Beyond just the wrestlers, the promotion is also attempting to include multiple women on commentary and even use female referees.

In case you did not know…

The Mae Young Classic tournament follows in the wake of WWE’s successful Cruiserweight Classic, which spawned the reborn of Cruiserweight Division and 205 Live, the United Kingdom Championship Tournament and the annual Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.

This tournament honours the late Mae Young who passed away at the age of 90 in 2014. Her career spanned several decades as she made her debut in 1939, but retired only in 2010 at the age of 87.

Young is a member of two Hall of Fame groups – The Professional Wrestling Hall Of Fame inducted her in 2004 and the WWE Hall Of Fame in 2008. She is best known by her fans for her antics during the Attitude Era with Fabulous Moolah.

The heart of the matter

The promotion has decided to use female announcers, likely two to go along with one male announcer (Jim Ross). The women announcers have not yet been confirmed, but it is speculated the company could go with Renee Young and Charly Caruso or with a guest WWE Hall of Famer.

As for the female referees, it was reported last week that WWE has signed independent wrestler Kennadi Brink as a referee for the company. Recipient of the 2014 Reid Flair scholarship, Brink will act as an in-ring official for the tournament. WWE is also expected to make more female signings in the recent future.

What’s next?

The promotion is yet to confirm exactly when it intends to air the tournament. However, WWE has revealed that the tournament will be telecast in an episodic format on the WWE Network. There are also plans to air a live special episode for the tournament finals.

Author’s take

The tournament which aims at changing the landscape of female wrestling has already garnered widespread interest in the professional wrestling community. The fact that more women will now be involved in this can only be seen as a positive and will surely lead to more iconic and important moments in the evolution of Women’s wrestling.

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