10 WWE Evolution Impulse Reactions
6. Storm Front
Toni Storm's Mae Young Classic victory over Io Shirai wasn't half as foreshadowed as her debutant victory on NXT UK a fortnight earlier, not least because Shirai will join the rank-and-file of the division any day now along with the winner of the 2018 tournament.
The two deserved huge credit for their effort in simply getting the audience to care so soon after throwing such full-voiced enthusiasm into the opening two matches. Like Full Sail's home promotion NXT, the Mae Young Classic remains a niche interest to many, but the crowd that packed the Nassau Coliseum were ready and willing to invest - and the wrestlers were more than able to pay that off.
Storm and Shirai arguably had greater pressure on them than Shayna Baszler and Kairi Sane one year earlier. As this entire event proved, inaugural efforts have something of an advantage, but the novelty factor was no longer going to be enough to get them over the line.
The pair didn't need it. Storm had her best WWE match to date, whilst Io showed tantalising teases of what the company have on their hands before she's inevitably destroyed by the main roster.