411’s WWE Unreal Season Three, Episode Four Report: ‘Life Happens’

-Written: 7.22.26
-Source: Netflix
-Run Time: 55:02

-Plugs: Episodes One, Two, Three

-Another Plug: Dark Side: Joe vs. Butcher

-Well, judging by previews this one is going to get a bit heavy. We all need a good cry every now and then.

-AJ Lee starts and says her and Phil process things differently. She keeps her guard up, doesn’t ask for help and is a hard ass. Phil wears his heart on his sleeve and we see him backstage looking emotional. He is asked what’s on his mind, and he just shakes his head and says he is doing his best not to fall apart. He admits he has a heavy heart right now and oh man. The producer wants to know if he can ask, and Punk says he can ask, but he doesn’t want to tell right now.

-Punk says he doesn’t have the best poker face and he tried to hide it. They promised they wouldn’t tell anyone and he starts to break down. He is in tears as he says they waited to announce to the world that “Larry went back to his home planet.” Yep, here come the tears!

-We see photos of Punk and AJ with Larry. Punk says Larry was a misfit that needed to find his people. No different than him or AJ. Larry had a bite on his record and was told if he bit anyone else, he would have to be put down and that’s why Punk was so protective. AJ says Larry was her emotional support and as he became a senior, she became his emotional support. Punk mentions the “Larry’s Dad” patch he had on his jacket at Survivor Series was a rush to do as he wanted to honor him. “I love the little dude and wanted him to be with me that day.” Someone hug this man!

-Show opening!

-HHH says they try to do the best job possible to lay out long term story arcs and then life happens. Sometimes it’s for a happy reason and we go back to RAW in August when Naomi announces she has to vacate The World Title due to pregnancy. This is great as she cuts the promo in character and we see Jim and TJ Wilson losing it backstage. I needed this laugh after the Larry story. Naomi says she will come back breastfeeding with her baby in her arms to get her Title. “Baby Uso,” chant from the crowd. I forgot how awesome that whole deal was.

-We see Stephanie Vaquer, whose government name is Ana Stephanie Vaquer Gonzalez. She has also gone by Dark Angel. We get Vaquer highlights. She says wrestling is her first language and not Spanish. Devil’s Kiss montage! I’m sure some people out there will run it on loop. Props to them for including Booker T calling the move. More laughter right now is a good thing. Chelsea calls taking the move “kind of thrilling.” “The ass to the face might have been the crowd’s favorite moment.”

-Stephanie was born in Chile and her dad supported her wrestling dream. When she was 19, she moved to Mexico to train in wrestling. She had no clue how dangerous it could be. She had a facial fracture when starting her career and they have the footage and yah, it’s nasty. Then the other wrestler continues to beat on her. What the heck? Her nose is in three pieces and she remembers she had to spend months sleeping while sitting up. She was far from home and didn’t know anyone. She had to start working at a restaurant to make money and slept in the kitchen while waiting for her face to heal. She calls her dad her hero as he always supported her.

-After a few months she went to Japan and learned kintsugi. Quick google because I want to learn tells me that kintsugi is the art of putting broken pottery back together by mending fractures with a special lacquer that is mixed with gold, platinum, or silver. We see her putting a teapot back together. That ties into how she does the makeup on her face. That’s pretty cool actually! She says she was reborn with kintsugi.

-Wrestlepalooza: Steoh says the producers had an idea for the end that involved The Devi’s Kiss and she said no. This was the most important match of her life and she wanted to break out her hardest move. A producer notes it is similar to the Spiral Tap that AJ uses, but is Steph’s take on it. She wants to achieve her biggest dream with her greatest move. 



-Steph vs. Iyo: Winner is the new Women’s World Champion. Steph’s dad Hector is in the crowd and it is the first time he had ever see her wrestle. This is an emotional episode and I am here for it. I want to see the human side of these men and women. We see the Devil’s Kiss because it’s a must and the crowd pops like always. Finish time and Steph says she started practicing the move many years ago, but before WWE she never wanted to do it. She hits it clean too! Her dad has a massive smile as his daughter is the new Women’s World Champion. Stephanie is in tears talking about it as you can see how much it meant to her. She gives her dad a hug and again, this episode just wants you to cry no matter if tears of joy or sadness.

-Papa H congratulates her backstage and gives her a hug. She doesn’t want to cry again, but he tells her it’s fine and to let it out. Hayes gives her props for nailing the finish and that it’s fine if she cries, as it is emotional. We see her hug her father backstage and the tears are flowing again. Dad: “You’re beautiful. I love you.”

-I love you Jeff, and I miss you!

