![\"\"](\"http:\/\/totfc.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/tonistorm_meiko.jpg\")
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After the semi-final match between Toni Storm and Meiko Satomura, I thought to myself: man, I can\u2019t remember the last time I ever felt so vested in a match before.\u00a0 Usually, whenever I have a that thought, my mind races back way in time in order to exaggerate how long it\u2019s been, which took me back to like Wrestlemania XX, when Chris Benoit (pre-psychotic murderous suicidal breakdown<\/em>) had Triple H in the Crippler Crossface, and I\u2019m on my feet at my friend\u2019s house screaming at the television TAP TAP TAAAAP.\u00a0 Then I realized that I was pretty vested and captivated by the Andrade Cien Almas vs. Johnny Gargano match that happened just earlier this year, but the point is, matches that manage to capture the suspense and excitement of a jaded smark like me are still few and far between.<\/span><\/p>\n Toni Storm vs. Meiko Satomura managed to do just that, have a match where I had an idea of who I thought was going to win, and I like think I have a good read on professional wrestling direction, but still managed to execute a match that was able to make me unsure of my choice, scoot me towards the edge of my seat, and make my eyes widen with what-ifs.\u00a0 Several close calls, repeated kicking out of signature maneuvers and just plain great work from two very competent wrestlers made for an extremely good match that might not get five stars from Dave Meltzer, but damn was I pleased with it.<\/span><\/p>\n And for the second year in a row, I have this thought that this is why the Mae Young Classic is so great, is because they put on center stage, a bunch of female wrestlers whom the casual WWE audience probably isn\u2019t aware of, so the idea of predicting things is kind of negated and it creates this completely fresh wrestling environment for fans to indulge in.\u00a0 However, when I think of the matches that stood out the most from last year\u2019s Mae Young Classic and this one, I also realize that there\u2019s a correlation between those too: Toni Storm.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In my opinion, the clear standout match of last year\u2019s Classic was undoubtedly Toni Storm vs. Kairi Sane.\u00a0 It was given a little bit more time than all the other matches, and told a story of back and forth action, before Sane would go on to win, and then eventually win the whole tournament.\u00a0 And as much as the Classic tried to proclaim Meiko Satomura vs. Mercedes Martinez as a clash of the titans, that match paled in comparison to Storm vs. Satomura.<\/span><\/p>\n As much as I want to give heaps of credit to the Mae Young Classic for bringing fresh talent and kind of a clean slate of narrative to the table, I have to say that the biggest accomplishment of it was introducing Toni Storm to the WWE Universe.\u00a0 Regardless of where she places in these tournaments, she\u2019s arguably one of the most complete wrestling packages, male or female, I\u2019ve seen in a very long time.\u00a0 She\u2019s not only physically appealing, she\u2019s charismatic, has an excellent feel for in-ring psychology and storytelling.\u00a0 She\u2019s got a seemingly endless moveset and has demonstrated time and time, the ability to work numerous styles with numerous opponents, whether it\u2019s small, like with Kairi Sane, big, like Piper Niven, bruiser, like with Shayna Baszler, or strong style, like with Satomura.\u00a0 Barely in her twenties, Storm still has a long way to go before she even comes close to hitting her ceiling.<\/span><\/p>\n Obviously, I\u2019m now a Toni Storm fan.\u00a0 The next question really becomes, how long is Storm going to be contained to the NXT UK division before she\u2019s brought to America permanently?\u00a0 A part of me hopes that isn\u2019t that long, because a talent like Toni Storm very much deserves to explode into a global superstar; but then there\u2019s a part of me that fears that once on the main roster, she\u2019ll be under-utilized and mishandled, like the main roster tends to always do, and she ends up as irrelevant and forgotten as Asuka is. <\/span>😞<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After the semi-final match between Toni Storm and Meiko Satomura, I thought to myself: man, I can\u2019t remember the last time I ever felt so vested in a match before.\u00a0 Usually, whenever I have a that thought, my mind races back way in time in order to exaggerate how long it\u2019s been, which took me … Continue reading The Mae Young Classic, or just Toni Storm?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[81,83,54,55],"class_list":["post-46274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brog","tag-girls","tag-observations","tag-wrestling","tag-wwe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46274"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46276,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46274\/revisions\/46276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}