Less than 10 days ago, Madison Rayne was trying to win the Women of Honor Championship at Ring of Honor’s Saturday Night at Centre Stage. The following night, she was trying to strip Su Yung of the Impact Knockouts Championship at Impact Wrestling’s Slammiversary XVI. Today, Ashley “Madison” Rayne is among the 3 new participants announced for the Mae Young Classic 2018 tournament, with Priscilla Kelly and Xia Brookside.
Like said in the intro, Ashley Rayne has worked for every major promotion in the USA, but also in the indies with SHIMMER and many others. She also worked in Japan, the UK and Europe. Ashley Rayne has made a name by herself for more than 13 years. She’s a former 5-time TNA/Impact Wrestling Knockouts Champion, 2-time TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship and former SHIMMER Tag Team Championship. She was involved in Women of Honor Championship tournament to crown the first-ever ROH Women Champion.
At only 21, Priscilla Kelly made her debut 3 years ago with Atlanta Wrestling Entertainment where she crossed paths with some of the best indie wrestling wrestlers, like Jazzy Gabert, Amber O’Neal, Kiera Hogan and Tessa Blanchard. She’s the current and inaugural SHINE Wrestling Nova Champion. She’s described by WWE as a master of mind games inside the ring.
Xia Brookside is only 19 but the girl for Leicester is no other than United Kingdom legend and WWE Performance Center coach Robbie Brookside. She wrestled her first match in 2015, teaming up NXT UK talent Ligero. The current IPW: UK Women’s Champion worked in the UK, Germany and Japan. She made her first steps in the USA last year working for DEFY, RISE and Queens Of Combat. Like her father, she’s a specialist of classic British grappling techniques, with a hard-hitting influence.
Here are the 24 competitors announced for the Mae Young Classic 2018, as of today:
- Ashley Rayne (USA)
- Deonna Purrazzo (USA)
- Io Shirai (Japan)
- Isla Dawn (Scotland)
- Jessica Elaban (USA)
- Jinny (England)
- Kacy Catanzaro (USA)
- Kaitlyn (USA)
- Karen Q (China)
- Kavita Devi (India)
- Killer Kelly (Portugal)
- Lacey Lane (USA)
- Meiko Satomura (Japan)
- Mercedes Martinez (USA)
- Mia Yim (South Korea)
- Nicole Matthews (Canada)
- Priscilla Kelly (USA)
- Reina Gonzalez (USA)
- Rhea Ripley (Australia)
- Taynara Conti (Brazil) – won a qualifying match at NXT tapings, has yet to be announced officially
- Tegan Nox (Wales)
- Toni Storm (Australia)
- Xia Brookside (England)
- Zeuxis (Puerto-Rico)
More names will be announced by WWE in the coming days and weeks. The Mae Young Classic 2018 Tournament tapings are taking place on August 8 and 9 at Full Sail Live in Orlando, Florida. The shows were sold out a few hours after the announcement of the tapings. The finals will be held as part of the WWE Evolution pay-per-view on October 28, 2018, at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
All pics courtesy of WWE.com