Daily She-DT: Io Shirai Can Change WWE, Meiko Satomura vs. Toni Storm At EVE

Today’s Daily She-DT feature gives effusive praise to Io Shirai, discusses more Mixed Match Challenge and Mae Young Classic 2 happenings, and previews today’s exciting Pro Wrestling: EVE show.

Let’s start with Io Shirai. Before her match against Xia Brookside to close out the first round of the Mae Young Classic 2, WWE made sure to sell the fact that Shirai is widely seen as the best women’s wrestler in the world. It’s a point that Brookside herself brought up in a promo that was distributed on social media by WWE prior to last night’s matchup.

I think we should take a step further and start plainly stating that Shirai is arguably the best wrestler in the world, regardless of gender. Last night’s match against Brookside proved it, even if the bout lasted maybe ten minutes.

Just look at how rapidly she turned a strike into a crossface, and her wide smile said it all. Shirai’s graceful uppercut, stiff strikes, thunderous meteora, and vicious moonsault sent a message to the rest of the WWE roster. Complacency, sloppiness, and a lack of emotion in matches will be magnified with Shirai on the roster, because this is what perfection looks like. Nobody else in wrestling blends joy, viciousness, athleticism, and precision quite like Shirai, who is the most talented in-ring performer in the world.

It may seem like a hot take to say that Shirai is the best of anyone, especially given how many people sing the praises of, say, Kenny Omega and Seth Rollins, but give it about a year, and Shirai will be in the discussion for “best in the world”.

In doing so, she will change the game for WWE. Shirai will elevate everyone else in the women’s division just by being there, and she will open eyes, showing fans and, in time, the company that this is what women’s wrestling needs to be. She is WWE’s women’s revolution’s “Ace”, and she will succeed no matter what.

Her importance to wrestling will become obvious, much in the same way that her talent became obvious in her Mae Young Classic debut. So many WWE fans became life-long Io Shirai fans by just watching her for a few minutes, and that was only a taste of her prodigious talent.

Asuka And The Miz Are The Cream Of The Crop

Asuka and The Miz won the first Mixed Match Challenge earlier this year, and they maintained their undefeated record by defeating Carmella and R-Truth in the first round of this year’s tournament. I absolutely love the dynamic these two have together in backstage segments, including when The Miz pretends he understands what Asuka is saying in Japanese. Hell, The Miz has done more to help promote Asuka’s “awesomeness” than, say, Tom Phillips or Byron Saxton.

Anyway, Miz and Asuka probably won’t win the Mixed Match Challenge 2, but I wouldn’t be opposed to them repeating as champions. It’s simply because they are the most entertaining tag team of everyone, both in the ring and in segments. The Miz never half-asses anything when he’s on the mic, and Asuka is the same way. She’s honestly one of the most underrated characters in WWE, simply because fans are too busy wondering if she’s “ruined” instead of embracing her genuinely endearing combination of “adorable” and “ruthless”.

Two Cool Mae Young Classic 2 Spots

Last night, the first round of the Mae Young Classic 2 ended, and after waxing poetic about how Io Shirai is #actually the best wrestler in the world, I’ll move the discussion towards two awesome spots. In a tournament where each of the early matches only gives its participants a limited amount of time to impress, it’s the little things that count.

Taynara Conti picked up an impressive win over the fascinatingly eccentric Jessie Elaban, and she didn’t pull back on displaying her character’s rawest emotions after the match. But during the match, I was most impressed with a spot in which Conti used the ropes to attack the webbing of Elaban’s fingers. If you’ve ever had someone put immense pressure in between your fingers (or simply cut yourself there while pulling out aluminum foil), you’ll know how creative that spot was.

Nicole Matthews moved on in the Mae Young Classic by defeating Isla Dawn in the first round, and while Dawn’s early exit is sad to see, the NXT UK competitor definitely qualifies as a rising star in the professional wrestling world.

The finish saw Matthews submit Dawn with a LOVELY Lion Tamer, and what stood out to me was a subtle touch. Matthews kept her foot firmly planted on Dawn’s hair during the submission, which both ensured that Dawn wouldn’t be able to move out of the submission while also causing some added pain. I mean, imagine someone trying to bend you in half while simultaneously tearing at the roots of your hair! Matthews is truly devious!

Pro Wrestling: EVE’s Exciting “Global Women Strike” Show

I can’t think of a wrestling promotion outside of NXT that consistently produces better cards from top-to-bottom than Pro Wrestling: EVE. There are so many creative gimmick matches, exciting multi-women matches, and fresh singles matches that every show feels must-see.

Even though they have a big PPV on Saturday, Strong Women Style, EVE will also give fans a big show today at 3 p.m. ET.

“Global Women Strike” can be seen live at Pro Wrestling: EVE’s subscription service, which costs $9.99 a month and comes with a seven-day free trial. This show will be headlined by Toni Storm vs. Meiko Satomura, so you KNOW that it’s worth catching. Other matches include Sammii Jayne vs. Hana Kimura and Millie McKenzie vs. Chihiro Hashimoto, which could both prove to be two of the biggest underrated gem matches of 2018.

No, seriously, McKenzie vs. Hashimoto pits two of wrestling’s brightest young stars against each other, and these two scary-good athletes will surely put on a memorable bout!

Oh, and Holidead will be there!

Quick Hits

• Ivelisse is the latest name to be announced for “Ladies Night Out 4” on Nov. 17 in Texas City. Su Yung and Taya Valkyrie are also scheduled for the show.
• If you’re ever in need of a quick smile, save this Finn Balor and Bayley GIF.
• Total Divas is honestly one of my favorite shows on television, and if you want to know why, watch this clip of Daniel Bryan giving advice to Paige on the best way to say “goodbye” to the fans after being forced to retire due to injury. Bryan’s kind words for Paige were touching, and it was so cool listening to Paige call him a “modern-day superhero”.
• I was once disappointed that Sanity moved up to the main roster without Nikki Cross, but she’s honestly so much better off on her own.