Tough Enough Storyline?

[Guest Spaceman Spiff]

By way of 411.com:

 

-Chris Harvard of Tough Enough 1 was backstage at RAW this past Monday. WWE is having thoughts of putting together a storyline involving past Tough Enough participants. [1wrestling.com]

 

So, a Tough Enough Storyline?  While guys like Lance Storm, Christian, Chavo, Hugh Morrus, Raven, & Val Venis, among others (you know, actual *trained wrestlers*) have literally nothing to do?

 

Ooooh, can't wait ::rolls eyes::

[Guest buffybeast]

It's about capitalizing off of an investment.  The WWF wants to get as much as they can from their TE investment.  Pushing the contestants and winners is the only way to do this.

[Guest Black Tiger]

How many storylines can they do though?

Chris Harvard kicks Maven's ass because Maven had his contracy handed to him, while Chris EARNED his contract.

 

Chris and Maven team up and form a tag team called Tough Enough.

[Guest buffybeast]

They can involve the women somehow.  Rumor has it that they may sign Kenny and Jake and form a TE reject faction going against the actual winners.

 

I do not know how successful that would be, however.

[Guest Anorak]

If there's any justice in the world the TE losers will be met with either derision or complete indifference. Hopefully the boos the TE women apparantly got on HEAT this week is a sign of things to come, the WWE will probably pipe some cheers in for Sunday. There might just be a bit of a backlash against the whole TE thing, i struggle to see a TE themed storyline being too successful to be honest, even if i wasn't biased against the whole concept. I've got a feeling TE 3 could bomb big time this is the case, it certainly deserves to.

[Guest]

Tough Enough is Crap! If they wanna do something decent, have TE3 be done from OVW/HWA. Have the "Trainers" and Big John (Who the Hell is he to judge anyone anyway?) decide at the end of 9 weeks, or whatever it is, who should be brought up to the WWE roster.

 

At least then, maybe, the guy or/and women might be respected by the audience and the "boys" in the back.

[Guest Spaceman Spiff]

The other thing that pisses me off is that the guys who came in from WCW were sent to the developmental territories and/or released for being "too green" or "not WWF material" or whatever, while the TE rejects are apparently being brought in for an angle.  Kaz Hayashi asks for his release, Elix Skipper was released, O'Haire is still in OVW.  Meanwhile, we'll have to watch TE guys/girls w/ less than 1 year of any kind of wrestling experience.

[Guest Anorak]

Thats the thing that eats at me as well, Hayashi and Skipper would be fine in the cruiser division. Despite his gimmick i always thought Kwi-Wi had potential as well. Too much talent got buried simply because they were 'WCW', while many had to job endlessly and get humiliated on TV an even unluckier few were sent down to the minor leagues despite being in better shape and having more talent than many 'WWF Boys'. The TE contestants are WWE products, a homemade production line which bears their own stamp and nobody elses, the benefits for these athletes are plentiful whether they are deserving of it or not ability wise.

[Guest buffybeast]

People, quit complaining about the kids from Tough Enough.  The fact is they make more money for the company right now than Elix Skipper or Kaz Hayashi did or probably ever could.  Success in this business is not based soley on talent.

 

Also, please realize that the phenonemon of "paying dues" is not just working the indy circuit for years and years or eating raw potatoes in a shitty Motel 6.  It's busting your BUTT and working hard for the company and not complaining.  

 

My beloved Albert did not toil away in the indies for years.  He worked three matches for Killer Kowalski before being signed to a developmental deal, then spent 9 months in Memphis, then got called up.  Yet no one complains that he hasn't paid his dues.  And that's because he currently is paying his dues by working dark matches, the B shows, being jobbed, etc.  THAT is paying dues.

[Guest Spaceman Spiff]

I'm not complaining about paying dues, I'm complaining that the TE guys won't look good in the ring.  Look at Maven - dropkick, high cross body, and that's about it for moves.  How much better can the rejects be?  How many matches have they put in?  And TE matches don't count.

 

And how are they making money for the company?  They don't have shirts/merchandise, and I can't imagine anyone buying a ticket for the show just to see them.

