The Mae Young Classic was a women's

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

tournament and

WWE Network WWE Network is a subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and digital television network owned by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, a division of TKO Group Holdings. The service relied on technology develo ...

event produced by

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

, an American-based

professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event. Within ...

. The event was named in honor of the late Mae Young, a

WWE Hall of Fame The WWE Hall of Fame is a List of halls and walks of fame, hall of fame which honors professional wrestlers and professional wrestling personalities maintained by WWE. Originally known as the "WWF Hall of Fame", it was created in 1993 when An ...

r who is considered one of the pioneers of women's professional wrestling. The tournament was contested by wrestlers from WWE's NXT

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

and wrestlers from the

independent circuit In professional wrestling, the independent circuit (often shortened to the indie circuit or the indies) is the collective name of independently owned promotions which are deemed to be smaller and more regionalized than major national promotions. ...

. The winner received the Mae Young Classic Trophy. To date, there have only been two tournaments. The first was held in the summer of 2017 and was won by

Kairi Sane is a Japanese professional wrestler and actress. she is signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name . From 2012 to 2017, she wrestled for the Japanese promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom under the ring name . E ...

. The second was held in 2018 and was won by Toni Storm—the final of the second tournament was held at WWE's first all female

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

Evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

. As a result of both tournaments, many competitors from the independent circuit were signed by WWE to compete on their NXT brand, with some from the second tournament being signed to the upstart

NXT UK ''NXT UK'' was a professional wrestling television programme that was produced exclusively in the United Kingdom by the American promotion WWE. It aired on BT Sport and 5Action (previously known as Paramount Network). In the United States, the ...

brand. A 2019 tournament was planned but fell through.

History

At a press conference during the weekend of

WrestleMania 33 WrestleMania 33 was a 2017 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming List of WWE pay-per-view and livestreaming supercards, event produced by WWE. It was the 33rd annual WrestleMania and took place on April 2, 2017, at Camping Wo ...

, the American

announced that a women's tournament would be taking place in the summer of 2017, with a total of 32 wrestlers competing. It was also announced that the tournament would be involve wrestlers from WWE's NXT

and wrestlers from the

and would air on the company's online streaming service, the

. The event was named in honor of the late Mae Young, a

r who is considered one of the pioneers of women's professional wrestling. The inaugural tournament was won by

. In April 2018, a second tournament was announced, and like the first, it also featured wrestlers from WWE's NXT brand and those from the independent circuit and also aired on the WWE Network. It was also held in the summer, but the final was scheduled for WWE's first all female

on October 28. The winner of the second tournament was Toni Storm. In August 2019, WWE executive and NXT head

Triple H Paul Michael Levesque (; born July 27, 1969), also known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive and former professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he serves as its chief content officer. Levesque began his wres ...

confirmed that a 2019 edition of the Mae Young Classic was being planned. In October, WWE listed tickets for sale for November 2–3; however, the posting was later removed and the 2019 tournament never happened.

Prize

The winner of the Mae Young Classic was awarded the Mae Young Classic Trophy, made in the likeness of the event's logo for that respective year. Kairi Sane was also awarded a match for the NXT Women's Championship for winning the 2017 tournament; however, Toni Storm did not receive a championship match for winning the 2018 tournament.

Events and winners

References

{{WWEPPV, Mae Young Classic Recurring events established in 2017