411’s WWE LFG Season Three Report: Episode Nineteen

-Written: 8.24.26
-Source: A&E
-Run Time: 1 Hour (w/ commercials)

-Plug: Episode 18

-Greatest Moments seems to be done for this season, so we get two new episodes of LFG tonight. I will have the second episode posted tomorrow.

-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.

-Vic Joseph and Jeremy Borash handle commentary.

-Then! Now! Forever! Together!

-We at The PC with Myka and Tristan doing a romantic photo shoot together. They play it for comedy as Myka carries Tristan and he presents her with flowers. He asks Myka to be by his side for the rest of his LFG journey and wants to see a mixed tag for the end of the season. They kind of have to pay that off now since they put it on air. It would be nice to bring the Mixed Match Challenge back.

-Show opening!

-Matt Bloom is at the table with Booker T, Bubba, and Kevin Owens.

-Match 1: Booker gets Dorian Van Dux, who they want to bring more emotion and less motion. His opponent is Braxton Cole and Bloom wants him to take risks with his reaction to the crowd chanting “wiener” at him. Booker pats himself on the back as he feels Cole does well under his guidance.

-Match 2: Kevin Owens gets Myka Lockwood vs. Layla Diggs. Bloom is happy with both women and wants to see what they can do together.

-Main Event: Bubba gets Harlem Lewis vs. Tristan Angels. Bubba says Harlem will get his chance but is not as good as he thinks he is yet. Bloom loves Tristan and calls him a sponge, but wants to see him become a nasty heel when needed. Bubba agrees about Tristan, but brings up that Harlem is a little frustrated. He wants a chance to spread his wings and Bubba wants to see if he is as good as he thinks he is. Bloom agrees to give them more freedom, but Bubba has to keep control.

-Booker is watching Braxton and Dorian work out as this is their first time working together. Cole tries to do something with a roll and Booker tells him to quit because of his size. “You’re never going to do that.” Booker thinks Braxton needs to work on the psychology in his matches more than anything. DVD is just having the best time as he is amazed he is working out with Booker T. Booker tells themif you keep things simple it is hard to mess up. The things he wants them to remember: Register, Sell, Hard Sell, Dead Sell.

-Commercials!

Braxton Cole vs. Dorian Van Dux

-The wiener chants are out for Cole and he plays into them this week as he makes sure the know how to spell the word. The wiener chants continue so they let that play out before getting into a lockup. DVD grabs the arm and snaps it over his shoulder. Cole stops a whip and backdrops DVD to the apron. DVD lands a head kick and tries to spring, but Cole knocks him off balance. Cole kicks away while DVD is down and brings him back into the ring for a neckbreaker. That gets a one count. Cole with a reverse chinlock. DVD escapes and misses a head kick, but spins through and connects a second time. DVD up top, but Cole cuts him off again and gets a hangman’s neckbreaker out of the corner for two. HARD SLAP from DVD as Cole was talking trash. Cole avoids a charge, but DVD lands on the apron and springs back in with a clothesline. Something gets a little wonky as they transition into a Cole neckbreaker and Booker questions if they messed something up there. Cole going for another neckbreaker but DVD counters with a small package for the pin at 4:02.

Winner: Dorian Van Dux via pin at 4:02
-Solid but I was kind of expecting more. I assume they went with the Booker idea of keeping it simple. The story was there as Cole kept going back to the neckbreaker, but got caught. **

-Commercials!

-DVD says the match was great and he tried to keep it simple for Braxton. He then admits he messed up the spot and is annoyed because he wants to be the best. Booker tells both it is a learning experience.

-Bloom tells DVD he has to learn the psychology as he never sold his neck once and that hurts Cole. “If it’s just movement they will react, but in five years you will be back on the independents.” Bloom tells Cole he did better with the wiener chants. He thinks Cole needs a set entrance to play into it.

-Kevin Owens is watching Myka and Layla and we know that KO likes to let his kids just work out what they want to do. He is the opposite of Booker! Myka says they each have something they want to show in the match and they want to create magic. The story is that Layla can fight back and hang with the scary heel.

-Commercials!

