WWE Tough Enough Episode 1 Review by Larry Cochran
It all began ten years ago when the concept of reality television was a fledgling market that had been started by MTV’s The Real World. The words Tough Enough were introduced to wrestling fans and television viewers across the world via the program which ran on MTV for three seasons and continued on WWE programming for one more season before being shelved. Fast forward to 2011 and World Wrestling Entertainment has expanded its horizons into the world of film and television once again with the return of WWE’s Tough Enough airing every Monday night at 11:05pm EST on USA Network.
Episode one begins with the host, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin (WWE Hall of Famer and TV/Film Actor), explaining the premise of the show which is to find out who is “tough enough” to make it through the competition and become the next WWE Superstar. Austin is standing in the ring before a WWE event as pyrotechnics go off in the arena as you would see at any WWE event. The fourteen contestants make their way out onto the stage and then down near the ring at Austin’s call. Stone Cold explains to them about the hard work that is necessary to put on a WWE event in all areas not just in the ring and lets them know that the first challenge for them will be to be involved in this hard work behind the scenes. He tells us that each week he wants the contestants to be a life lesson and this week’s lesson is commitment.
The fourteen contestants of the show are compromised mostly of men and women with some previous degree of training and independent experience in the ring before coming to Tough Enough. One of these contestants is Michelle Deighton who previously appeared and made it into the Top Six on “America’s Next Top Model” in 2005. Deighton also has another interesting tie to television in her husband, former Survivor villain Jonny Fairplay. A few contestants are newcomers to the world of sports entertainment and provide an interesting counter to those experienced contestants. The most interesting contestant from here would be current Miss USA Rima Fakih, a former guest host of WWE RAW.
The contestants work to help set up the whole show doing tasks like putting up and taking down chairs, cleaning and transporting trash into the dumpsters, sweeping and organizing wires. The contestants are tired as 1:17am rolls around and they know the competition is for real. The next day we see the contestants pulling up in front of a beautiful mansion where they will live and be training for the next ten weeks of the competition. They check out their new digs and this is where the contestants learn about Rima’s pageant queen status as well as an argument breaking out after Mickael makes a sexist remark about the women not needing wrestling ability but their looks instead.
The contestants then go to the training area and are met there by one of the original Tough Enough trainers Bill Demott as well as Trish Stratus and Booker T. They run through some conditioning exercises and Steve Austin comes into the building on his “Stone Cold” motorcycle. The contestants get to do some basic training in the ring with rolling and “taking bumps” which is known outside of sports entertainment as learning how to fall. Demott gives some of the contestants nicknames as he explains that’s how he learns to remember them. Contestant Martin reminds him of Donny Osmond so that’s his nickname and Contestant Ryan gets the comically dubious nickname “Skidmarks” in a light moment.
The contestants get to go back to the house, relax and party their night away before getting up the next morning and dealing with training the next morning. Contestant Matt explains that he’s gonna be the Ric Flair of the competition by “partying hard and being the first awake and at the gym the next morning.” The contestants then go through “three minutes of hell” which is running the ropes over and over again in a drill many sports entertainers know well. The trainers are constantly keeping them motivated as one finishes and falls to her knees and another contestant loses his teeth in the ring. After everything is done the trainers go to Stone Cold’s office and talk about the competitors and what they’ve seen so far. They return after a short conversation and Stone Cold calls three people to step forward. Everyone gets to go back to the house but those three have to pack and get ready because they could be going home.
Each of the three contestants defends their performance and explains why they want to get into “the business” with hilarious retorts by Austin. This part definitely must be watched for an amusing story by our Tough Enough host. In the end, one of them is going home and the other two will get the chance to prove whether they are TOUGH ENOUGH.
Watch Monday April 4th as WWE Tough Enough premieres on USA Network at 11:05pm EST/10:05pm Central.
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For more info on WWE Tough Enough:
http://www.usanetwork.com/series/toughenough/