-HHH moves to Bron Breakker as other times life happens and things go away. We go to RAW where Bron is supposed to get angry and destroy the announce table. He throws the table and says the hernia happened when he was screaming. It wasn’t from anything physical. His stomach got tight and he wasn’t sure what happened. He tried to stand to do something else, and couldn’t. He went into medical and we see HHH relaying the info to Roode and Reed in Gorilla. The doc saw it and said they needed to go now and get surgery. Bron gets emotional as he felt he let people down. “It sucked.” All this work and he notes his body quit on him. HHH asks Bruce how long Bron will be out if he needs surgery and he is told several months. HHH looks crushed.

-To the writer’s room where the doctors have said Bron can’t do anything for six weeks. If he tries anything he can mess it up and have to start over. I had a hernia surgery over a year ago and was no joke. Mine was a hernia that was there forever and they decided to just take care of it before it got larger. Sucked sleeping with that stupid band around my lower stomach.

-We get the cool graphics to discuss The Vision being under attack from real life injuries. Seth is out and they pivoted to The Brons. They added Logan Paul and Austin Theory. Before it can get rolling, Bron goes down with an injury and they need to pivot to Bronson Reed. They discuss the story would be Seth vs. Bronson Reed. The idea is Bron may be able to come back to cost Seth the match at Mania.

-HHH says the plan is to put the full weight of The Vision behind Bronson Reed, but this thing is falling apart. “It’s snake bitten.” Bronson Reed tears his biceps breaking up a pin on RAW. He knew instantly and you can hear him in the ring telling Americano that he tore his bicep and then he tells the ref. He rolls out of the ring and gets checked by the doctors. No reaction from Gorilla in real time? We see Bronson talking to Austin Theory backstage about the injury. They both wonder if the group is cursed and Bronson tells Theory to be careful.

-Elimination Chamber: HHH says they had big plans for AJ and Punk but they are still processing the loss of Larry. AJ mentions after Larry’s passing, a ton of money was pouring in as donations towards Paws Chicago (where they adopted Larry). Fans donated, so they donated and then WWE donated as well. They went to present the check and AJ says was good for her as she loves animals, but Punk was a mess. It brought up a lot and he looks like a wreck as he says “it was not easy.” LOOK AT ALL THE BEAUTIFUL DOGS! Punk asks AJ where she wants to buy a farm so they can pack them all up.

-Okay, now Elimination Chamber: Punk calls The United Center a holy place. He says he is nobody without Chicago. He is at his best here and they have carried him through some of his greatest moments. HHH says this is their last big spot before Mania and they knew it was a big spot as Punk is Champion in Chicago. They also have AJ having her first singles match in years against Becky.

-Trick Williams is back and HHH has something new planned for his entrance. Hey, there’s the Danhausen box. I assume he ends up on this show at some point in the future. They rehearse Trick’s entrance and HHH says the main job is to step out and look like a star and not trip. If you do, you’re Trip Williams. So don’t pull a Titus!

-Seth Rollins is back so they are hiding him in a bus. He is also stunned at the run of injuries happening with The Vision. HHH says Seth is going to return as a masked man with a big reveal, but they need a decoy first. We see HHH planning out things in the Chamber with Hayes and the other producers.

-Rhea is working out in the Chamber and says she is getting too old for this shit. She doesn’t think people realize how high it is on top of one of the Chamber pods. She doesn’t like heights, but likes to do stupid shit. She takes a practice bump with one of the crash pads to get a feel.

-Women’s Elimination Chamber: Tiffy, Kiana, Asuka, Raquel, Rhea, and Alexa. Winner gets a Championship Match at WrestleMania. We get highlights and Rhea enters to wreck everyone. TJ and Jason Jordan are the producers which is common for the women’s matches. Alexa gets Asuka mist and is eliminated. The door gets stuck and has people freaking out in Gorilla. It’s stuck closed as one of the pins broke, so they tell Bruce they are working on it. Raquel eliminates Kiana and Asuka, but they can’t leave, so they roll to the apron. HHH: “You have to get that motherfucker open.” Live TV man! They fix it and the crowd pops. Funny! We get to the end with Rhea coming off the Pod with a cannonball to Raquel. Tiffy then follows with the Prettiest Moonsault Ever and Raquel is gone. Tiffy gets her nose bloodied and HHH tells the camera he is fine with seeing the blood so don’t worry about showing it. That’s right HHH! Let those Old School vibes show. Rhea gets the win.

