WWE LFG Review 08.11.25

Hello, my peoples. I’d like to thank our lord and savior, Paul Levesque, for not scheduling an episode of LFG during Summerslam weekend, putting a tiny bit less on my plate last week. Thank you, oh great and exalted……ah, who am I kidding. It was probably a decision made by an A&E person. In other words, thank you, A&E Paul Buccieri, President and Chairman of A&E Global Media. You’d have resigned Karrion Kross on time. You’d have kept Lesnar at home. Damnit, Paul Buccieri would have booked the invasion correctly.

Enough tomfoolery. These youngins aren’t going to train themselves.

EPISODE SEVEN: SINK OR SWIM

LAST WEEK, Drake Morreaux and Elijah Holyfield WENT AT IT. It seems like this may be contagious, as we tease Anthony Luke and Harlem Lewis doing the same, as well as Sirena Linton getting hurt in the ring. Knowing how this show works, she gets up in ten seconds.

Shawn Michaels opens the show, telling the wrestlers that the legends are going to take a step back, and the rookies will have to book their own matches and angles tonight. Shawn warns them this is a selfish business (REALLY, SHAWN?), and that they may have to deal with someone they don’t particularly like. I REALLY like this idea as, while I don’t pretend to be a wrestling expert, calling it in the ring feels like a forgotten skill.

We cut to the legends, and they are choosing matches for tonight. So much for that step back. Anthony Lewis versus Harlem Lewis, Bayley Humphrey versus Sirena Linton (interesting due to their combined lack of experience, but the coaches tell us they’re good friends), P Nasty versus Zena Sterling, and Shiloh Hill versus Trill London are booked. After this, the coaches decide they now get to back off. I assume Undertaker goes fly fly-fishing or something. We cut to a hilarious shot of Trill and Shiloh trying to agent their own match, and Taker/Michelle look at them and agree with me that they have no idea what they’re doing.

Zena and Panina are actually talking to one another, and not doing a choreographed dance backstage. Bubba is excited, as Panina admitted that Zena helped carry their match in the semi-finals of season one. Harlem and Anthony sit in the ring and attempt to communicate like men usually do. It’s like the comment section on here, in other words. Michelle, in the Kat Bourne role, comes in and establishes some damn decorum. Taker, concerned papa that he is, still watches Trill and Shiloh from afar.

We start off with the probable shitshow.

ANTHONY LUKE VS. HARLEM LEWIS

Loser gets to read a book on how the meaning of stoicism has been completely flubbed by the male species. Collar and elbow tie-up ends in both tumbling to the outside…..where another collar and elbow tie-up occurs. Male fragility, everyone. They bark at each other, which actually does create some decent heat, and Harlm nails a big forearm. Luke with a big shoulder. Harlem with a nice dropkick, as there’s some stiff work here, at least. Luke takes Harlem down with a chop block and goes to work on the leg. Harlem fights out with some forearms. Big powerslam by Luke for two as they are actually making this work really well thus far. Beautiful leg whip by Luke for two. Stephanie Vaquer would look at that and say “hey, that was a nice leg whip.” Harlem gets a roll-up and backslide for two. Lewis escapes the powerslam, but the leg gives out and Luke hits a kick for two. Bubba says what I’ve been thinking for two seasons now – we have no clue who Anthony Luke is. He’s kind of a loudmouth and dates someone on the main roster. That’s it. He also gets hot-shotted by Lewis. Lewis with a nice backbody drop and…..hits a low dropkick? Some nice work htere. Lewis continues to sell the leg. Luke goes for the powerbomb, but Lewis escapes out, goes for the roll-up, and surprisingly grabs the top rope for three? OK, didn’t see that coming.

WINNER: Harlem Lewis

MATCH RATING: A- Know what? This thing kicks all kinds of ass. The work was snug, and they actually told a great story in the ring.

LEWIS: A- Woah. This was far more than the dude we saw in Evolve. He sold well, and showed a much more diverse moveset. This dude we saw here can go places.

LUKE: B+ Usual workmanlike effort by a guy who could probably hang with most at the next level, even if he doesn’t have a carrying tool himself.

Anthony hits the back, very much trash-talking in character about getting cheated. Absolutely nothing else happens. For now.

We go straight to the next match.

SHILOH HILL VS. TRILL LONDON

Shiloh with a more serious ring entrance, which I like, and Michelle remarks that Shiloh’s bought new jeans. I wager some of you might want to buy some new jeans. I recommend internet brand The Perfect Jean. Those things are comfortable as hell. Trill with a cool entrance. He immediately gets clotheslined by Shiloh on the way in……and we cut to break? What in the AEW was that? Sorry if that offended. I’ll choose a safer joke next time. Maybe Palestine. Trill is on the attack and we come back. Trill hits a big hip attack into the corner, then does it again! They stop and talk for what only seems like forever in the corner before Shiloh takes over. Shiloh with some big uppercuts. Shiloh whips Trill to the other corner, and hits some kicks. Unnecessary spinning standing splash gets two for Shiloh before gut-wrenching Trill into the tree of woe. Trill escapes and gets a roll-up for two. Flying forearm gets two for Trill as we have hit the comeback. Nice natural selection and low dropkick get two for Trill, who always impresses a bit more than you think he will. Shiloh comes back, and a gutwrench suplex gets two. Trill hits a buckshot kick or something for two, goes to the top, and hits a pretty nice swanton for the upset well.

WINNER: Trill London

MATCH RATING: B+ GO ROOKIES! We’re two for two tonight, as these guys went out there and put on a concise, well-worked match with a surprise outcome.

