WWE LFG Review – 07.27.25

Hey, everyone. I am so sorry this week’s episode took as long as it did. It’s been a week, albeit all for good reasons, as I spent my Sunday evening with Live, Collective Soul, and Our Lady Peace putting on a hell of a show which absolutely took us back to the late 90’s which, of course, were only ten years ago (right?). Live probably sounded even better than in their prime, OLP did play the Benoit song (with a lovely little preamble as to mental health), and the lead singer of Collective Soul appeared to have cosplayed as prime Jeff Jarrett for the night. Add to that getting back to work the next day and here we are, on a Wednesday morning, turning on the Hulu and recapping this for you, because I love you all. Remember the “I love you all” part, since I’m seeing Toto, Christopher Cross, and Men At Work tonight. Evolve will be ready by Thursday night. I PROMISE. It’s concert season, what can I say?

Season 2, Episode 5, “Out of Your Comfort Zone”

TONIGHT, the future greats will explore polyamory. Oh wait, that’s not what it means. Apparently, it does mean Elijah Holyfield shoot-beating the crap out of Drake Morreaux, Dani Sekelsky wearing a mask, and P Nasty becoming P Nicety. This…..should be interesting.

WELCOME TO THE ULTIMATE PROVING GROUND. THE FUTURE STARTS NOW.

Shawn Michaels greets everyone and asks if they’re comfortable. When they all say “yes,” he reveals it’s a trap question and that change is always a constant in the WWE. They will be working outside their comfort zone tonight (take a swig, Daryl.) The legends come up with crazy ideas such as BJ Ray as an old-school, white-meat babyface, P Nasty becoming the aforementioned P Nicety, Haze Jameson working heel, Dani Sekelsky wearing said mask, Summer Sorrell cutting a promo (woah, let’s not get crazy here). Drake and Elijah will also be incited to kill each other.

Chris Island, who will be working heel tonight, seems to want to channel a Wu-Tang type martial arts character (that could work). Dani walks around backstage in her La Chiquita Americana mask, and it’s giving me weird vibes, like I need a safe word or something. Bubba Ray, he of the long, flowy locks, suggests to Haze Jameson that she dye her hair. In the smartest piece of advice probably given on this show, he tells Elijah tonight is the night everyone is forced to see just who the hell he is.

Taker and Michelle McCool COLLUDE on their prospects (the horror), with Taker feeling like he’s being ribbed by Summer suggesting her big change-up is cutting a promo on Dani. We’re quickly going to see what this looks like, as we go straight to….

SUMMER SORRELL VS THE SHOOTING STAR

Summer’s mom is wearing a “Team Michelle McCool” shirt, which I’m sure is right there with the retro Saba Simba shirt on the WWE Shop sales rankings. Summer GRABS the mic and cuts the most white-meat promo you’ll ever hear, citing her mom’s battle with cancer, and says that it’s because of her that she’s overcome her fears. Honestly, it was a damn good promo! Go Summer! Dani comes out in her mask to that name. The mask really does kind of work with her smaller stature. Dani quickly shows her heel edge, hitting the chop block on Summer and going for the leg with some nice heel energy. Dani even turns to Summer’s mom and says hi and goddamn that’s some good heal heat. Dani then GRABS SUMMER’S MOM’S WATER BOTTLE, takes a swig, and splashes her with it. That’s amazing. This makes Summer go absolutely ballistic. Summer goes for Dani, but stops to argue with the ref. This enables Dani to LOAD UP THE MASK. Back in the ring, you know what’s coming. The headbutt hits for Dani, and good night, Summer.

WINNER: THE SHOOTING STAR

MATCH RATING: A+++++ I LOVED ALL OF THIS.

Dani: A+ What are we even doing? Bring her up now and put her with Kaiser and Dunne. Dani was a total revelation here, working heel with authority and getting some serious heat in the process.

Summer: A Summer’s impressed every time she’s been put out there on this show. The promo was authentic and, sure, there was a bit of play-acting in there, but you can tell she was working with material which came from the heart, and the authenticity showed. She hasn’t embarrassed herself in the ring yet either. There’s something there. We just have to work on the very generic look with her. Could you tell her and Carlee Bright apart?

Backstage, Chris Island tells us Booker T has taken the leash off of him (kinky), and that dog’s about to come out on BJ Ray.

CHRIS ISLAND VS BJ RAY

Island comes out in some martial arts-inspired gear which looks good on him. No flips tonight, just some solid intensity. Some of these folks are going to find themselves tonight. One of those people will not be BJ Ray, who comes out dancing like he’s Bushwhacker Dork. Island immediately attacks. I like those red gloves, I have to say. Kicks and an elbow with authority into the corner get two. Island goes straight to the chinlock, slowing this down a bit. BJ blocks the suplex attempt, hits his own delayed suplex, and goes to attack himself. He gets hot-shotted for his efforts, though, and Island hits a big clothesline. BJ with a big throw and goes for the really crappy comeback, with some weaaaaak punches and shoulderblocks, noticed immediately by the legends. BJ paces the ropes slowly and hits…..some sort of gimmicky elbow for two. It’s bad. Island quickly rolls him up (without cheating) for three.

WINNER: CHRIS ISLAND

MATCH RATING: C- We had one guy really find himself here, and one guy make a complete ass of himself. You guess who was who.

Island: A- Chris Island, this is your gimmick. For the first time, he wrestled with some edge and intensity. The gear looked good on him, and he was believable with his kicks and strikes. He should have hooked the tights, as the coaches said, but we’re all works in progress.

