WWE LFG Review 08.31.25

Welcome to your Wrensday LFG review. It’s a bit late, but Labor Day weekend, on a day when I didn’t even watch half the main roster PLE, wasn’t going to happen, especially since I also had three fantasy football drafts. On an early Wednesday morning, before I do anything actually meaningful? Oh yes. Thank your Lucky Cannons. It is happening now.

SEASON 2 EPISODE 10: FOLLOW THAT!

TONIGHT ON LFG, the playoffs are around the corner, and there’s not much time left to impress the judges. This gives us a bunch of intriguing matches in Sirena Linton/P Nasty, Dani Sekelsky/Zena Sterling, Harlem Lewis/Shiloh Hill, and Drake Morreaux/Anthony Luke. Every one of those matches could be quality tonight. Looking forward to this. We even get a Roxanne Perez appearance in the crowd.

There’s a nice summer sky in the PC, and Uncle Shawn’s arrived to tell us eliminations begin in two weeks. Shawn reveals, to everyone’s surprise, that he once wasn’t very liked in the locker room and, then, reveals something I actually didn’t know: he used to yell out “Follow That!” when he returned to the locker room after his match. That’s bold. I hope he didn’t yell that to those Marines.

The judges arrange the matches, with Bubba Ray basically ruining this show for me by having me realize Zena, Penina, and Sirena kind of rhyme. It’s the usual between those four. The judges give out their pep talks, and is that Sol Ruca just sitting there with Michelle and Panina? Random. Booker reminds Sirena that she almost separated her neck from the rest of her body last time she faced Panina, and the replay of that looks gnarly as hell.

SIRENA LINTON VS. PENINA TUILEAPA

Sirena has new gear, some brighter blonde streaks in her hair, and certainly looks the part of a superstar entering the ring. Penina probably got five points from the judges for walking to the ring. They tie up to start, with Sirena giving Penina an ill-advised shove-ina in the corner. Sirena tries to take Penina down, fails, and eats a slam-ina from P. Nasty. Roll-up from Sirena gets two. P. Nasty goes to the outside. Sirena follows and tries a dive off the apron, instead meeting the barrier with her head-ina as we go to break. We return to Sirena getting rolled back into the ring and getting put in a neck vice. Penina misses a charge-ina into the corner and we’ve got a comeback……or we don’t, as a single right hand stops that. Sirena reverses a suplex attempt into a nice DDT for two. Sirena hits the rana off the top this time and climbs to the top again, hitting her rolling finisher for the win-ina.

WINNER: SIRENA LINTON

Match Rating: B A little tentative in spots from both ladies, but they both understood the assignment and tried damn hard.

Sirena: B+ Most of the tentativeness seemed to come from Sirena, who perhaps was in her own head a bit. The execution delivered, though, and she continues to show she’s come a long way.

Penina: B: Workmanlike. Knew her job. Looked tough. Par for the course for Penina, even if nothing stands out at you. That’s not a bad thing.

Penina attacks Sirena after the match-ina, hitting a Samoan Drop. Sirena rolls out and escapes a further beating. What a sore loser-ina.

Noted clinical psychologist Bubba Ray give Zena Sterling a tough talk backstage, calling Zena out for helping others have their best matches this season, yet not standing out herself. That’s great once she gets to one of the main shows, but I agree with Bubba here: you aren’t on one of the main shows yet.

ZENA STERLING VS. DANI SEKELSKY

They bump fists to start. Zena takes Dani over and works the arm, as everyone creates this narrative that Zena’s progress has stalled. Dani’s playing her role perfectly here, flipping around to get out, but not being able to solve Zena. How do you solve a problem like a-Zena? Well, Dani solves her by going heel and on the attack. Punches in the corner from Dani, as I’m not sure if her playing heel is genius, or if she just magically morphed into Candace LeRae. Zena fights back from the usual “my arm hurts” and, you’re not going to believe this, but Zena’s making Dani look awfully good here. Dani with a hell of an armlock here, but Zena impressively powers out and electric chairs her in a nice spot. Zena fights back and nails a big clothesline with her perpetually hurt arm. Slam and big charge into the corner from Zena. Zena can’t hit a tilt-a-whirl thingee because she’s selling the shoulder, and gets rolled up, with a hook of the tights, for three.

WINNER: DANI SEKELSKY

Match Rating: B+ Another solid effort, although I’ll say both these ladies came to play a bit more than the women in the first match, so a B++?

Dani: A- Dani’s an interesting one here, as I very much liked the heel mannerisms from her, but she may be too small to pull such a character off convincingly. She brought the goods, though.

Zena B: She didn’t do anything outright wrong, but still pretty much did exactly what Bubba warned her not to do. The electric chair spot was cool, but she went back to that damn hurt shoulder bit again, and managed to make Dani look better. She’s a good wrestler who deserves to move up, but maybe this reality TV competition stuff isn’t her best fit.

Harlem and Booker meet backstage, and Booker tells him to be stiff and dogwalk Shiloh tonight. Without Shiloh here agreeing to this, this makes me slightly uncomfortable. Shiloh, from the locker room, shows us that awesome psycho side in a promo. That character right there is money on the next level.

