411’s WWE LFG Season Three Report: Episode Fourteen

-Written: 7.26.26
-Source: A&E
-Run Time: 1 Hour (w/ commercials)

-Plug: Episode 13

-Joe Tessitore is our narrator.

-Kevin Owens, Booker T, Nattie, and Bubba Ray Dudley are our Legends. Matt Bloom is the head trainer at The PC and Shawn Michaels is in charge of NXT.

-Then! Now! Forever! Together!

-We start with Kam Hendrix and how we was pulled from LFG for a few weeks. He used it as fuel and made a change to his attitude and character. He admits that he had to let go and be himself. Bloom gives him the call to return to LFG. Kam tells us that it’s showtime.

-Show opening!

-Matt Bloom is at the table with Booker, Bubba, and Kevin Owens, who is back. Booker gets the first match: PJ Vasa vs. Wendy Choo. Bloom wants PJ to be consistent with her urgency and physicality. They know PJ feels comfortable with Wendy.

-Bubba gets Elijah Holyfield vs. Chris Island. It’s been a bit since Chris was on this show. Bubba doesn’t seem thrilled to be working with Chris again. He will give him the best of the best tonight as they want him to succeed as much as Elijah.

-KO gets Kam Hendrix, who Bloom noted sulked before locking in. He will face a newbie, Shady Elnahas. Shady made it to the Olympics in judo. This will be his first wrestling match in front of a crowd.

-Wendy Choo introduces herself and notes she has been wrestling for 12 years. This was taped a while ago, but Wendy was the second ever WWE Evolve Women’s Champion and lost the title a few weeks aga to Nikkita Lyons.

-Booker meets with the ladies and they both feel comfortable. He drops some knowledge as he says “your losses need to be better than your wins.” He is hoping the light bulb goes off for PJ.

Wendy Choo vs. PJ Vasa

-Bubba and Booker agree that PJ has been stuck in neutral and isn’t growing. PJ pats Wendy on the head at the bell to clown her. Wendy fires off chops but can’t get an Irish Whip. PJ drops her and we take a break. Weird as they stopped doing that in recent weeks.

-Commercials!

-Back with PJ missing an elbow. Wendy kicks PJ down to a knee and lands a running boot. PJ bails to the floor to regroup. Wendy dives off the apron and gets caught. PJ runs her back first into the post and that looked vicious. PJ goes to work on the back in the ring and shows some good aggression. Running splash in the corner followed by a belly-to-back suplex for two. PJ with knees to the back and hooks a submission. Wendt counters and hits a kick from her back. She lays in some forearms and slides out of slam. She avoids a charge in the corner and hits a clothesline. Another one and a dropkick, but PJ is still standing. It takes another clothesline to finally get PJ off her feet. Cartwheel into a corner splash from Wendy. She comes off the middle ropes with a cross-body for two. Booker: “They are actually doing a pretty damn good job.” I agree! Suplex attempt, but the body isn’t strong enough so Wendy counters and hits one of her own. Splash by PJ gets two. She goes to work on the back including standing on Wendy’s back. Nice! PJ up top, but Wendy knocks her off balance. They fight up top and Wendy gets a superplex for the pin at 5:17.

Winner: Wendy Choo via pin at 5:17
-Props to both ladies as I enjoyed this. They worked the back and PJ’s offense looked good. The crowd was clearly behind Wendy. They built to a superplex and it finished the match. **3/4

-Commercials!

-Booker gives his feedback and tells them they did really good job with doing nothing and making it mean something in the early part of the match. He puts over their ability to get the crowd into the match.

-Bloom was happy to see PJ answer the call and credits Wendy for getting that out of her. PJ feels this was her best outing and it’s definitely up there.

-Bubba asks Chris Island who he is and Bubba says he still doesn’t know who Chris Island is at this point. He notes he has been here since Day One. He needs Chris to be the fighter with his family behind him. Chris says only two people knock people out and that’s him and Elijah. He calls Elijah his competition. For Elijah, Bubba wants him to be big. The idea is no shine and just heat straight to the comeback. Bubba wants to see rage from Elijah. He is excited and thinks we will see the best from both tonight.

-Commercials!

