WWE Announces Four More Participants For Mae Young Classic

Nearly half of the line-up for this summer’s Mae Young Classic has now been confirmed.

WWE added four more participants to the 32-wrestler field today, which brings the officially announced total to 14. Three of the new additions are returning from last year’s Mae Young Classic, while another is a newcomer to the tournament.

Mercedes Martinez (pictured above), Mia Yim and Kavita Devi will be back this year. Yim and Martinez aren’t under WWE contract, but both made it past the first round in 2017.

Martinez, a veteran indie wrestler, beat China’s Xia Li, Mexico’s Princesa Sugehit and America’s Abbey Laith in last year’s tournament before falling to her protégé, current NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler, in the Semifinals.

Yim was formerly known as Jade in Impact Wrestling. After pinning Sarah Logan in last year’s opening round, Yim was ousted by Baszler in her next match. Yim suffered a leg injury in late 2017 that shelved her for months, but upon returning to action earlier this year, she adjusted her style to emphasize strikes and submissions.

Devi is from India and lost to Dakota Kai in the opening round last year, with WWE’s clip of their match on YouTube currently having nearly 30 million views. Devi is under contract to WWE and appeared in the WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal last April.

Killer Kelly is the other wrestler announced for the tournament today. Kelly is from Portugal and wrestled on both of WWE’s United Kingdom Championship Tournament events at Royal Albert Hall last month.

Click here for WWE’s announcement on Martinez, Yim, and Kelly joining the tournament. WWE made a seperate announcement for Devi.

Mae Young Classic 2018 will be taped at Full Sail Live in Winter Park, Florida on August 8 and 9. Here’s the officially announced line-up.

• Kaitlyn
• Rhea Ripley
• Io Shirai
• Nicole Matthews
• Jinny
• Kacy Catanzaro
• Deonna Purrazzo
• Tegan Nox (formerly known as Nixon Newell)
• Jessica Elaban
• Reina Gonzalez
• Mia Yim
• Mercedes Martinez
• Kavita Devi
• Killer Kelly

A Mae Young Classic Qualifying Match was held at Wednesday’s NXT tapings at Full Sail Live in Orlando, Florida. Click here for the spoiler result of the match.