ORLANDO, Fla. — Toni Storm was in a state of disbelief after pinning Hiroyo Matsumoto in the first match of the Second Round. After all, Lady Godzilla clobbered The Lightning Down Under with everything she had throughout the match. Although the tenacious Storm returned fire, breaking Matsumoto’s momentum from time to time with a snap-suplex here or a headbutt there, she couldn’t string together more than a few moves before Matsumoto regained control.

Matsumoto even thrashed Storm with her devastating Rock Drop signature move, but Storm’s ring awareness saved the day, as she draped her foot over the bottom rope to break the pinfall. The Australian Superstar eventually cinched the victory after countering a Matsumoto clothesline (the third in a series of brutal lariats by Lady Godzilla) with a bridging rollup to score the three-count.

Storm might be one of the youngest competitors in the tournament, but as she showed in her gutsy performance, she has the survival instinct of a true ring veteran.

Kacy Catanzaro’s brilliant ingenuity and jaw-dropping agility ran into trouble against the ferocious power and bad temper of Rhea Ripley. Relying on her extreme size and strength advantage, Ripley pummeled the “American Ninja Warriors” alumna (whom Ripley disparaged as a “spider monkey” on Twitter) with high-impact moves, and she tried to take out Catanzaro’s leaping ability by applying a modified Texas Cloverleaf.

Mighty Kacy bravely withstood the punishment, coming back to stun the Australian ripper with a mind-blowing around-the-world DDT and corkscrew dive. Yet, such a high-risk offense can come at a severe cost, as Catanzaro found out when she tried to execute a handstand into a flying headscissors. Ripley ruthlessly kicked Catanzaro’s hands, shrugged off the headscissors and lifted Catanzaro into the Riptide to pick up the win and move on to the Quarterfinals.

Lacey Lane entered the Mae Young Classic as a dark horse, but following her Second-Round triumph against the vicious Taynara Conti, the cool and calculating Dudley Boyz protégé is beginning to look like a competitor to bet the house on.

Conti acted savagely, taking control by throwing Lane to the canvas by her hair. The illegal tactic earned a warning from the official, which caused the irascible Conti to get in the referee’s face. When Conti pulled Lane’s hair again moments later, Lane fought fire with fire, tugging Conti’s blond locks to gain the upper hand. Conti fought back and muscled Lane into position for her Tayogoshi side slam, but Lane deftly reversed it into the Crucifix Bomb and pinned Conti’s shoulders to the mat. Lane’s Cinderella story continues to round three.

Tonight, Meiko Satomura vs. Mercedes Martinez put the “Classic” in the Mae Young Classic.

In a clash that Michael Cole hailed as “one of the great matches that I have ever called in my career,” Satomura pinned Martinez after hitting The Latina Sensation with her dreaded Scorpion Kick. The final blow crashed down on Martinez like a hammer, yet even well before Satomura landed that vicious clincher, it became clear that the match was entering uncharted territory in terms of sheer intensity.

Martinez showed no fear going against the world-beater. If anything, she was the aggressor, intent on proving that she — and not the 23-year ring veteran from Japan — was the competitor to beat in this year’s tournament. Realizing she had a dangerous foe on her hands, Satomura showed greater urgency than in round one. As soon as Martinez went for the Fisherman Buster, Satomura scrambled free and countered with an armbar, but Martinez forced a rope break. Martinez finally hit the Fisherman Buster on her third attempt (after enduring a frog splash and back-to-back DDTs), and Satomura kicked out at two, garnering a standing ovation from the WWE Universe. Satomura elbowed her way out of Martinez’s subsequent attempt at a Dragon Sleeper before cracking The Latina Sensation with the Scorpion Kick.

Upon the referee’s three-count, Cole belted out an excited “Hell yeah!” and any WWE fan would be hard-pressed to react any differently. The match was vicious, but also a perfect encapsulation of what women’s wrestling in 2018 is all about.

Now that Martinez is out of the running in tournament competition, the question remains: Can anybody stop Meiko Satomura?