WWE LFG – 06.29.25

Hey folks! I’m going to be doing my best to get an LFG review every week, as this really is an underrated show which gets that “Tough Enough” formula to work the best its ever have for the WWE. If you haven’t watched LFG yet, perhaps this will convince you to give an episode a shot. For those who watch all of the developmental shows, I hope I do the different format justice here. Ready? Let’s F—— Go!

Season 2, Episode 2, “Draft Drama.”

We are TAPED from a much nicer space than Evolve gets at the PC. LFG got that A&E money, and they’ve spent it well..

When we last left our recruits-in-limbo and their millionaire trainers, Booker T walked off the job after new coach Michelle McCool was granted the first two picks in this season’s draft, proceeding to pick Season 1 Team Booker T members P. Nasty and Anthony Luke. Booker took enough umbrage for all of us combined with this and walked out for the cliffhanger ending. Fear not, as he was recovered enough to make our ears bleed on Tuesday at NXT, but that was then and this is now. What’s next as the coaches turn?

A recap, showing us matches featuring new recruits Summer Sorrel, Haze Jameson and Trill London, matches which DID NOT AIR last week, starts us off. Alrighty then. We then get to watch Michelle make her picks all over again. Booker yells “that’s some bullsh*t” about 136 times and walks out. Undertaker tells his wife she’s now got a target on his back. It turns out that Booker only deliberated about this for about thirty seconds before coming back and deciding he was going to win it all anyway. I hate when shows do this.

ONTO THE DRAFT PICKS

Bubba Ray picks Zena Sterling (again)
Booker T picks Harlem Lewis
Undertaker picks Shiloh Hill (again)
Bubba Ray picks Elijah Holyfield
Booker T picks Chris Island
Undertaker picks Dani Zekelsky (interesting combo)
Michelle McCool picks Trill London
Bubba Ray picks Haze Jameson
Booker T picks Serena Linton
Undertaker picks Bayley Humphrey (again)
Michelle McCool picks Summer Sorrell
Booker T gets Tatyanna Dumas by process of elimination (Sorry, Kat)

Bubba Ray has to pick between Drake Morreaux and BJ Ray, asking Drake if he’s ready to be on his team. Drake says NO, since Bubba picked BJ over him at the end of last season, which leads to it being Bubba’s turn to show some male fragility this episode, as he proceeds to bury Drake and welcomes BJ back to his team. Oh boy.

The coaches meet with their teams. Michelle tells Summer she’s facing Dani Zekelsky later tonight. Summer wants to bring out her confidence and aggression tonight, despite only being at the PC for five months. Trill will also be facing Drake Morreaux tonight, and he’ll be working babyface and Drake heel.

Bubba and Haze talk, with Haze facing Bayley tonight, as its now obvious this week’s matches were spoiled in the recap at the start of the show. I’m telling you all now I am going to be partial towards Haze this season. He then tells BJ his ringwork is his biggest issue and challenges him to show some visible improvement tonight. BJ will be facing Harlem later.

Booker practices lock-ups with Harlem, with Harlem feeling he and Booker have the same attitude about things. Shucky ducky quack quack, Harlem. Booker is in a FAR better mood this week, and trash-talks Taker a bit as we go to break.

Apparently, Ro is providing Sparks, a dissolvable alternative to Viagra and Cialis to its patients/customers/suckers. There is hope for you just yet, Fatness.

TRILL LONDON VS. DRAKE MORREAUX

Trick, who briefly played for the Miami Dolphins, wears a Jason-looking hockey mask to the ring. It’s cool, but wtf. Heel Drake still comes out to his zydeco dancing music, wearing his beads. He threatens to hit Trill win his paddle before settling on some punches and big throw. Charge misses, and Trill attempts to come back some high-flying offense before completely botching an armdrag. Drop kick by Trill, Drake goes to the ouside, but a dive is countered by Drake into a big punch. Into the ring, Drake hits a splash off the ropes for two. Trill’s selling gets some compliments from Taker. Roll-up by Trill gets two, but Drake hits a BIIIIG boot for two. Michelle thinks Trill took that square in the face, and Booker agrees there are some timing issues there. More high-flying by Trill, with Drake doing some big man selling. Trill finally hits his dive to the outside, showing some good fire. Trill goes for a slingshot move and TOTALLY EATS IT on the apron. Chokeslam by Drake gets the win.

