411’s WWE LFG Report: Episode 8

-Episode Eight, “Making Your Move,” this week and we are two weeks away from WrestleMania. I assume there won’t have episodes airing against Mania, but I guess we will find out. If they do, any recaps I do will be delayed a few days. Let’s get to it!

-Here is a reminder of the teams:

-Team Bubba Ray: Zena Sterling, Drake Moreaux, Tatyanna Dumas, Cutler James

-Team Mickie James: Chris Island, Troy Yearwood, Dani Sekelsky, Sirena Linton

-Team Booker T: Anthony Luke, Penina Tuilaepa, Jasper Troy, Leigh Laurel

-Team Undertaker: Tyra Mae Steele, Shiloh Hill, Bayley Humphrey, Elijah Holyfield

-Another reminder that Joe Tessitore is our narrator!

-Scoreboard: Team Taker: 5, Team Booker 4, Team Mickie 2, Team Bubba 1

-Tessitore lets us know that we have reached the halfway point. Dani lets Mickie know that she still has not been cleared. Also, Troy is out as he is sick with “the man flu.” Mickie notes the man flu is a different level of flu. She ain’t lying! Ask my wife! Mickie says she has her work cut out for her.

-Bubba tells his team it was a big week as they finally got a point. Their team cheer is “get the tables,” which Bubba notes mean the phrase is over.

-Booker walks up to Chris Island and challenges him to a push-up contest. I’m tired watching them as Booker says he is fixing to make this kid look bad. Booker taps out first as they hit 48 and says he had a twinge in his shoulder. Ha!

-Show opening!

-Shawn Michaels is here and reiterates they are at the midway point. Shawn wants each coach to pick one person from their team that they see as the front runner. Bubba picks Zena! Booker goes with Jasper Troy. Jasper says he was shook a little bit, but he wants to be the winner at the end. Mickie picks Chris Island, and that puts a smile on his face. Taker won’t pick anyone as he needs them all to step up and says it’s still open. Mickie: “wow, I thought we had to pick.” I agree with Mickie!

-Shawn gets to this week’s theme and it’s all about finding a finishing move. He brings out this week’s guest who has one of the most over finishers of all time that is still being used today: Diamond Dallas Page! You know, DDP vs. Shawn would have been interesting!

-Tessitore gives us a history of The Diamond Cutter as we get highlights and it’s crazy how over that move was in the mid 90s. It was the move that all of us wrestling fans tried to hit on each other walking down the halls of Uniontown High School.

-Page jokes that all the kids weren’t even alive when he had his run. He started to train at 35 and his career didn’t take off until he was 40. He credits the Diamond Cutter for being a big reason why his career took off. He wants to see their best finishing move and whoever has it, wins the challenge. He hits the catchphrase, “Let’s Fucking Go.” Roll credits! (yes, I love CinemaSins).

-Sirena wants to have a match tonight to get redemption from her debut. She wants to incorporate some of her gymnastic background into her finisher.

-Commercials!

-Back with Team Bubba in the ring and he give Cutler little more than The Finger Poke of Doom, but makes him bump for it and tells him that’s a finish. See, Hogan and Nash were on to something! Drake wants to use The Bullfrog Splash and Bubba tells him to use the Bayou Shuffle while he was up there. For Cutler he is working on an exaggerated European Uppercut that Bubba has dubbed The Upper Cutler. I love wrestling!

-Leigh Laurel’s first choice doesn’t work for Booker as he doesn’t think she can hit it from any position. She then opts for a powerslam because she has a power lifting background. Shiloh wants to use a move called the DD-IT. Taker: “Where are you going to get a keyboard?”

-Chris Island has KJP named after Kal Jax, who was a former teammate who also worked in NXT for two years before injuring his shoulder. Mickie is an emotional person and the story sold her on letting Chris use the move.

-Sirena goes to Molly Holly and asks if she can use The Molly Go Round. Oh man! That move is awesome! Molly tells her you need a gymnastics background and she wants to see how she looks on top and see if it is safe before she gives her blessing.

-Bayley has been using Khali’s Cranium Crusher and is looking to build off it. We see Michelle McCool helping the kids on Taker’s team. So they have two Legends. We all know, she is replacing Mickie sooner than later.

-Anthony Luke has a move called LCA (Lights, Camera, Action) and it’s a belly to back suplex into a Rock Bottom/Book End. Booker wants to see if he can get Jasper up and once he does, Booker is cool with it.

-Taker intros his team to DDP and notes Elijah is Evander Holyfield’s son and “Shiloh raises raccoons.” Ha! Elijah is working on a super uppercut. He knows it is simple, but it grabs your attention.

