WWE Tough Enough Discussion Thread
 

The debut is a few weeks away, but the top 40 contestants have been revealed. Based on the pictures from Raw, I'm happy that most of those 40 actually LOOK like they could become viable WWE superstars as opposed to some people from past seasons who seemingly had no business inside a wrestling ring.

On top of that, names like Chris Jericho, Booker T, Daniel Bryan, Lita, and Hulk Hogan, we just may have the most star-studded cast in Tough Enough history. Bill Demott an Al Snow may have been great trainers, but they were hardly ever extremely relevant on WWE TV.

Moreover, I really dig the fact that they'll be training at the Performance Center. I think it'll be pretty cool to see how things operate inside that place on a day-to-day basis. It would also be kinda cool if some people who were training there who AREN'T on the show ever stuck their heads in to talk shit about the contestants.

I've been a fan of the Tough Enough contest since the begin, and I can't wait for this version.

What are your thoughts on...

http://www.wwe.com/f/styles/ep_trend...ugh_042315.jpg

?

Waiting till the show starts, never watched any of the vids (minus what they showed on RAW). I've always had the feeling that "your votes count" is total BS and they picked who they wanted and BS'd the fans.

Just hoping Jericho does good here.

I wonder if Jericho is going to try and be all intimidating like Austin was on the 2011 season. Plays out weird in my head.

I can see him speaking in a Low manner like he did as heel. If he gets as fired up as he did ranting on the HOF this year, he will be money.

I know Jericho is a vet and can hold his own or whatever, but some of these contestants look like they could crush him. He's no spring chicken anymore.

I love Jericho, btw.

Hope Big O wins and gets a massive push just to spite Ryder.

<font color=goldenrod>The Big O making the final cut would be wonderful.</font>

<font color=goldenrod>Would be incredibly awkward if one but not both of the Kingdom Twins makes the cut for the show.</font>

Gonna see how long it Takes the WWE to let the winners go

I might be wrong but for some reason I remember someone winning and never being used

Andy Levine, got bitch-slapped by Vince and was never seen again.

maybe this time around they'll actually hire the winner and give him more than a cup of coffee of time to train and not hire the useless broad whose favourite match was Melina vs. Alicia Fox....

The Miz lost to Daniel Puder, who had a Royal Rumble appearance and that was it....

John Morrison made a pretty good run out of Tough Enough. Also The Miz, if you even count his season. Maven and Nidia both stuck around for a while. The Cappotelli situation was very unfortunate, but he probably would have had a decent shot. It's not like it CAN'T be done.

Cappotelli is a bitch.

<font color=goldenrod>How so?</font> :?:

Since most of the finalists have real wrestling backgrounds, it makes me wonder what they will do with all the submissions from people who never really had a shot

They should do a funniest tough enough submission video show

They did it just to get a buzz so more people would upload stuff with #ToughEnough.

My inner Bobcore came out. :D

And then halfway through the show it turns out that they used "Twin Magic", as the brother who made it sacrificed his spot and gave it to the one that got cut.

Or they constantly use "Twin Magic" to cheat at all the competitions. Like if there is a race or something, one starts and the other finishes and is all like "Yeah! I ain't even tired!"

Anyways, some of the finalists looked like definite roid freaks who Vince probably didn't even watch the videos but just saw the pictures and fainted in excitement.

<img style="-webkit-user-select: none;" src="http://i.imgur.com/bcTaGmD.gif" width="200" height="150">

Supposedly that was sort of the case with the last season. WWE really wanted a specific person to win but a combo of him getting voted off early and being injured dropped all interest they had in him.

Had either not happened, very likely the WWE would have done the show in a way to influence the voting like they do with the usual polls.

Martin? He was good.

The last season gave us Cameron. So there's that. I'm optimistic this one will be better.

Yeah but that was the highlight of the season. Alicia Fox and Melina having the best match of all time. :lol:

I don't like the idea of a bunch of "passionate" guys getting handed the opportunity like they have been. Frankie Kazarian said it really well in a recent interview "You'd do anything to make it in the business? Then why haven't you done it yet?"