WINNER: DRAKE MORREAUX

Rating: C- This stuff is going to have to be rated on a curve, as this is on-the-job training for some of these recruits. We hadn’t seen Trill do anything but quick jobs on Evolve before this. This being one charisma-challenged wrestler with far more experience than the other really made this suffer.

Drake: C– Drake did nothing wrong in the ring, but the Cajun gimmick is enhancement-level fodder. He’s winning at life, though, as he gets to go home to Roxanne Perez

Trill: D– Trill looked completely overmatched and out of his league here, but there were a couple of moments where the lights did turn on. I look forward to seeing his improvement throughout the season, but this was a rough start.

Dani is not going to slow down for Summer, as we cut to break once again.

A new season of Road Wars is starting, which appears to feature all sorts of road rage incidents and car crashes. I assume this falls into the “Arts” part of “Arts & Entertainment.” Courtney Cox and Lisa Kudrow also shill for some battle-royale phone game. It hasn’t gone well for anyone not named Jennifer Aniston, I see.

Back to the PC we go.

SUMMER SORRELL VERSUS DANI ZEKELSKY

Summer playe heel here, even though heel Dani would be fascinating. Bubba compliments Summer for having presence. Vic plays up Dani’s dad working for the New York Giants, and how she’s always been around sports. A tie-up and some shoving start the match. Dani gets a couple of quick roll-ups for two. Dani takes Summer down and gets an armbar locked, which Summer pulls the hair and reverses into a headlock. More roll-ups, and Dani hits another side head-lock. Bodypress for Dani hits two, but Summer counters with…….something and shows some decent heel work. I’m not sure she knows where he is, but it’s still decent heel work. Dani fights back with punches, and Summer’s selling ain’t great. Dani hits a kind-of-Indian-Death Lock into really extending the hell out of the leg for the tap.

WINNER: DANI ZEKELSKY

Match Rating: C- Much like the first match, you had a complete newbie in there with someone with a bit more, but not much, experience.

Summer: D– There were some heel instincts there, but her selling was some of the most awkward I’ve seen in recent memory. Folks tend to show growth quickly on theisshow, so I’ll assume she gets better, but it was a rough start.

Dani: C – Dani was definitely hindered by her opponent here, but is normally pretty solid, and has shown her in-ring is probably good enough to get her to NXT, at this point. She is better at the whole cheerleader gimmick than most who try.

Harlem Ray respects BJ Ray, but he doesn’t care if it’s BJ, Oba Femi, or Roman Reigns. He loves BJ, but BJ’s dead meat as we go to break.

Baby Ed Sheeran has a Chase debit card, and his dad looks like Zohran Mamdani. Huge if true. A bunch of folks are happy to be on Wegovy and go walking together. No one keels over in stomach cramps.

HARLEM LEWIS VS BJ RAY

We’ve seen Harlem wrestle on Evolve already, so we’re not dealing with two newbs here, at least. Harlem goes heel, while BJ comes out like a total goofball, getting Taker to put his head in his hands. Bubba says he’s either going to break him or make him. Booker continuously calls BJ “pudgy” as they basically almost go as far as renaming him “Fatass” BJ Ray. BJ hits a slam and splash for two, focusing on the crowd way more than on his work. Sidewalk slam from Harlem for two, as Booker seems very excited. Maybe he had a dissolvable Sparks during break. He then yells at Harlem to “ride” BJ, confirming he absolutely had a Sparks during break. BJ reverses an Irish whip into a mini-spear, but falls backward and can’t do much with it. Two weak shoulder-blocks and a bulldog for BJ. Bless BJ for trying to work face here. BJ telegraphs en elbow, but Harlem reverses into the jackhammer for three.