-We see Sirena coming off the top to work on The Molly Go Round with a crash pad while Molly watches. Nice moment and DDP and Molly hug each other. Legends meeting up is always fun!

-Back to Bubba who wants Zena to do a tilt-a-whirl sideslam. She nearly does a Tombstone and Bubba keeps working with her. She is having issues with keeping the momentum to get to the side slam. Bubba wants to use the smallest girl and asks Dani if she is allowed in the ring, but she is not cleared. Bubba calls her useless and I think it was a joke, but Chris stands up for his teammate and that’s not going to sit well with Bubba. Sure enough, Bubba tells Chris he was not talking to him and Chris fires back that he is not his student and yells for “coach” (Mickie).

-Commercials!

-Back to Bubba and Chris exchanging words and Mickie comes over to calm things. Bubba says that Dani understands his sense of humor, and Chris doesn’t and that doesn’t fly with him. He calls out Chris for getting buried, then calling out his coach, and it says a lot about him and his future. Chris just keeps pointing out he was standing up for his teammate. Bubba tells him not to get involved in other people’s business. Mickie has Chris’ back and feels he did just fine. I agree!

-Bubba is rolling with Cutler and Zena as his choices. Mickie only has two healthy students so her decision is easy: Chris and Sirena. Taker is going with Elijah and Bayley which makes sense as they were the two students we saw working on their moves. Booker picks Anthony and they don’t reveal his other choice.

Cutler James (Team Bubba) vs. Anthony Luke (Team Booker)

-The Legends joke that Booker is going to want 15% of everything Anthony earns for the rest of his career. Bubba: “That’s Booker’s retirement plan.” Lockup and nothing happening as we focus on The Legends. Luke controls with a side headlock and then uses a thumb to the eye to maintain. I should mention, DDP is with The Legends watching this week. Cutler is able to reverse and takes Luke to the mat with his own headlock. Luke goes to the hair to back Cutler into the corner and fires off right hands. James reverses and shows some fire. Slam and Upper Cutler is countered into a backslide for two. Luke hits a vertical suplex for another two count. LCA is countered by Cutler as he shifts his weight and gets a two count. Luke lands a kick and sends Cutler into the corner. He talks some trash and James fires back with right hands. Luke cuts him off and they start trading blows. James starts his comeback proper this time and hits a clothesline. Booker notes that it was a rough landing with bad timing. James preps for The Upper Cutler and we take a break as he is winding up. I like to think if this was live, he would be winding up for the entire commercial break.

-Commercials!

-Taker is not a fan of the wind-up, but James hits The Upper Cutler and holds the pose. Booker isn’t impressed and questions if that is the finisher. It only gets two as Anthony gets his foot on the ropes. Got to protect the finisher! Luke ducks a clothesline and hits LCA for the pin at 6:00.

Winner: Anthony Luke via pin at 6:00

-Booker is beaming as he says Anthony is proud. Bubba likes that Cutler took something simple and added some flavor to the front end and back end. DDP says he thought the wind-up went long, but if the fans are buying it then it can go as long as you want.

Leigh Laurel (Team Booker) vs. Zena Sterling

-Zena is wearing gear that makes Mickie happy after the issues she had last week. She notes the gear this week is cute. Taker jokes she scared Zena out of the gear she wore last week. Zena works the arm and DDP seems impressed with her. Taker notes she has become the dark horse. Clothesline from Zena and she tries for the tilt-a-whirl slam, but Leigh counters. Roll-up gets two. Things gets awesome as Zena yells about her shoe, goes down to tie it, and then hits a trip. It pops Mickie who is laughing her ass off and Taker is enjoying it as well. The Legends wants Leigh to be more vicious and lay her stuff in. Leigh hits the powerslam, but it only gets two and Booker is pissed! Zena ducks a clothesline and gets one of her own. Mickie credits Zena for selling her arm the entire match. The Whatchamacallit (Tilt-a-whirl sideslam) gets the pin at 3:36. DDP: “That girl is going to be a star.”

Winner: Zena Sterling via pin at 3:36

-Bubba is very happy with both women, but he is gushing over Zena. Booker wants to see a gear change and he doesn’t mean what she is wearing. He wants to see another level from Leigh. Taker tells Leigh she should be tired of hearing about her look and needs to match that with her in ring work. Leigh just wants them to tell her whether she has it or not. Mickie asks Leigh if she is okay and she admits she got rocked on that last clothesline and you can see her get emotional.

-Commercials!