Stone Cold's speeches were the best part of the last season. Can't imagine Jericho having the same amount of "gravitas".

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5TMKaR0tu8Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

F/ Chelsea Green: (AKA Jaida AKA Daniel Bryan's physical therapist he supposedly had an affair with)

That might be awkward lol

Skinner + Lash Leroux

Sara Lee will be getting a name change

Would you rather just a bunch of out of shape super fans?

<font color=goldenrod>I think it would have been interesting to sprinkle in a few out of shape people who on the show just for the sake of diversity. Not ridiculously out of shape, mind. In decent enough shape that they could realistically work off the weight/build muscle definition etc. throughout the course of the show.

The idea would be that they were picked for their personalities and it'd be cool to see if they show enough heart/character/whatever that they get voters behind them even if they may not be the physical specimen their counterparts are.</font>

<font color=goldenrod>But I'm fine with them all actually looking like wrestlers, anyway. There's definitely no way they watched like 85% of the videos sent in. I believe it even said on the sign-up page that there is no guarantee your application will even be viewed.

They likely just scanned for people who look fit first and THEN watched the videos, weeding out those who showed the charisma of a peanut.</font>

Observer on the theme the WWE was using when picking out the finalists and why its better to have a strong showing or get eliminated near the end than actually winning the competition based on past history.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BREAKING NEWS: <a href="https://twitter.com/WWEToughEnough">@WWEToughEnough</a> cast released! <a href="http://t.co/zYVWGImDM4">pic.twitter.com/zYVWGImDM4</a></p>&mdash; WWE (@WWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWE/status/609504834174193664">June 12, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Some details about the final 13 competitors from the WWE: https://www.wwetoughenough.com/news/...lists-revealed

The whole thing about the fact the two winners will be making more than just about everyone in nxt is dumb argument because it's only a 1 year deal and unless whoever wins is ridiculously over they won't make anything close to that if they stay around. The best part is, even if they do manage to get over the WWE could fuck em over anyway by not putting em on tv or burying them.

Rooting for ZZ I guess out of the guys. Didn't realize he was only 18.

Don't really have a female preference but Sara Lee gets me cause of the name.

ZZ Loupe is a pretty awesome name too

I think it'd be better if they went the other way, and the loser resented the one who made the cut. He fucks with him somehow during the show to get him eliminated (feeds him pot brownies and makes him fail a piss test, or something). Neither one "wins", but they already have an angle to be spun off for a "second chance" shot in NXT.

But, I suppose that's moot now.

Watching the casting special thing...

"laughing out loud" at graphic saying "After a long night of soul searching, The Kingdom Twins decide to withdraw from the competition" immediately cutting to interview with them talking about how "at the end of the day they didn't quit"....... Isn't that exactly what they did?

Jericho pretty terrible at doing the cliche reality show "make you think one guy/gal is eliminated only for it to be the other person" thing....

I LOVE this guy...... partially because I've teamed with some guys in Louisiana who are exactly like this. He's my pick to win (if not win, but I can still see him getting a contract)

Fuck did I miss the first episode?

Not the first episode, but they had a "casting special" on the WWE Network showing the "Top 40" getting whittled down to the 13 who made the show.

did anyone get asked what their favorite match was? And did they answer with Melina vs Alicia Foxx?

They showed one dude saying "What's my favourite match? I don't know. I don't have one." in response to the question...

Ugh hope he gets cut.

He got cut

With a knife? :)

LINNNOOOOOOOLEUUUUMMMMMM KNIIIIIIIIIFFEEEEEEEEE!!!!

<font color=goldenrod>Amanda Saccomano's definitely getting signed.</font>

Wonder if any relation to Bob

Just watching the casting special, some of these women are incredible. Not even sure they're real.

ZZ is fantastic.

Mike. :(

Khalil and Stephen would be a great tag team.

<font color=goldenrod>Didn't really care for the season premiere to be honest. The house scenes are hilariously scripted (I know reality TV has a lot of scripted moments, but almost nothing on Tough Enough felt authentic except for the physical challenges). The judges sitting there and basing everything off of pre-recorded video and a couple of questions feels a bit weak. And Renee Young could have done Jericho's job by himself.

