Tough Enough

[Guest ShooterJay]

Since the Jackie Gayda black eye this past week on Raw, a lot of people on this board are advocating this show be cancelled. However, I don't think we should all be so hasty. Everybody remember the first season, it turned out a pretty decent crop of talent. To recap:

 

Harvard Chris is now a smark darling, and has developed an excellent gimmick that he conceived during the show and honed in the indies. He has the cred and the look already. A little more polish, and he'll definitely be a big star someday.

 

Nidia complements Jamie Noble very well, plays her part well, and is already fodder for trailer trash fantasies. She can have longevity as a manager.

 

Maven is progressing slowly (albeit VERY slowly) into a competent wrestler and is more over than a good chunk of the roster. His acting is better than a lot of them too. Work on his promo skills more and he could eventually become a solid addition to the midcard.

 

We could already see from the show that Josh was a nifty little worker, and by all reports he's improved greatly. Could really be a boon to NWATNA's X or tag divisions.

 

Greg isn't exactly embarassing himself in CZW.

 

Taylor is someone I think the WWF could pick up eventually, but only if she could be portrayed as a realistic woman and not a "diva." Taylor to me was the most interesting part of TE 1, and she could really shine if given exposure, I believe.

 

As for the training itself, it is a testament to Al and Tazz that most of these guys are this advanced this early. Trust me on this, because the training camp at my indy produces guys who make Hermie Sadler and LT look like Savage and Steamboat.

 

I think everybody saw that TE2 was going to be a huge bust, as pretty much all of the contestants sucked bigtime. So, realizing this, WWE went with the ladies, thinking their weaknesses would be hidden because WWE fans don't expect much from lady wrestlers.

 

That said, Jackie is useless, and Linda even more so, and I'd like to see both of them off TV.

 

But, I say give TE another year, and maybe the trainers will find a diamond in the rough, someone who could be molded into a major player in the WWF's future. Although, I feel that this time around they actually should be in OVW or HWA for a year or so before being called up.

[Guest jimmy no nose]

But all of this could be done by them going to a wrestling school then going to the indies, no need for Tough Enough. That way, only the workers the WWE finds to be good enough will ever make it, not just people who were on their reality show. You even said that they're all developing slowly, that development should be done before going to the WWE.

[Guest greeneb22]

Jackie doesn't deserve to wrestle, but I think Linda has potential in the women's division. My solution is to just stick Jackie in a few magazines and for crying out loud keep her out of the ring. Just for the record I did not agree at all with the decision to go with the 2 female tough enough winners.

[Guest myburninghammer]

I actually think they're doing the right thing with Nidia--and to a lesser extent Nowinski--by making them side players, complementing more established or more talented wrestlers; let 'em learn the business firsthand, but don't make the audience suffer for their naivete. When they're ready to actually go in the ring, they'll already be over and comfortable with the setting, which means they'll be there because they somewhat deserve their spot rather than a petty obssession by Vince or whomever that he can make anyone a star.

 

I don't care how close one's boobs come to touching their forehead, if you don't know how to FALL DOWN, you need occupational therapy, not TV time

[Guest Kingpk]

They did good with the first one because they held off on debuting Maven and Nidia for a while (I think about a month) to let them go to development and hone their skills. This time, they just threw Linda and Jackie into the mix the week after TE 2 ended.

[Guest GenerationNever]

McMahon could pay Jackie for nothing, keep her off TV, and have her be his mistress. Thus, no more mid-life crisis on TV.

[Guest BobbyWhioux]

The thing that works against the Tough Enough winners is that they are recognized as "the guy/gal who won tough enough" by the fans, because of course the WWE overhypes the shit out of tough enough just like everything else. Therefore, they are stuck with starting out of the gate with "the tough enough winner" as their debut gimmick/persona. Which is only going to work for a very limited time and in a very limited scope.