-HHH checks on Tiffy and says her nose “looks fucked up,” and laughs. Becky tells her it is straight still. Tiffy says her lips are numb. She is a bloody mess. The women congratulate each other in Gorilla and receive praise. Tiffany cuts a “promo” on Rhea as she is within ear shot and Tiffany takes blame as she didn’t catch herself on the way down. Her nose isn’t broken so she is in the clear. Rhea apologizes and Tiffany tells her it’s not her fault. Tiffany puts her grill in and takes photos of her bloody nose and face. Wrestling man!

-AJ Lee is backstage and Petey Williams wants to make sure she is okay. Punk says it’s just butterflies as it’s her first singles match in over 10 years. HHH tells her she hasn’t forgotten how to do this. AJ says they had 20 minutes and jokes all her previous title matches combined may not have been that long.

-AJ Lee vs. Becky Lynch: Women’s IC TItle: AJ was worried she would need her inhaler out there. We get match highlights and the ref gets bumped (Carr). AJ notes Becky wants to be the best bad guy in the world and knows she needs a good face. She credits Becky for making people look like a star and she thinks they nailed it. AJ gets the win and becomes Women’s IC Champion. She says she felt like she was in another world. She thought she was just back to have fun and now she is being trusted to carry a Championship. She shows off the mat burns on her elbows and the strands of hair falling out because Becky is a bruiser.

-Punk vs. Balor: World Heavyweight Championship: Not sure if you know this, but Chicago really loves CM Punk. Punk vs. Balor was one of the matches I wanted to see when Punk made his return. I enjoyed both matches they had and maybe we will see it again now that both are on SmackDown. Punk gets his must busted open from a kick and loves it as it make his night better. He wants his matches to look like fights and doesn’t want to look the same after the match. Punk gets the win in a hard fought battle. He secures his spot as World Champion at WrestleMania.

-AJ Lee runs down and we get a double celebration. Cool! Punk says they had a little bit of a moment, but AJ wouldn’t kiss him because he was bleeding. AJ: “We were not going to give the fetish sites any material.” That’s hilarious! Honestly, they have all the material then need from the Devil’s Kiss montage earlier in the show. Punk’s Blackhawk gear is sweet, but this is a reminder that my Pens swept The Hawks in the 92 Stanley Cup Final. Punk says if you come to his house, you would not know he is a wrestler, but he would frame that photo of them with their titles standing in The United Center.

-They take pictures backstage because WWE loves having photo shoots. Punk says they will celebrate by getting the pizza named for Larry that helped raise money for the shelter. Nice! He tells us about the new tattoo of Larry’s paw print on his chest. Larry would stand on his chest and stare at him until he got what he wanted. He says it was painful, but that was beautiful because Larry’s passing was the worst day of his life.

-Men’s Elimination Chamber: Trick gets a hug from Lash and then they pray together. He gets a fist bump from Michael Hayes as he is out to make his entrance first. His entrance is amazing and gets me fired up every time I see it. My five year old loves yelling Whoop That Trick! Lash marks out and screams for Trick to be safe as he climbs up the pod. Heyman in Gorilla: “This motherfucker is going to be a monster.”

-Gorilla is wondering about the Seth run in and Seth wants a second mask. His beard is showing through the first, so wants a second. Every little detail counts. He gets ready backstage as we see highlights of The Chamber Match. With Trick being the only focus, we don’t get much on anyone else in the match. For those wondering, it’s Cody, Logan, Trick, Je’Von, LA Knight, and Randy Orton. Seth wats to make sure Heyman and Theory aren’t in his way when he makes his entrance through the crowd. We see Evans and Knight get eliminated by Logan. He sends Trick packing as well. Seth starts running in the back as we see the first masked man come out and start climbing the Chamber. Security pulls him away and he pulls off the mask. As that happened, the other masked man walks through the open Chamber Door and he STOMPS Logan. Cody eliminates him and Seth pulls off the mask to pop the crowd and make Heyman piss his pants. Seth takes his leave and we still have one more run in as Drew is here and blasts Cody with the WWE Title. Randy hits the RKO on Drew and then Cody with a Cross Rhodes, but Randy takes advantage and beats Cody with the RKO.

-HHH says with all the chaos the one constant they do have is Cody Rhodes is holding down the ship. He is called the team captain and QB1. HHH knows they have to get Cody to a Main Event at WrestleMania and we close with that.

-This was a very good episode. If you love to cry this is the one for you as we had tears or sorrow and tears of joy. The Larry stuff will pull at your heart strings and Stephanie’s story will make you want to root for her even more. Naomi just made me laugh and I hope she is enjoying motherhood. For The Brons I just felt bad for them. Especially Bron as he was seen as the chosen one and it just changed for him. We finish everything up with episode five tomorrow and I will give more thoughts on the season as a whole. As always, thanks for reading and joining me on this journey.