WINNER: HARLEM LEWIS

Match Rating: C- Two more experienced guys in there meant less wonkiness, but one was trying to work comedy face, and the match suffered for it.

BJ: C – This is a tough one, as the face act was certainly fun and endearing, but there is still a huge chasm between BJ, the quasi-reality-TV-guy and his in-ring. The in-ring really hasn’t gotten better at all.

Harlem: A – I honestly don’t know what this guy’s doing in LFG. The in-ring is sharp, and he moves with confidence. Perhaps there’s some character work to do here in order to help him stand out, but Harlem’s definitely a prospect.

Another Sparks ad. It’ll have you doing a different kind of Spinarooni, if you know what I mean.

HAZE JAMESON VS BAYLEY HUMPHREY

Haze does the party girl entrance to the ring, and I’m in love, She’s about to get absolutely murdered, though. Bayley is so pre-surgery Chyna as she enters the ring. Haze attempts to avoid Bayley, and winds up SOL as Bayley corners her. Bayley catches Haze with a big slam, but misses the elbow. Bayley misses a charge and LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED, Haze says. The two exchange some very weak kicks in the corner, and Haze completely mistimes a bump off a simple clothesline. Haze with a sleeper, then gets thrown into the corner. Haze AGAIN avoids Bayley in the corner, and hits a somewhat sloppy bodypress off the second rope for two. Bayley with a big press slam into a backbreaker, which only gets two, to everyone’s shock. Bayley then hits what looked like a package piledriver into a spinning spinebuster for three. Very impressive move.

WINNER: BAYLEY HUMPHREY

Match Rating: C – As with the first two matches, you had a very, very green wrestler in there with someone with slightly more experience. You got what you were going to get, but Haze has the character work better down than the other newbs, so that helped.

Haze: C – I’m going to be partial to her. There’s a bit of younger Candace LeRae there, but the gimmick is so much fun, and she’s giving it her all. I really look forward to watching her grow, but this went about as well as expected ring-wise.

Bayley: B- – Bayley continues to have some serious strengths to her game, but is also prone to some rookie gaffes at time. The upside is still huge, and this was someone who was as green as grass when she walked in season one. She’s learned a ton, no matter.

Bayley cuts a promo as she comes back through the curtain, and we go to break. Dude Wipes! I’m fast-forwarding this time, as it’s getting late.

Everyone lines up for reviews. Taker is happy with everyone, as the newbies brought new energy, and the holdovers continue to get better.

They begin the voting for best woman’s performance tonight. Booker goes with Dani. Michelle picks Dani as well, citing her leading Summer through her match. Taker goes with Dani as well. Bubba says that, while it doesn’t matter, since Dani got three votes already, he will vote Dani as well. Bubba questions Dani’s confidence, and hopes she doesn’t let them down.

As far the men go, Bubba makes a million metaphors before giving BJ the point. Taker gives his vote to Drake, citing his confidence. Michelle makes fun of Drake’s bead throw into the audience, drawing her husband’s male fragility. We need more than Sparks here, folks. Michelle gives Harlem her point. Booker whines about the husband/wife team on the coaching, staff before giving Harlem his point. Harlem wins for the men.

Team Booker and Team Undertaker get one point each to their team, as we get a preview of next week. Chris Island and Anthony Luke will be wrestling, as will Bayley and Tatyanna. Bubba says something to piss off Selena, and Selena will be wrestling Zena. Elijah hits a bicep pose and my feet cuts to whatever yahoo show is airing after this.

OVERALL RATING: B- The wrestling is secondary on this show for sure. I like draft shows, and this was no exception. The newbs struggled, but the coaches still made sure to stay positive in evaluating them, which was a nice touch. The only people who get buried around here are the ones who hurt the poor little male coaches’ feelings.

See y’all on Wednesday for Evolve.