SHILOH HILL VS. HARLEM LEWIS

They immediately get to it, exchanging BIG shoulderblocks. They fight on the apron, with a big snug punch from Harlem. Harlem can’t hit the suplex on the apron, and gets kicked to the floor. Shiloh with a big cannonball off the apron, but eats apron and barrier for his transgressions. Harlem goes to work with some stiffs elbows and knees, getting a cover for two. Shiloh tries to fight back, but this looks like a damn fight, Harlem hits a BIG slap you could probably hear in Ocala and continues working on him. Shiloh hits some receipts and tackles Harlem out to the floor, where the brawling continues. Shiloh has Harlem in a choke outside when the ref decides to stop the match and officials come to separate the two. Work or shoot? You decide.

WINNER: THE FRIENDS WE MADE ALONG THE WAY

Match Rating: A As a potential worked shoot, this absolutely ruled. As a match where someone could have gotten hurt, especially after a hard shot to the ear (Hello, Travis Scott), I’m not so sure.

Both guys: A It’s basically the same rating for both. Both worked snug, and had me convinced this was truly a shoot gone out of control. Everything worked here.

Taker and Booker argue over the liberties taken during the match, adding to the drama. Booker claims no liberties were taken, not knowing they literally played the tape of him telling Harlem to take liberties before hand. Both guys brawl in the backstage area and, know what, folks? FOLLOW THAT.

Michelle and Taker are again on the Blake Monroe balcony at the PC for the main event.

DRAKE MORREAUX VS. ANTHONY LUKE

Hey hey hey, it’s Maxxine Dupri backstage with Anthony and hey hey hey, it’s Roxanne Perez with Drake! We even get a potential Roxy/Maxxine showdown as they cut promos on each other. Sweet! They don’t accompany their better halves to the ring, though, which would have been the “follow that” moment here, instead sitting in the crowd with the rest of the poors. Drake comes out to that dorky zydeco music, and I’m surprised Roxy actually acknowledges him after that. I’d be like “I don’t know this dorkus, and I certainly don’t sleep with him.” Actually, him in the Carlito role in the Judgement Day has me curious. They tie up to start, as we’re totally getting dorky Drake tonight. Luke pulls the hair and takes him down, drawing slight disagreement from the Callaways. Luke mocks Drake’s Cajun dumbassery, earning us more actual Drake dumbassery. Yay. Drake throws Luke around, but meets a boot in the corner. Big slam from Drake is followed by a splash off the second rope. Luke breaks a chokeslam attempt and heads outside, only to be caught by Drake. Drake goes for the ten beats of the……crawfish, but gets hotshotted for his efforts. Big right hand back in the ring from Drake, but misses the charge. Luke with a nice running dropkick off the ropes for two. Another big right from Drake, and it’s boo/yay time. Big clotheslines from Drake, followed by a big boot. Luke begs off in the corner and, of course, it s a trap, as Drake get pulled into the turnbuckle. Spinning uranage finishes for Luke.

WINNER: ANTHONY LUKE

Match Rating: B+ From an in-ring standpoint, absolutely nothing wrong done here. Both guys came to play, and were convincing in their role.

Drake: B The in-ring was fine, and he actually showed more intensity than he normally does. The gimmick is still death.

Luke: A You could really see the slow transformation from a guy who watched a lot of heels on TV to a more well-rounded wrestler in the ring here. Very impressed.

A nice touch of Roxanne Perez giving Anthony Luke the stinkeye after the match follows.

The judges and wrestlers get together, and I’d go Dani and……Shiloh tonight, although I wouldn’t argue with Sirena, Harlem, or Anthony either. Booker goes with Sirena. Bubba goes with his own team member in Zena. Taker goes with Dani, and it comes down to Michele. Let’s see if she does the predictable…..and she doesn’t, going with Zena for the win. Better than Penina, I guess.

For the men, Booker continues to work the angle and tells us Harlem beat the crap out of Shiloh. Taker tells Harlem to start taking liberties, or he’ll eventually wind up on the unemployment line. This just in: Booker’s a dumbasss. Michele basically tells Harlem and Shiloh cancelled each other out, and gives her vote to Anthony. Bubba, the smartest person in the room, has Harlem admit things getting out of control was both his and Shiloh’s faults, and gives his point to Anthony as well. Wait, who did Taker vote for? I guess I missed a vote there.

With that, our standings are as follows:

TEAM MCCOOL: 7
TEAM UNDERTAKER: 5
TEAM BOOKER: 3
TEAM BUBBA: 3

As for the talent…

MEN’S SIDE:
SHILOH: 2
ANTHONY: 2
ELIJAH  :2
HARLEM: 1
DRAKE: 1
TRILL: 1

WOMEN’S SIDE:
PENINA: 4
SIRENA: 2
DANI: 2
ZENA: 1

Zena is happy with her victory, as she feels she’s been letting Bubba down this season.

NEXT TIME ON LFG, the rest of the gang gets a chance at bat, and I swear it looks like Haze has Alicia Taylor in a headlock at one point. That’s probably Tatyanna, I’m guessing, but the former would certainly earn a FOLLOW THIS moment.

OVERALL RATING: A- I could do, once again, without the worked coach drama, but everyone brought it in the ring today. That’s what matters. A good one to check out.

See y’all later for Evolve.