Who wins? I think Io Shirai will be a favorite although WWE may not want to have a Japanese woman win for the second year in a row. It could be Kaitlyn, which may lead to her returning to WWE full time after she wins. Allysin Kay and Ashley Rayne are threats because of their past success as well. I think Toni Storm has a good chance to do well because she’s an impressive young talent.