 

I think guys like Harvard Chris / Chris Nowinski are better off in the long run, the people who make a good showing at tough enough and impress the trainers but don't actually "win" the competition. By not "winning" they are not thrown out there with the "tough enough winner" gimmick and the stigma that results from it.

 

Chris Nowinski had a chance to be forgotten so he could be repackaged as a real wrestler and not "a tough enough kid." It's not a sprint, it's a marathon, and I think in the end Chris Nowinski, not Maven, is going to be the actual "winner" of the first tough enough competition.

 

[And by the way, yes, I am one of the many internet geeks jumping onto the "Harvard" Chris Nowinski bandwagon. He kinda reminds me of Kurt Angle at the very beginning (late 1999), which is of course a good thing.]

 

As for Jackie Gayda, the only question on my mind is who exactly did she sleep with to get her job, because she ABSOLUTELY SUCKS. I'm seriously considering starting a "who did Jackie sleep with to get the contract" poll thread, just to get a feel for who my fellow smarkies think is the most likely operator of the WWE casting couch in this case.

 

Then again, I suppose if Hulk Hogan could come back to WWF/E, then anything is possible, and she could still eventually blossom into a good wrestler, or at least a competent one. In which case I will recant fully.

 

But until then...

 

Was it "Big" ? Was it Vince? Was it Shane? Was it STEPH (hey, you NEVER know...)? Or was it somebody else?

[Guest TheDames7]

You know, I usually don't say anything, but I find it so ironic how fickle some people can be.

 

If you go back and take a look at the TE thread from the finale, when Linda was announced the winner, most of the people on this board shouted that Jackie Gayda was robbed. Now, its "who did she sleep with to get the contract". Jesus, have some conviction now will ya?

 

I bet everyone who knows what I'm talking about will now come back with the argument "Well, Linda was the better wrestler anyway", which judging from the way the show was presented, is bullshit.

 

Dames

[Guest BobbyWhioux]

Yeah, maybe, but I wasn't one of the "Jackie was robbed" people. I really didn't watch enough of Tough Enough 2 to have an informed opinion on who did or did not really deserve to win.

 

My opinion of Jackie Gayda the peformer has been developed solely on what I've seen of her in the ring and on the microphone, and my theory on how she "got her contract" stems from my perception.

 

So don't call me fickle until I come out here two weeks from now raving about her rapid improvment in the ring. This is my first snap judgment on her, not my second. :-)

[Guest papacita]

If you go back and take a look at the TE thread from the finale, when Linda was announced the winner, most of the people on this board shouted that Jackie Gayda was robbed. Now, its "who did she sleep with to get the contract". Jesus, have some conviction now will ya?

 

That's true. I mean when she won, pretty much everyone thought she should've won and that Kenny or Jake should've been chosen instead of Linda. Personally, I'm still glad that Jackie won. She was the sentimental favorite at the end of TE2 due to the injury, and the WWE writers are IDIOTS for not playing up on that.

 

As for Tough Enough itself...I think it should've been done away with after the 1st one, because the roster is crowded enough without a bunch of inexperienced rookies crowding up the roster. I mean, can anyone justify Jackie and Linda getting matches on Raw while Raven and others are stuck on Heat? It had a successful 1st season, but I think it's about time they drop it...

[Guest jester]

Isn't TE still a ratings winner though? If it is, it doesn't matter who stinks up the ring, it's staying.

 

jester

[Guest TheDames7]

The finale of TE2 was the series' highest rated show of both seasons, so yeah, its a keeper.

 

Dames

[Guest HartFan86]

WWF needs to sign Greg...real bad. He'll make Harvard Chris look like shit. Greg is awesome.

[Guest saturnmark4life]

As long as it pulls the ratings they'll keep doing it, though when they've proved they have a perfectly credible set of young wrestlers in O Haire, Cena etc i don't see the point.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Maybe the Tough Enough people should get their own show. I think the WWF desperately needs more live TV time, wherever and however they can get it.