History Wrestling / WWEMaeYoungClassic

* EarlyBirdCameo: A lot of developmental female talent who hadn't appeared on NXT yet, or had only made minimal appearances, made their debuts in the tournament. Bianca Belair and Vanessa Borne were homegrown debuts, Kairi Sane, Dakota Kai, Abbey Laith and Wrestling/ShaynaBaszler were indie women under contract who had yet to debut.

The ''WWE Mae Young Classic'' is a professional wrestling tournament featuring 32 female wrestlers from around the world, named in honour of women's wrestling legend Wrestling/MaeYoung. The first four rounds were taped on July 13 and 14 with the finals airing after Smackdown on September 12, 2017. The winner was Kairi Sane.

* EarlyBirdCameo: A lot of developmental female talent who hadn't appeared on NXT yet, or had only made minimal appearances, made their debuts in the tournament. Bianca Belair and Vanessa Borne were homegrown debuts, Kairi Sane, Dakota Kai, Abbey Laith and Shayna Baszler were indie women under contract who had yet to debut.

* GameBreakingInjury: Nixon Newell was slated to compete, but tore her ACL before the tournament. She was replaced with Miranda Salinas. Heartbreakingly enough, she participated in the second tournament, getting all the way to the quarterfinals before tearing her ''other'' ACL in the ring during a match with Rhea Ripley.

** Lacey Evans and Sarah Logan had appeared a couple of times as {{Jobber}}s or battle royal participants. Here they got spots in the tournament.
** Mercedes Martinez had jobbed to Victoria on an episode of ''Sunday Night Heat'' way back in the early 2000s.

** Kay Lee Ray, Candice Le Rae, Rachel Evers, Santana Garrett and Wrestling/TessaBlanchard had already competed on NXT as part of {{Squash Match}}es. Here they appeared as actual tournament participants.

** Unusually for former TNA competitors, Ashley "Madison" Rayne's intro video explicitly discussed her time with TNA.
* DistaffCounterpart: This was the all-female equivalent to the Cruiserweight Classic and UK Tournaments, which had been all male.

* GameBreakingInjury: Nixon Newell was slated to compete, but tore her ACL before the tournament. She was replaced with Miranda Salinas.
** Heartbreakingly enough, she participated in the second tournament, getting all the way to the quarterfinals before tearing her ''other'' ACL in the ring during a match with Rhea Ripley.
* TheHecateSisters: Notably used with the female broadcasters. Dasha Fuentes - the young model - was the Maiden. Lita - the star from the Ruthless Aggression Era - was the Matron. And Madusa - the veteran from the 80s and 90s - was the Crone.

* WorthyOpponent: Despite being a heel, Vanessa Borne still shook Serena Deeb's hand.

** Meiko Satomura considered Mercedes Martinez this in the 2018 tournament. Meiko was gracious to other competitors, even toward Toni Storm, who eventually beat her, but Mercedes and Meiko considered each other true veterans.

** Kay Lee Ray, Candice Le Rae, Rachel Evers, Santana Garrett and Tessa Blanchard had already competed on NXT as part of {{Squash Match}}es. Here they appeared as actual tournament participants.

* {{Stripperiffic}}: Notably averted with Jessicka Carr - WWE's first full time female referee. If females had refereed in the past, it was usually the talent in sexy versions of the uniform.[[note]]Jacqueline for instance, wore a button shirt she tied under her boobs to give them a lift[[/note]] Jessicka wore the same uniform as the males.

+** Serena Deeb was previously in WWE back in 2010 as part of Wrestling/CMPunk's Straight Edge Society.

* ContinuityNod: Serena Deeb's video package referenced her time with the SES.

** Serena Deeb was previously in WWE back in 2010 as part of Wrestling/CMPunk's Straight Edge Society.

* EarlyBirdCameo: A lot of developmental female talent who hadn't appeared on NXT yet, or had only made minimal appearances, made their debuts in the tournament. Bianca Bel Air and Vanessa Borne were homegrown debuts, Kairi Sane, Dakota Kai, Abbey Laith and Shayna Baszler were indie women under contract who had yet to debut.
* FauxActionGirl: Rather obvious on newer girls such as Vanessa Borne.
* FiveTokenBand: Promoted as an international tournament, it featured the following nationalities being represented by females in WWE for the first time: Germany (Jazzy Gilbert), Brazil (Taynara Conti), India (Kavita Devi) and China (Xa Li, Zeda).

After the success of the inaugural tournament, WWE announced another one in April 2018, with a possible eye to making it a yearly event. It began airing after ''Wrestling/{{WWE NXT}}'' every week starting from September 5, with the finals announced to take place as part of the all-female ''Evolution'' PPV on October 28th.

* TheOneGuy: Uniquely for WWE, the commentary team was almost all-female - except for Jim Ross.

After the success of the inaugural tournament, WWE announced another one in April 2018, with a possible eye to making it a yearly event. It began airing after ''Wrestling/{{WWE NXT}}'' every week starting from September 5, with the finals announced to take place as part of the ''Evolution'' PPV on October 28th.

The ''WWE Mae Young Classic'' is a professional wrestling tournament featuring 32 female wrestlers from around the world. The first four rounds were taped on July 13 and 14 with the finals airing after Smackdown on September 12, 2017. The winner was Kairi Sane.

* {{Stripperiffic}}: Notably averted with Jessicka Carr - WWE's first full time female referee. If females had refereed in the past, it was usually the talent in sexy versions of the uniform. Jessicka wore the same uniform as the males.

* FauxActionGirl: Rather obvious on newer girls such as Bianca Bel Air and Vanessa Borne. Notably despite her blatant greenness, Bianca Bel Air somehow defeated Aliyah - who had been wrestling for years and had been a regular competitor on NXT since 2016.

The ''WWE Mae Young Classic'' is a professional wrestling tournament featuring 32 female wrestlers from around the world. The first four rounds were taped on July 13 and 14 with the finals airing after Smackdown on September 12, 2017.

The ''WWE Mae Young Classic'' is a professional wrestling tournament featuring 32 female wrestlers from around the world. The first four rounds were taped on July 13 and 14 with the finals airing after Smackdown on September 12.

The ''WWE Mae Young Classic'' is an upcoming tournament featuring 32 female wrestlers.