The tournament final match aired live on the WWE Network on September 12 and took place at the Thomas & Mack Center in Paradise, Nevada.

At a press conference during the weekend of WrestleMania 33, the American professional wrestling promotion WWE announced that a women's tournament would be taking place in the summer of 2017, with a total of 32 wrestlers competing.

The first four wrestlers announced to be competing were Sarah Logan, Lacey Evans, Princesa Sugehit, and Toni Storm,[2] with the rest revealed in the weeks leading up to the event.

[8] On July 13, WWE held the Mae Young Classic: Parade of Champions, a pre-tournament event streamed live on YouTube and Facebook and revealed the remaining tournament participants.

The tournament final match aired live on September 12 from the Thomas & Mack Center in Paradise, Nevada, and was also streamed on the WWE Network.

If any of the official participants had suffered an injury, they would have been replaced by one of the following wrestlers: The following time limits were in place: Performers on the tournament such as Bianca Belair, Dakota Kai, winner Kairi Sane, Lacey Evans, Reina González, Rhea Ripley, Sarah Logan, Taynara Conti, Vanessa Borne, Xia Li already had signed contracts with the company.

Rhea Ripley, Rachel Evers, Xia Li, Mercedes Martinez, Taynara Conti, Kavita Devi, Reina González, Toni Storm, alternate Deonna Purrazzo, and Nixon Newell (under the ring name Tegan Nox) all competed in the 2018 Mae Young Classic tournament.