411’s WWE LFG Season Three: Episode Two Report

-Written: 5.3.26
-Source: A&E

-Plugs: Episode One

-As a reminder Joe Tessitore is our narrator, and our Legends are Kevin Owens, Booker T, Bubba Ray, and Nattie!

-Then! Now! Forever! Together!

-We start with Season Two Winner, Shiloh Hill, as he is making his NXT debut. He gets a win over Lexis King. After the match he says he feels great and loved sharing the experience with the crowd. “It’s so cool!”

-Show opening!

-We start with Bloom, talking to the Legends. Nattie will be working with Carlee Bright and Kevin gets Layla Diggs.

-Match Two: Booker gets Harley Riggins and Jax Presley and KO gets Harlem Lewis and Mike Derudder. Blooms wants to see proper tag team action. He wants Harley and Jax to learn that less is more as they thing moves are the thing to get the crowd.

-Main Event: Drake Morreaux with Bubba and Booker gets Nathan Cranton (now Tristan Angels on Evolve). Bloom wants Booker to turn Nathan into a scary guy. Bubba questions if that can be done. They also note this could be sink or swim time for Drake.

-We cut to Drake who notes he has been here for three years. He has seen a lot of his friends gets big opportunities and wonders when his chance is coming. He talks about not wanting to get the dreaded phone call from Shawn informing him that he is being let go.

-Layla Diggs introduces herself and I saw her first on Level Up and she has been a constant on Evolve since it debuted. She has a track background and went to Fresno State. KO tells her that Bloom wants to see her work as a heel. KO doesn’t want her to dumb down her skills to be a heel.

-Carlee Bright has a gymnastic and cheer background. She is a Golden Gopher from Minnesota. This may be a spoiler but she was one of the people released after WrestleMania. Bloom says she is an amazing athlete, but they don’t know if she can connect and tell a story.

-Layla and Carlee share a prayer together before their match.

-Commercial!

Carlee Bright vs. Layla Diggs

-Vic Joseph and Jeremy Borash are on commentary! KO and Nattie are watching from the crowd. Carlee shows off her gymnastic background to start as she flips around the ring. Lots of armdrags and head scissors to start. Carlee gets arm control but gets shoved off to the ropes. Layla lands a kick to the stomach and bangs Carlee’s head off the mat. She shows off and slaps her ass. Running knee in the corner and she continues to lay in the trash talk. Nattie notes that Carlee is selling well. She makes a comeback and gets a series of clotheslines and then a neckbreaker. Tornado Bulldog gets two as both Legends liked the kick-out as they admit they bit on it. Cool! Carlee off the top with a cross-body, but Layla rolls through for a two count. KO is impressed as they are both really good athletes. Layla misses a side kick and Carlee hits an Overdrive for the pin at 4:30.

Winner: Carlee Bright via pin at 4:30
-Solid little match. **

-KO tells Layla she is a good heel and loves the energy both showed. He likes that she can back up everything she is doing. She asks about selling and he tells her not to ignore anything that has happened to her in the match.

-Nattie drops an F bomb as she tells Carlee she did a great job. She puts over the comeback and how she felt something different from Carlee. She tells her to get 1% percent each match and soon she will be 50% better. Carlee says she is here to be great and that’s what she is going to be.

-Commercials!

-Jax and Harley! They both have fooball background as Jax played at Harvard and McNeese State. Harley says he saw people bully his mentally handicapped sister and that flipped a switch where he doesn’t take stuff like that anymore. Both guys have been part of Evolve.

-Harlem Lewis was the runner up on LFG last season. He went to Japan and wrestled for NOAH. He has also been a big part of Evolve and likely will be Evolve Champion sooner than later.

-Mike is from Belgium and says he is unique for his size and the way he moves. He just showed up on Evolve in last few weeks and goes by Dorian Van Dux.

-Bloom wants to see all four shine, but knows a tag match is different than a singles match. Booker tells them to leave it out there tonight.