SHILOH B+ Much like Anthony, Shiloh could come up to NXT tomorrow and hold his own. Unlike Anthony, Shiloh has a far more defined character.

TRILL A- This kid does nothing but impress each time he’s in there. There’s more than a bit Je’von Evans here, even if he’s not at the stage where he’s taking the type of risks Je’von does weekly. I like this guy’s future.

Trill is grateful backstage, reflecting on when he hit the swanton on his teddy bears as a kid. I’d kill to watch Winnie the Pooh hit the ring with a chair and take his punk ass out.

It’s time for best friends, better enemies, featuring….

BAYLEY HUMPHREY VS. SIRENA LINTON

I have high hopes here. Bayley tries to do the Brock entrance, and Sirena just rules the world with her entrance. Vic reminds us that, combined, these women have less than a year’s experience in the ring. Sirena takes a woman-sized bump off a shove by Bayley. Bayley with the big slam. Sirena goes for the go-behind, and you really see the size difference here. Bayley reverses and sends Sirena outside. The Brock-isms are big today, while there’s a LOT of Chelsea Green tonight with Sirena. Bayley presses Sirena from the top rope, then accidentally drops her. Sirena doesn’t seem to recover here, and I’m not sure what happens, but she collapses and the ref calls for the X.

MATCH STOPPED DUE TO INJURY

The coaches aren’t sure what happened either, but Sirena looks completely out of it. She gets back on her feet, though, and is able to exit the ring with some assistance from both Bayley and some backstage folk. Backstage, Sirena lets us know she blacked out, and Booker believes it came from the hard back bump she took. That has to be it as, while Bayley did flub her move, I don’t see much which could have hurt Sirena there. Listen, I like both these women a lot, and I very much hope Sirena’s not concussed. This also had a high chance of occurring when you had two very green wrestlers go in with minimal agenting. Get well, Sirena. Until then, you both did us proud.

NO RATING

We go straight to our main event…

PANINA TUALEPA VS. ZENA STERLING

P Nasty cuts the hallway-headed-to-the-ring promo and hell yeah, the woman can talk. Michelle stands on the Blake Monroe platform and mugs for the fans. Bubba seems to really want a wardrobe malfunction from Michelle. I believe that, in 2025, Bubba could probably out-run the Undertaker. Zena cuts her own promo backstage, and I like the understated take here. Like Anthony Luke, I’m still not sure who Zena is either. Zena hits the ring in an outfit which Dani Sekelsky bought and thought was a size too big. Too many cheerleader types. Tonight’s most popular move, the collar and elbow tie-up, starts. Panina fights out of the go behind, sending Zena into the corner with a BIG elbow, and we hit ANOTHER collar-and-elbow tie up. Thank God we didn’t book Summer versus Haze here. That may have been a ten-minute collar and elbow tie-up before the surprise roll-up. Zena is quickly bruised by how stiff has been so far. Zena gets stiff right back with Panina, and seemed to learn nothing from Sirena getting hurt taking a bump by taking a spear from Panina HARD. Panina picks Zena up at two (!!) and we hit some rookie-on-rookie violence. Big chops from Panina, and a kick sends Panina down. BIG SLAM from Zena is followed by a double stomp and that……gets the three? Sure. Panina is 0-2 against Zena.

WINNER: Zena Sterling

Match Rating: B+ The conundrum of wrestling occurs here again, as we applaud the stiff work, yet a woman probably got concussed earlier here due to taking a bump too hard. Somewhat sudden ending aside, these two worked their asses off.

Zena: A Again, her ability is way ahead of her character work, but I continue to love the athleticism, poise, and willingness to get her hands dirty. That reminds me of a certain young woman holding a world title on the main roster a teeny bit who also happens to be blonde. We’ve got a bit to go before it’s Zenny Time, however.

Panina B+ Panina’s almost there with the in-ring, but the character stuff is top notch. If any woman could slot right into Solo’s little MFT group at some point, this is the woman, although that’s getting WAY ahead of ourselves, once again.

We cut to the judges, and I’ve got Harlem and Zena for points on my end. Let’s see if they agree. Bubba gives Shiloh his point for leading Trill in his match. Taker correctly states everyone took a step forward tonight, and gives his point to Anthony Luke. I guess I could see that. Booker gives his point to Harlem, and Michelle needs to break this tie. Pick Trill, Michelle! Cause chaos! Michelle goes Anthony, though, he gets the point for her team. How convenient.

On the ladies’ end, Bayley seems shaken up by what happened with Sirena, who is not standing up there. Taker takes Zena to task for not rising to the next level next season, which seems totally reality-TV’d, as she’s barely been on screen this time around. Taker and Michelle both give Panina their point. Booker agrees on both points, giving Panina the point and giving Michelle ‘s team a clean sweep today. Team McCool takes the lead on the point standing. Bubba does get his say here, and ooh boy, he claims conspiracy against both himself and Zena Sterling. Bubba tells Zena everyone has it out for her, and I have no idea what this does to her psyche but, hey, this is reality TV.

And NOTHING happened between Anthony and Harlem. This show can sometimes be worse than Love is Blind with the fake-outs.

OVERALL RATING: A- We hops Sirena is OK, but this was one of those “let’s show you how we make the sausage” episodes which I find so fascinating. A very cool watch, and a good one for those who haven’t taken the LFG plunge yet. This means you, Mears.

See you all on Wednesday for Evolve. My ass needs to get to work.