Coming into this week, there was a lot of rumored news on both social media and wrestling sites about how WWE Executives wanted ZZ off the show.  While it isn’t totally clear if these rumors came from real WWE decision makers or were just opinions of several wrestling reporting gurus, the WWE didn’t do much to dispel them with the editing of this week’s show.

Right out of the gate on this episode, we were treated to a ZZ-bashing session in the barracks which had all of his housemates supporting their on-stage opinions that he shouldn’t still be there.  This left ZZ defeated, telling his peers that they “don’t have to talk to [him] anymore” and to “treat [him] as if [he’s] already gone.”

I’ll admit I felt bad for ZZ, but this is still a competition and he needs to step up.

The Teamwork Wrestling Challenge

This week’s theme was teamwork, which brought us to our wrestling challenge.  After the coaches reamed ZZ countless times for looking unsafe, unpolished, and confused, the competitors were paired off.   The objective of the challenge was to work with your partner to put together a sequence of moves and execute them in the ring, as if they were having a match.

The competitors were grouped as:

• Tanner and ZZ
• Sara and GiGi
• Amanda and Chelsea
• Josh and Tanner (for a second time, since there wasn’t an even amount of guys)

The duo of Josh and Tanner blew away the rest of the competition.  They looked very clearly on the same page and showed a tremendous amount of potential.  Not surprisingly, the “worst” duo of the challenge was awarded to Tanner and ZZ, specifically because of ZZ’s lack of athletic ability.  The coaches (and then judges during the cut-scene) also scolded Chelsea for trying to out-shine Amanda and not work with her to elevate her.

A Budding Bromance

Back in the barracks, there was a glimmer of a budding bromance between Josh and Tanner, who reflected on their chemistry in the ring.  And then afterwards, Josh offered advice to Tanner on how he can increase his chemistry with women,.  If you saw last week’s awkward scene in the hot tub with Chelsea – you’d understand exactly why!

Millions of Dollars, Millions of Dollars!

The reality challenge this week had our competitors split off into two teams and run into a burning building to put out a controlled fire.  Joining us for the superstar cameo of the week was our current WWE Tag Team Champions, the Prime Time Players!

The two groups for this challenge were:

• Tanner, ZZ, Amanda, and Chelsea
• Josh, Sara Lee, and GG

Being a volunteer firefighter back at home, ZZ finally stepped up and commanded his team.  His knowledge of what to do and leadership shined, which was a much needed boost of confidence among his housemates.

The Prime Time Players were a riot during the whole challenge.  They were easily the most enjoyable superstars to watch that we’ve had on the show thus far (aside from the judges).

And Another One Gone

We stop off in the barracks one last time before heading to the live vote.  In the house, the three remaining guys seem to be bonding very well.  Josh and Tanner continue to offer ZZ advice on stepping up, despite having done it all season to no avail.

On the girls’ side of the house, Sara and GiGi had a small argument about GiGi feeling unsafe in the ring.  But it was the scuffle between Amanda and Chelsea that got the judges fired up.  The two took shots at each other’s looks and their in-ring skills.  It’s clear the girls are all trying to sabotage one another – a total foil to the relationship between the guys.

Just before the judges select the bottom three, The Miz teases that he’s going to select Amanda because she let her looks go to her head.  As the selection process begins, Daniel Bryan selects GiGi on account of her over-worrying during her match with Sara.  Paige selects Sara on account of not apologizing for a poor slam and bad etiquette.  Miz ends up changing his mind last minute and decides to put Chelsea up instead, who he thinks should be held to a higher standard based on her experience.

Right before the fan vote is calculated, Paige decides to use her save on GiGi.  Much to my surprise, the live votes show that GiGi would have had the lowest vote this week.  But as a result of her save, it’s Chelsea Green that goes home instead!

Assorted Musings

• Paige seemed a bit ticked off when The Miz changed his mind on Amanda.  I tend to believe she would’ve put Amanda up instead, if she had known that Miz was changing his mind
• I’m actually a bit stunned at GiGi had the lowest votes.  She’s been consistently strong in the competition and has had a fairly great personality the whole way through
• Despite all the shots taken at ZZ throughout the episode, both by the judges and the other competitors, it was interesting to see him not get voted into the bottom 3 for the first time.  I tend to wonder if the producers encouraged the judges to put three girls into the bottom 3 to even the cast out at 3 and 3.
• Sara Lee is beginning to strike me as the female version of ZZ.  I was really high on her entering the competition, but she’s really not showing much improvement at all.  However, she runs away with the fan vote nearly every time.
• I’m certainly okay with Chelsea going home because she started getting a bit arrogant with her previous experience, but I do think she at least forced the other girls to step up their in-ring game.

So what do you think?  With only four weeks remaining, are you starting to see a clear favorite?  Do you think Daniel Bryan will ever use his save?  Will ZZ use this safe week to step up his game big time?   Tweet your thoughts to @suggafnshane with the hashtag #WrestlingOnline!