Elijah Holyfield vs. Chris Island

-Bubba plays hype man for Chris as he tells him it is his day and today is the day Chris Island turns the corner. Chris attacks as Elijah is making his entrance and then talks some trash. The ref checks on Elijah and he says he is good to go, so we have a bell. Chris attacks again and drops Elijah with a stun gun. Hammerlock backbreaker. Cool! I don’t know if I have ever seen that move. Chris works on the punching hand as he yells, “that’s the hand your daddy gave you.” Bubba nearly throws a chair because Elijah is keeping his dead down and we can’t see his facial reactions selling the pain. Chris stomps the hand and Bubba continues to get annoyed as Chris is talking down to the mat, so we can’t hear the trash talk. Island sends Elijah corner to corner and follows him and it looks like of janky. Hammerlock belly-to-back suplex gets two. He is definitely working that arm and hand. Chrismisses a charge in the corner and Elijah gets a rough looking spinebuster. They look a little gassed out there. Shoulder tackle by Elijah as Bubba and Booker note that Chris has no rhythm or feel out there. Powerslam from Elijah and he lands the uppercut for the pin at 4:45.

Winner: Elijah Holyfield via pin at 4:45
-Started hot, but got worse as they went. It was okay but could have been better. **

-Elijah realizes that his face was down the entire time and Bubba says nobody can see his face looking down there. Elijah gets heated and says he heard and will fix it and goes to walk away. Bubba tells him not to get mad, but Elijah is a little ticked off here.

-Commercials!

-Back with the drama as Elijah just walks away. He says he had to leave before saying or doing something disrespectful. Elijah didn’t appreciate the way Bubba went about telling him. Chris agrees and says Bubba was talking to him like he was a little boy.

-Bloom says that Bubba will tell you what he thinks, but it is with love. Elijah seems to have cooled down a little but also says he doesn’t need anyone talking to him like he is stupid. He will work on that though and just accept the feedback and cut out the other crap.

-KO meets with Shady and Kam. Shady is from Egypt and grew up a wrestling fan, but there was no wrestling training there, so he did judo. He moved to Canada to train and made the Olympics. He eventually for the call from WWE.

-Kam admits he was acting and playing a character in the past. Now he knows who Kam Hendrix is. They get in the ring and show KO what they have planned. KO mentions wrestling etiquette and how old school says you don’t do moves of other guys. Shady likes to do a Sling Blade and KO says you can do it here, but notes two guys use it. Shady say she has different variations and KO says that is fine. KO notes he is not telling Shady he can’t do the Sling Blade, but is just giving him something to think about. Shady seems receptive.

-Commercials!

Kam Hendrix vs. Shady Elnahas

-Shady is wearing a mask that looks like it is protecting his nose. Kam with a side headlock, but get shoved off. He knocks Shady down with a shoulder tackle. Shady with a head scissors. The announcers note the mask is because Shady is not 100%. Shady gets dumped to the floor and takes a bump off the steps. Kam with forearms on the apron and then hits a running clothesline in the corner. He hits another and then a Lights Out Clothesline for a two count. Kam with a reverse chinlock, but Shady fights his way out. He gets a roll-up for two. He goes back to the head scissors, but Kam is ready for this one and gets a powerslam for two. Kam slaps Shady in the back of the head and starts shoving him around the ring. We clearly know who the heel is in this one. Although we do get a dueling chant from the crowd. Shady starts a comeback with a series of clotheslines and hits a modified Pele kick. He hits the modified Sling Blade that ends up like a Flatliner. They trade strikes and Kam hits a Showtime Kick for two. Shady flips out of a suplex and hits a neckbreaker. Kam rolls to the floor, so Shady slings out with a cross-body. Nice! He heads up, but misses a moonsault. Football tackle and Lights, Camera, Action finishes at 5:20.

Winner: Kam Hendrix via pin at 5:20
-This was solid and I like what I saw from Shady for his first match in front of fans. He showed me more here than some other people that have been on this show for all three seasons. Kam is getting better and why they brought him to Evolve. **1/2

-Bloom and Shawn give both guys positive feedback. KO tells them it was really solid and notes it did not look like Shady’s first or second match. He does note Shady was overshot the moonsault and Kam didn’t have to move. We also find out that Shady is dating Tiffany Stratton and KO wasn’t a fan of the Shady pointing at his wrist like it’s Tiffy Time. Shady says it was a tribute to her. KO: “I get it, she will think it’s awesome, but you are just starting.” They all laugh. KO says if he was Shawn, both guys would be on NXT tomorrow.

-The women had the best match this week, but Kam and Shady worked well together. We got some drama between Bubba and Elijah and this felt more real than any of the stuff that happened with Bubba and BJ Ray in previous season. It was great to have KO back as well. Thanks for reading!