-Back Leigh as she says she just got the wind knocked out of her. DDP goes into inspiration mode and tells the girls everyone of the Legends has failed and look where they are. “Embarrassment is the cost of entry.” POSITIVELY PAGE! How can you not love that man?

-Taker says this next match can be awesome or it can be a train wreck. Bubba knows why and says Chris Island has a big mouth. Oh boy!

Chris Island (Team Mickie) vs. Elijah Holyfield (Team Taker)

-It hits Bubba that Elijah has a Clubber Lang feel to him. We just need him to offer pain as a prediction for the match and then hit on Mickie and call her woman. Taker is not a fan of Elijah wearing a chain and ear rings in the ring. He tries to use his boxing background, but Chris is able to avoid the right hands. Taker says he wasn’t able to move as well as Elijah is in his 20th match and Elijah is only on match 2 or 3. Slam from Elijah and then a hip-toss. He delivers shoulder in the corner and fires off body shots. He throws Chris across the ring and Booker puts over the way Chris is selling and making Elijah look good. Elijah hits his super uppercut and Taker says they had him as he thought it was the finish. Chris blocks a punch and then hits a shoulder tackle. Slam from Island and he pulls the straps down. He hits KJP and it looked sick as he caught Elijah flush. That gets the pin at 3:52. Good stuff on the finishers from both men here.

Winner: Chris Island via pin at 3:52

-Commercials!

-Mickie tells both men they worked hard and says it was the best day for both of them and they should be proud. Taker tells Elijah he is lucky he is retired as if he was working against him he would have ripped out the ear rings and ripped off the necklace. Bubba tells Elijah he has the look, but all he is seeing is the shiny shit around his neck and in his ears. For Chris he tells him he is a rude and disrespectful kid who has not apologized. The good news is it was the best effort he has seen from him. DDP says they brought it and when they watch back they will see what they can do even better.

-Mickie and Taker are double praying over the next match as it’s “the green leading the green.”

Sirena Linton (Team Mickie) vs. Bayley Humphrey (Team Taker)

-Like has been the case for every Bayley match so far, the story is easy to tell. David vs. Goliath! Bayley immediately pitches Sirena to the floor and Taker tells her to run. She seems apprehensive getting back into the ring and Bayley grabs her and runs her into the corner. She carries Sirena around on her shoulders, but she slides off and gets a bulldog. Sirena heads up top and Taker is basically praying to God this does well and we head to commercial as we see Bubba looking through squinted eyes.

-Commercials!

-Back to Sirena on top and she notes in confessional this is the moment everyone has been waiting. She hits the move perfectly and Mickie screams out she is so happy. That’s great! It only gets two though. Bayley catches her and hits a World’s Strongest Slam. She hooks the Cranium Crush and then tosses Sirena into the air and slams her down on her face for the pin at 3:05.

Winner: Bayley via pin at 3:05

-Mickie is so happy and she tells Sirena to take Molly to dinner. Molly looks proud as well. Taker puts over both women as it was their 3rd and 2nd match. DDP tells them both to give themselves a self high five. Bubba says it was a tale of two matches and lucky for them the fans remember the finish. He notes everything with The Molly Go Round and after was very good and he gives Sirena a high five and a hug.

-Backstage Molly meets up with Siren and gives her the blessing to continue to use The Molly Go Round. That’s cool!

-Commercials!

-Shawn is back to get the results of this week’s challenge. Booker gives his nod to Anthony Luke. Mickie throws her love to Sirena, for not only hitting the move, but for asking Molly for permission. Taker goes with Elijah. Bubba names several people who took a step forward instead of just picking one person from his own team.

-DDP gets the final say and gets to pick one man and one woman. For the men he picks Anthony because the finisher came out of nowhere and caught him off guard. For the women he goes with Sirena because she nailed a high pressure move.

-Scoreboard: Team Booker 5, Team Taker 5, Team Mickie 4, Team Bubba 1

-Booker says Team Five Time will reign again. Taker says his expectations are going up and it’s real now.

-Chris Island notes he keeps hearing great things about what he is doing, but never gets the points.

-Next time: Tag Team Wrestling is the focus and that brings out D-Von Dudley. Oh, and it seems BJ is about to return.

-This was a fun episode. You can tell the coaches are taking a liking to their kids and seeming them do well means something to them. We are seeing some favorites step forward and a couple of dark horses creep in as well. Good stuff this week and knowing we are at the halfway point is important as now we know every team is still in the race, though Team Bubba has to get moving. DDP was very good this week and I enjoyed seeing how The Legends worked with the kids on coming up with finishers. Props to Sirena for hitting The Molly Go Round. This show is finding a nice groove! Thanks for reading!