Layla Diggs vs. Myka Lockwood

-Tristan Angels pops up in the crowd and does the intro for Myka with a megaphone. “Known to me as Kitten Whiskers.” That’s tremendous! The crowd starts a “kitten whiskers” chant. Well, that kind of takes away from Myka being a scary heel. Layla with a side headlock, but gets shoved off and run down with a shoulder. Myka misses a charge in the corner. Layla flips over the ropes and slings back in over Myka. She ends up getting a head scissors and a dropkick. He charges and Myka just LAUNCHES her back across the ring and on her stomach. Myka drops a leg but misses a second one. Layla with a roll-up for two. Layla fires off chops, but tries a whip and that goes nowhere. Elbow from Myka and she hooks a Crush head vice. She transitions to a reverse chinlock as the crowd gets behind Layla. Chokeslam is escaped and Layla gets another roll-up. She lands a kick to the face to leave both women down. Step-up enziguri! She flips to avoid Lockwood and bounces back with another kick for two. Myka cuts her off with a slam and goes for the powerbomb into the powerslam, but Layla counters with a DDT. No cover as she heads up top. Moonsault misses, but she rolls and gets on her feet. Myka catches her with a big boot and then the powerbomb into the powerslamfinishes at 4:45.

Winner: Myka Lockwood via pin at 4:45
-This was better than the earlier match as they worked well and Layla looked good fighting from underneath. This was an enjoyable little match. **1/2

-Commercials!

-Kevin Owens thinks they are both suited the other way. He mentions Tristan being so annoying that it made Myka likeable. He also notes they missed a chance by not having a pin off the DDT. I caught that as well.

-Bloom asks Tristan about the megaphone and he seems to be on board with it. Bloom loved the match and loved the cut off where Layla went flying. Layla thinks her strikes should have been tighter. She was worried it was bad but Bloom tells her it’s all about timing. He appreciates that she is calling herself out on stuff and wants to watch it back with her. He then tells Tristan he will kick his ass if he brings Myka down as an anchor.

-Bubba is with Harlem and gets his thoughts on his frustration. Bubba understands being frustrated at being over produced. The other side of that is Bubba dropping an F bomb and asking Harlem what he’s even done to produce everything from jump street. Bubba has been a Harlem fan since day one and agrees he has been over produced. He will let them spread their wings tonight and fly.

-He watches what Harlem and Tristan have planned. Harlem says the way Bubba produced the match is what he wants. He can come with his ideas and the coach can make them better and that’s what Bubba did.

-Bubba tells them they have to live with it or die with it. If it sucks and they come back through the curtain, he is telling Shawn it was their idea. They agree.

-Commercials!

Tristan Angels vs. Harlem Lewis

-As always our Main Event gets the full NXT Arena treatment with a full house. Bubba will high five them if it works and if not, they can deal with Shawn and Bloom. They get in each other’s face to start and Tristan gets a slap to the face. He bows, so Harlem punches him. Tristan misses a chop and Harlem hits one. They repeat and the crowd is into it. They collide center ring and nobody moves. Harlem flexes and then knocks Angels down. Myka Lockwood is out to watch and Harlem notices. Angels goes to the eyes and drops Harlem gut first on the top rope. He then pulls Harlem into the post and the ref is out to check on Lewis. Tristan notices Myka now before going to ground and pound on Harlem. He chokes with his boot in the corner and runs Harlem head first into the second buckle. Good aggression from Tristan here. He hooks a front facelock and then goes to a Dragon Sleeper. Bubba seems to be enjoying it. Harlem powers up to get a slingshot suplex to catch a breather. They fight to their feet and start trading blows as the crowd cheers and boos. Harlem with a heavy clothesline and another one. Powerslam gets botched badly! Lewis just rolls with it and gets a powerbomb for two. Nice recovery. Lewis floats out of a move and gets a Back Stabber. He misses a kick and Lewis gets a crucifix for two. Angels with a superkick but gets caught with a high knee. Myka trips Lewis behind the ref’s back and Angels hits the knee stomp for the pin at 5:15.

Winner: Tristan Angels via pin at 5:15
-Match of the night outside the one slip. They hit each other hard and Angels got to show off some aggression. This was good. **3/4

-Myka carries an elated Tristan to the back.

-Bloom doesn’t like the chops. “Would you do that in a bar?” Shawn agrees and Harlem understands. He comes out intense and a big, tough guy. Chops aren’t cutting it.

-Bubba asks them if the fans were into it, got the story and got their money’s worth. They answer yes and Bubba agrees. He says he was very happy with the match and he had confidence in them. He would not have let them go out and fail if he didn’t believe in what they were doing.

-Harlem loved having the freedom and loved getting the advice from Bubba. They both thank Bubba for giving them the chance to do their own thing. Harlem says he was made to be a pro-wrestler and he was made to call a match. He will sleep well tonight.

-We are nearing the end of this season as I believe we have two weeks left so at most four more shows. This was a good episode with people were have seen a lot this season. Each match got better as the night went so that’s a plus. I like the addition of a little bit of story with Tristan and Myka. That can work when it’s not forced as “real” like the BJ stuff from past seasons. I love the work the legends do with the kids and how they each have their own style. I hope they keep this format forever!