Maybe it was just a clunky premiere. I'll stick with it for a few more weeks at least as there's nothing else I watch at 8 PM on a Tuesday.

The one bit I liked was Paige calling Hank out for his sexist comments. Also chuckled at Dianna getting all sad about her fiance. If you're already missing him when he's within driving distance, have fun spending 90% of your life away from him on the road. She's super hot but constantly bringing up her fiance will prolly wind up causing her to lose the basement-dweller vote.</font>

Didn't watch the entire episode but Tanner seems like the man to beat. Not sure if Paige deserves to be on par with both Hogan and Daniel Bryan as a judge. She's only been on the main roster for a year. Did like Paige calling him out for what he said though. So, she could be good.

Not feeling this show. Format is weird as hell. They're trying to mash up American Idol with Real World and doing neither very well. I'm hoping once it settles into an actual routine and they're doing stuff beyond "Here are some people running. Here are some people arguing." it might get better.

Right now it's just a bunch of people doing gym class shit and yelling at each other. That's not a good show.

"It's funny that he said that, because in my submission video I also said I was what was best for business."

You and like 75% of the other people, dude.

I actually watched this last night. I honestly feel like I went in with pretty low expectations to begin with, but I thought the whole show was pretty awful. Was it the worst show I've ever seen? No, of course not, but even for WWE/"sports entertainment" standards it was bad and just felt off, scripted and forced.

Jericho was horrible as a host and I'm not even sure why he was there. The best part was when the panel got to ask certain contestants questions but that lasted all of 5 minutes. Doing the panel segments in front of the small crowd at Full Sail also seemed to bring everything down and make it weird too. I'd rather them just have no crowd at all or do it on an empty sound stage or at the performance center if they're going to have it in such a small venue like that.

Hopefully, things will improve as the show goes on, but if it doesn't happen quickly, they're going to lose me fast, if I even remember to watch next week. I barely tune into RAW anymore, and up until this weeks RAW hadn't watched RAW since the night after WM. In fact, the only reason I watched TE last night was because I actually had some free time and there was literally nothing else on.

I don't like the format at all. I also think its really dumb to have the bottom 3 plead their cases and the cut off voting RIGHT AFTER THE LAST ONE PLEADS...lol so you have 2 seconds to vote after his last word if he impressed you.

Yeah. That was really stupid. All the more reason why I think even the "voting" results are predetermined.

The post-show on the Network was actually really good. Probably going to have to treat the show on USA as a pre-show.

Just watched this.... much like the consensus, I am not really a fan of the format.

Hogan/Paige/Bryan just seem so far removed from the contestants to be the ones judging anything. Really should be the trainers being there.

Also don't like the format in the mixing the live and pre-taped stuff. I know they are trying to make it "interactive" but it just makes it feel weird. Like I'd rather just watch a polished linear pre-taped episode. Every time I was "getting into it" it felt like it would just awkwardly jump into the live stuff and then another pre-taped segment....

Seemed weird to have the bottom three give their "last pleas" after the voting had already opened and then subsequently giving zero time for the pleas to matter with the vote results being announced immediately.

Like Dark One said, though, the "Tough Talk" thing after the show was actually pretty good. It definitely felt the most "real", even blatantly pointing out that reality tv shows are fake, which will prob get that chick in trouble but whatever.

Season premiere didn't do that well in ratings or at least compared to the last season. If it has similar drops, next episode could be in the under million range for viewers.

I was underwhelmed as others have been but Tough Talk might be a weekly watch on the Network. I was far more entertained with that format than what they showed on USA.

They may do some tweeks before week 2, we shall see but I wasn't really impressed at all with the presentation.

When is this on? Want to catch the next episode.

will WWE paige always be wearing a push-up bra

Paige's tits looked good. Not sure about the rest of this business yet. Crazy having people eliminated already when they had pretty much no chance to connect with anyone.

That's the thing too... all the live segments took away from time they could have given to more polished pre-taped stuff showing the personalities of the contestants.... then they could just have one live segment at the end of the episode.