Jax Presley and Harley Riggins vs. Harlem Lewis and Mike Derudder

-Booker tells KO that Harlem should have won LFG Season Two. He likes that Harlem wants to be the guy and will do whatever he has to. Harlem and Harley start and Harley dominates early. He gets a two off a roll-up and lands a clothesline. Mike in and he works on the arm and transfers to a front facelock. Jax gets a slam and drops a knee. Tag made to Jax and he runs Mike into the corner. Sidewalk Slam gets two! Mike hits a dropkick that sends Jax to the floor as we take a break.

-Commercials!

-Back with Harley holding a submission on Harlem. Booker and KO aren’t impressed and says nobody is begging to see the babyfaces make a comeback. They note they don’t know who are the faces in the match. Booker says there aren’t any. Mike hits a dive over the top onto Harley and Jax which gets an LFG chant from the crowd. Sit-out powerbomb gets two as Jax makes the save. Everyone in the ring for a second. Clothesline on the floor to Harlem. Harley gets a roll-up for two. Modified F5 gets the pin at around 4:00 shown.

Winners: Harley Riggins and Jax Presley
-The break hurt things as we didn’t get to see to much of what they were trying. To the KO and Booker’s point, the fans didn’t really have any reason to cheer either team. Mike got some cheers due to his dive over the top. *

-KO tells Booker it was flat and Booker says he didn’t even know that was the finish. KO tells his kids the work was solid, but it was boring. Booker tells his kids there was 4 minutes of heat and that’s an eternity.

-It seems we have an issue as Harley spit on Harlem. Booker tells him to let Harley come to the back and then handle it. Don’t do it in front of the fans. Harley says it felt like the right thing to do in the moment.

-Nathan Cranton is 22 years old and is a seventh generation sheep farmer from England. The only time his grandpap would stop working on the farm was to watch wrestling and that stuck with him. Booker sees big things from Nathan and thinks he can take this season by storm if they put him in the right position.

-Bubba tells Drake that he believes in him, but he can’t wrestle for him. He tells Drake it has to happen now. “Get over or get out.” Bubba gives him a chop and sends him off.

Drake Morreaux vs. Nathan Cranton

-Since this is our Main Event they get the full NXT TV treatment. Nathan is also a former Mr. England pageant winner, which means he won by being handsome. He has the mannerisms of snob HHH from the mid 90s. Drake gets a series of shoulder tackles and throws Nathan across the ring with a toss. Booker says Nathan is doing everything he needs with the selling. He goes after the knee of Drake and backs him into a corner. Kick to the knee and he jumps on a submission hold which pops Booker as he was calling for it. Drake reverses and lands a knee in the corner. He delivers a series of forearms and a slam as Nathan is bumping well out there. The knee gives out and Nathan tries a pin with his feet on the ropes, but gets caught. Discus Lariat and Chokeslam finihs at 3:21 for Drake.

Winner: Drake Morreaux via pin at 3:21
-I want to see more of Nathan. He looks solid out there and this show made me more interested in what he can do on Evolve. **

-Bubba isn’t a fan of the dancing when the focus of the match was the work on the knee. Drake tells Bubba there is nothing he could have done better and Bubba respects that answer.

-Shawn brings Drake into The PC the next morning and tells him his time at the PC is over and we cut to a commercial.

-Commercials!

-Shawn tells Drake they have no place for him in NXT, but there is an opportunity for him in AAA. Drake says he watches the show and mentions his girlfriend is Roxxane (which they covered last season) and he saw her working there and told her he wanted to be there. Shawn says he thinks he can do good work down there and can get his way back to NXT.

-Bubba says he is a big fan of Drake and says he will have to put on the sub-titles to watch but is proud of Drake. He wishes him the best of luck.

-Drake covers what he has done ever season on LFG and thanks the coaches. He is happy to build on what they started and wants to see how far he can take this thing. He tells us goodbye and it’s “see you later, alligator.”

-I will say it every week, but I love this format so much more than the reality good show stuff we had the previous two seasons. It feels more authentic and things are easier to understand. The coaches are there to help and not just competing against each other. Nathan was the star of this episode for me, but the women had the best match of the show.

-Thanks for reading!