BJ: D This wasn’t business-exposing or anything, but this was, yet again, BJ’s believing he’s far more entertaining than he is. BJ is floundering this season, and I can’t say it’s undeserved.

Haze has her hoodie up backstage, cutting a promo into the mirror, and you can tell the hair is hot pink. She reveals the hair, and the promo work is really great here, falling somewhere in between “I’ve had a few drinks and am running my mouth” and legit tough girl.

HAZE JAMESON VS PANINA TUILEPA

The coaches immediately like the hair, and Haze is really into the gimmick, telling the crowd they smell bad. I believe her. Panina channels face Wnedy Choo a bit with the hair, and……it’s a gimmick. That’s all I’ll say. Haze doesn’t stop running her mouth and incites P Nicety to get a little nasty. Haze rolls the outside and continues to run her mouth. It’s awesome. A bit too much stalling leads to Panina finally getting some hands on Haze, She appropriately grabs the her hair and hit a big slam in the middle of the ring. Panina calls for a moonsault, but Haze somehow gets a low blow in. Haze to work with some elbows in the corner, and Panina’s selling isn’t great. Haze continues to run her mouth and hits a sleeper. Nasty rams her into the corner and misses the charge into the corner for the tenth time this match. This leads to a bit of a chase outside, culminating in Panina hitting the spear for three.

WINNER: PANINA TUILEPA

MATCH RATING: B- The work wasn’t bad, and Haze’s work was damn entertaining. Nothing earth-shattering in the ring, though.

Haze: A “The girl who drank too much and began running her mouth” worked VERY well here. Her crowd work was almost as good as Dani’s earlier, and she showed some nice authority with her heel moveset.

Panina: C On the other hand, Panina was handcuffed here trying to work as a face. The selling was clumsy, and her moves just didn’t hit with the same impact. She also relied on missing the blind charge a lot here. If Panina learned something tonight, it’s that this is who she isn’t. That’s not a bad thing.

Haze tries to camera-hog a bit after taking the pin, and Bubba motions to her to stay down and sell. Youthful exuberance happens sometimes.

Elijah Holyfield tells us there isn’t a soul tonight who will forget his name as we cut to break. What the hell is “My Strange Arrest” on A&E? I don’t want to know.

Mike Rome is in the ring, reminiscing about the days when he was lead ring announcer. He introduces Bubba and Taker, sitting in the Blake Monroe balcony. Drake comes out looking like the Bayou Boob once again. Judging from the clips earlier, that mood is bound to change.

DRAKE MORREAUX VS ELIJAH HOLYFIELD

Taker dreams of Holyfield/Breakker in a few years and OH YES. Holyfield looks tiny next to Drake, I must say. Drake with a BIG shoulder tackle. Watch a clip of THAT, BJ Ray. Tie-up into the corner, and here come the punches from Elijah. The ref has to separate the two, but it doesn’t work, as Elijah comes back and beats the living hell out of Drake in the corner. He goes back a third time, though, and Drake gets the quick roll-up for three. What the hell? Somehow, this triggers Drake to go on the attack more, with the refs and officials coming to separate them all. Drake hits the BIG dive off the top rope onto officials, which Elijah steps back from, and goes on the attack again. They then brawl all the way backstage, as this does an EXCELLENT job on straddling that work/shoot line.

MATCH RATING: C This wasn’t much as an actual match, as it was far more about the character development. I dare say that, as an actual match, it very much fell short. Everything else afterwards worked very well.

Holyfield: A Great instincts by Elijah tonight, as well as those punches looking absolutely lethal.

Drake: B+ Definitely a step up in intensity, showing us that level at which he could actually succeed. It’s time to drop the rest, though, as the bayou stuff is killing him.

Holyfield talks backstage about Drake pushing him too far and, again, that work/shoot line was straddled perfectly here. You can absolutely buy that those two were legit mad at each other.

We return from break to Elijah still yelling about wanting to beat Drake up. Drake tells Taker he was doing what he was told. Taker loves the intensity, notes that they got an “LFG” chant from the crowd (that is big), but also asks for both tempers to cool down before they come back out again.

Time to give out points. I’d go with Elijah and Dani, but Haze could easily get the point as well. Bubba sees this as well, and gives his point on the women’s side to Haze. Taker gives Panina his vote. I don’t see it, but ok. Michelle, of course, gives Panina her vote as well. Booker…..goes Panina as well, and she gets the win.

On the men’s side, Booker gives his point to Chris Island, and sure, he deserves some love here. Michelle goes Drake and, you won’t believe this, but Taker gives his vote to Drake as well. Please get rid of one of these two lovebirds next season. I can’t take it. Bubba shakes some common sense into us all, correctly noting that Elijah brought out the fire in Drake, and gives Elijah each point. Drake still wins because the married couple didn’t want to argue over dishes tonight. Ugh.

Booker and Taker are tied at three points for the lead, and Booker refuses a fist bump from him. Booker T is a strange dude.

NEXT WEEK, someone else is under a mask, and Harlem Lewis gets pissed off.

OVERALL RATING: A This was so much fun, as they took something which could have been completely eyeroll-inducing and mostly made it work. I’d say Island and Haze found themselves tonight, Drake probably saved his career, and Elijah and Dani just rocked the earth. I had a very good time.

See you all tomorrow for both Evolve and some tales of yacht rock.