 

Also, please realize that the phenonemon of "paying dues" is not just working the indy circuit for years and years or eating raw potatoes in a shitty Motel 6.  It's busting your BUTT and working hard for the company and not complaining

...

And that's because he currently is paying his dues by working dark matches, the B shows, being jobbed, etc.  THAT is paying dues.

And when exactly have the TE kids done any of that?

[Guest converge241]

I could see if TE was getting bigger or equal ratings than WWE programming. But its a fraction that doesnt warrant the huge pushes of everyone. If one of them, like Maven is over with the crowds (or in the ratings) yeah i can see that. But they pop for Maven and dont for Nidia. I wouldnt invest time in her over some of the undercard guys that never got a chance. The few times Harvard has been prominent on Raw or Smackdown there was no reaction.

if they want to push the tough enough people i think it should be proportionate to exposure, time, and fan interest.

For example: more prople have seen Lance Storn on a regular basis then Linda, even if people go apeshit for Linda (which apparently they havent been) that should only count for a fraction of the awareness and time Lance Storm has.

There could be some mitigating factors, like maybe more people watch tough enough on the endless replays (but im guessing those are diehards who watch repeats)

[Guest buffybeast]

It's not the individual TE wrestlers the company is pushing.  It is the whole TE show including the wrestlers the company insists upon pushing.  WWF has invested a lot of money in those shows so they must attempt to earn a profit from it.

 

Spaceman, you can't say that Maven has not been working hard and busting his ass when he works.  He may not be a technical genius ala Benoit.  But I do believe he has been giving 100%.

 

Again, it is not the TE winners only who are making money for the company.  It is the TE show, the CD's and the winners who are promoting the show and hopefully draw many viewers to it, which in turn WILL make money for the show.  So again, at this time, the TE winners are more valuable to the company than ex WCW wrestlers.

[Guest converge241]

theoretically i dont see the necessity of pushing the tough enough show as well as the characters, again based off of the ratings if the wwe regular watchers were taken out i bet the te ratings would be a 4th of what they are, and pushing the tough enough people on wwe tv is not an attempt to bring those people into (or back) wwe. and why doesnt it? they dont plug that "your favorite tough enough winners are on smackdown this week!" or something along those lines.

 

another mitigating factor id like to throw out (contrary to what i think) is that maybe they are just trying to get brand new faces and push them without any baggae (some of which the wwe writers saddled performers with). like the Natural Born Thrillers in WCW towards the end.

 

Personally all in all i would admit theres money to be made in maven and Jackie..i dont like either but they love Maven and Jackie delivered biggest ratings spike for te2 (i think theres money in Jake too , but i wont get started on that)

[Guest Brian]

100% is still a mile behind Benoit.

 

To say that the show is making the WWE anything near what a handful of former WCW wrestler could is ludicrous. Do TV Ratings = $$$ now, or did I miss something. The WWE is just producing more TV to fulfill a rquirement of the contract with Viacom, not really making major profits off it. If the developmental guys, the cruiserweights, and whoever else were given an extra half hour a week to develop characters, and since the WWF will only reap the benefits two of them in the end, why couldn't they just put that hour into people who are under contract, and they can push merchandise for. Let's see, a CD, a TE shirt, and what other merchandise, vs. giving the slot to contracted workers who could each have individual shirts (Two matches = Four shirts) and other assorted gimmicky crap, would more than likely fill the void of putting non-contracted bodies on TV who eventually are probably going to cost not as much as they made (I mean, if Maven's on TV almost every week, he probably didn't get as small a developmental deal as thought). And yet the ratings are falling, the concepts pretty tired, and they've signed six people to contracts (at least $300,000 based on average dev. contracts), they're going to push another season

[Guest buffybeast]

100% is still a mile behind Benoit.

