The best and worst of the Mae Young Classic episode 6

Last night's episode of the Mae Young Classic was, for the most part, in good form, excelling the first round episodes easily. Though the Meiko Satomura vs. Mercedes Martinez match from last week wasn't surpassed, three of the four matches on the show delivered arguably the strongest episode of the tournament so far.

Four women advanced and the quarterfinals are now set and each match had its own unique feel, which was a nice touch. There were few negative aspects about this episode, but there was a glaring flaw nevertheless.

Let's take a look at the four matches and see the best and worst of a good episode from the Mae Young Classic.

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Best: Io Shirai is intense!

Io Shirai is just as intense when she's getting beat up as she is when she's beating people up. We saw aspects of both in this match.

This wasn't a squash like the match against Xia Brookside was two weeks ago. Zeuxis took the fight to Io Shirai in a fiery match that needed to see Io work through a bad shoulder. This was a nice touch, because it will play into the upcoming quarterfinal match next week.

Nevertheless, Io's speed and strikes guaranteed her victory. When she caught second wind, she was a step ahead of her opponent. Her moonsault at the end of the match didn't look good, but she'll get used to the size of the WWE ring (it's bigger than the rings she worked in during her Stardom days) soon enough.

Io Shirai has certainly lived up to the hype that surrounded her as she made her way into this tournament. This is all just a small preview of things to come.

Michael Cole hyped up her friendship with Kairi Sane, and the yellow brand's women's title match on WrestleMania weekend should be clear.

Best: Strikes vs. technique

This was a nice contrast between two styles. It was the grappling and mat technique of Deonna Purrazzo vs. the striking ability of Xia Li. Both women played their parts perfectly, though Xia Li was arguably more impressive.

For someone with little experience, she put on a tremendous performance. There were numerous false finishes to take the match up a notch as well, including Xia reversing one of Deonna's armbars.

Deonna eventually picked up the victory with a nasty looking double fujiwara armbar, but it only came after much effort.

Both women looked great here. Xia Li is ready for NXT television. She's improved a lot in the last year.

Worst: Tegan Nox again fails to live up to the hype

Each episode will have a weakest match. This one was it. That's fine, but the alarming aspect about it is that this was the second time in a row that Tegan Nox failed to live up to the hype surrounding her.

Michael Cole gushed and glowed and prattled about how she was one of the best in the world. That isn't what we saw last night, not by a long shot.

The match was a clunky affair that relied on commentary building the trope about an injured knee. It felt forced rather than organic.

Out of all the favorites in the tournament, Tegan has been the least impressive, and has impressed even less than some of the rookies. That's a bad sign, given the push she was seemingly about to receive.

Best: Injured hand vs. injured leg

Now here was a match where injures were done right! In one corner we had the injured hand of Mia Yim and in the other we had the injured leg of Kaitlyn. The result was a chess match between the two women until Mia Yim managed to snare Kaitlyn's leg in a kneebar and force her to tap out.

Mia Yim is going to be a great addition to the NXT women's division.

Meanwhile, if she wants to, Kaitlyn can come back and boost the main roster women's division on either show, right away.