<font color=goldenrod>Feel like I'd rather not make it onto a reality TV show at all than to make it on and be eliminated in the first week.

And yes, I'm fully aware that Cameron somehow was the only one to get signed.</font>

I could live without the blatantly fake bullshit. The black guy seems like they want him to come off like a smark.

It sucked. ZZ is good and the bitchy Brazilian girl should win.

<font color=goldenrod>:lol: Alex saying "knowledge means nothing". Dumbest comment ever. Even Mick Foley called him out on it on Twitter, saying that he will stop watching the show if he doesn't get eliminated.</font>

<font color=goldenrod>And, as expected, Alex is gone.

This show seriously sucks though. ZZ is worth watching cause he's funny. Nearly everybody else is completely unlikeable.</font>

And USA just made the Women's World Cup Finals v. JPN/ENG (tomorrow's semis winner) on Sunday. This has been an amazing 5-10mins.

how are WWE Paige's titties looking

Pretty amazing, tbh.

pics man

need to see 'em

nice

She needs to, uh, "distract" all the contestants week after week with that outfit, each week showing the zipper slightly more undone than the previous week, but then swerve the finalists on the finale show by wearing a not-at-all revealing outfit just when they thought they might glimpse bared mammaries.

Just watched.... again, the "Tough Talk" thing was better than the show....

I think it is pretty ridiculous with the whole thing Paige telling those two girls to "stand out more"... and they are like "I stay out of fights/drama. That isn't why I'm here. It's not my fault that the fights/drama are what gets highlighted on the show."... and Paige is all "You need to find a way"

What are they supposed to do.... feel like they are at the mercy of editors/producers.... Another reason why this whole "live" aspect falls flat.... at least in previous seasons the eliminations were done by the coaches who had more to base them on.... and then the editors/producers could look at it after all was said and done and craft the story over the season taking into account who needs to be featured where....

This show is all hit or miss... producers/editors have nothing to "build too/for" and are left just showing what they think is the "most interesting" which has just been a series of "fights" and "screaming matches"....

Couldn't agree more. Tough Talk is BY FAR the more entertaining show. I found it hard to actually pay full attention to TE but Tough Talk had me laughing pretty hard at points. You also get more of a feeling who the contestants actually are. Patrick is the lead person in my eyes right now.

Also pretty funny that one girl getting called out for 3 previous marriages and her current husband thinks will be no issues with her going on the road :lol:

On one hand, drops like that are pretty normal for tv seasons although on the other hand, also means the decision to have RAW replays be the lead in for Tough Enough probably isn't going to work.

Tanner looks like Daniel Bryan and Seth Rollins got legally gay married and had a son somehow and it was him.

Just remembered a comment I had...

I find it hilarious how Chris Jericho and Renee Young are pretty much both doing the same job, but when they did the name key with both their names, only Jericho got the subtitle "Host" under his name.

Watching live this week via the YouTube.....

Hate all the awkward clapping.... Audience is clapping, contestants are clapping, judges are clapping..... Who is applauding for who here.....

<font color=goldenrod>Feel like Daria's gone. ZZ is too funny to eliminate. Sara Lee seems to be the "internet favorite" amongst the women.</font>

Voting for Sara Lee.... Hot braud.... This is what happens when they leave the power in the people's hands...

<font color=goldenrod>I love Paige and all that but it feels weird having her be the token "judge who mercilessly talks down to everyone/tells them that they're fucking awful" when she's only been on the main roster for like a year. You'd think she's been in WWE for 15 years with the way she talks.

Glad she's on the show though because boobs.</font>

Always ragging on her for not standing out, but feel like this is the first week Mada has done anything of note....

<font color=goldenrod>So they get 30 seconds to walk to the ring...which is like 5 feet from where the stage is. This show is so weird.</font>

<font color=goldenrod>Oh they finally figured out they should do the pleas BEFORE the voting.</font>

Kinda want ZZ to go.....

At least they fixed the voting this week.

Sara Lee pleading that she isn't the best.... Damn.... Might have to not vote for her.....

Watching it live puts too much pressure on me....

Damn.... Voted for Daria.....