 

To say that the show is making the WWE anything near what a handful of former WCW wrestler could is ludicrous. Do TV Ratings = $$$ now, or did I miss something. The WWE is just producing more TV to fulfill a rquirement of the contract with Viacom, not really making major profits off it. If the developmental guys, the cruiserweights, and whoever else were given an extra half hour a week to develop characters, and since the WWF will only reap the benefits two of them in the end, why couldn't they just put that hour into people who are under contract, and they can push merchandise for. Let's see, a CD, a TE shirt, and what other merchandise, vs. giving the slot to contracted workers who could each have individual shirts (Two matches = Four shirts) and other assorted gimmicky crap, would more than likely fill the void of putting non-contracted bodies on TV who eventually are probably going to cost not as much as they made (I mean, if Maven's on TV almost every week, he probably didn't get as small a developmental deal as thought). And yet the ratings are falling, the concepts pretty tired, and they've signed six people to contracts (at least $300,000 based on average dev. contracts), they're going to push another season

First, according to the paperwork sent to all potential contestants before the show starts, the devolopmenal contracts amount to $50k a year base.  Not 300k.

 

Secondly, the WWF is at least making some money off of the TE show, foreign distribution deals, shirts, DVDs, CDs, etc.  However, one cannot say with absolute certainty that a cruiser would draw in the WWF, which is traditionally been a haven for bigger men.  

 

So for me to make a statement that the TE show in general earns more than a handful of smaller ex WCW wrestlers is NOT ridiculous.  One cannot prove that those guys will ever draw a dime and history concludes that they probably will not.  So I suspect that the WWF are making their decisions based on sound business judgements, not the desire to entertain 10% of their audience, myself included.

[Guest Brian]

Look at it this way. Cruiserweights are given less than half the time a week on SmackDown that TE is. Yet Billy vs. Tajiri, which was pretty botched as a storyline, go over in fifteen minutes of a PPV match. Now I realize pops don't always equal drawing ability, but look at it this way; the match had nothing going for it at the start and yet people were getting involved in it by the end. Yet, their not given a half an hour each week to develop a character and show off some moves. But they're as over as Maven with very little motivation to the crowd. How can that be?

 

As long as the waters are untested, no one can ever say anything? If it was the exact same situation in reverse, where cruiserweights were being given marketing and time and allowed to show off a very edited, spliced ring-work segments, and they were as over and making _supposedly) as much money as TE is, and this reality show was being tossed around, would you argue in the exact same way for the opposite viewpoint?

 

History has never conceded that cruiserweights cannot draw. In fact, it's done the opposite. In America, cruiserweights have never been handled right or given the proper direction to become what they are in Mexico and Japan, and to a lesser extent Korea. Because they were given respect, because they were allowed to branch out, because they were given time to shine, they drew. Liger didn't draw? Juvi and Mysterio didn't draw? Michinoku Pro, a largely cruiserweight based fed, as an indy, draws well?

 

I'm still standing by my line of thinking which is that if Maven's wrestling on WWE television, he's got to be earning more money. Because there is probably some incentive in his contract, like with developmental guys, that allows him to move up on the pay ladder once he works nationally televised matches. And six times $50,000 is $300,000.

[Guest dreamer420]

They can involve the women somehow.  Rumor has it that they may sign Kenny and Jake and form a TE reject faction going against the actual winners.

 

I do not know how successful that would be, however.

that defeats the entire purpose of making it a contest then.  they might as well bring in 13 participants, trim the fat, and then give everyone a contract so every goes home happy.

 

btw did anyone see jake after jackie was announced as a winner.  what a poor sport.

[Guest Redhawk]

If they're going to do a Tough Enough storyline, than they HAVE TO bring in Darryl from TE1. He doesn't have to wrestle, he could be a manager or an "agent" or whatever. He remains the most entertaining TE contestant ever.

[Guest]

If they're going to do a Tough Enough storyline, than they HAVE TO bring in Darryl from TE1. He doesn't have to wrestle, he could be a manager or an "agent" or whatever. He remains the most entertaining TE contestant ever.

I'd pay good money to see him do that thing he did in the supermarket with the bread. Breakdown! Breakdown!

 

So sue me, I think a feud between Harvard Chris and Maven is a good idea. Milk the cash cow for all its got. Not sure about signing all those other rejects though.