Throwback Thursday – Tough Enough

Ladies and gentlemen this is a special edition of Throwback Thursday because I’m not going to talk about one specific superstar, but I’m going to talk about the wrestling reality show that exposed the world to what it takes to make a WWF superstar, and that show was Tough Enough.

Now considering that NXT is growing in popularity for WWE, I figured I’d go back and refresh my memory banks on the original show where true rookies to the wrestling game were given the opportunity of a lifetime.  In 2001 Tough Enough premiered on MTV.  Out of tons of videos of wannabes, thirteen people were chosen to go to Connecticut and train with some of the WWF’s best.  The training team led by Al Snow was comprised of three others, Jacqueline, Taz, and Tori, who relentlessly beat, battered, and broke the trainees day in and day out for nine weeks to see who was going to earn a contract (one man & one woman) to work for the WWF.

Over the course of that time, many bumps and bruises occurred, and most dropped out of the training.  When it got down to the finale there were only five left standing tall waiting in anticipation to see if their name would be called as the winner.  The two lucky competitors turned out to be Maven & Nidia.  Maven went on to wrestle for the WWF/WWE till mid 2005, having some feuds along the way with names the likes of The Undertaker, Al Snow, and his former Tough Enough opponent Chris Nowinski.  Nidia went on to wrestle with WWF/WWE till 2004.  She was paired up with Maven early on, but eventually was tied closely with Jamie Noble.  She even in her short time feuded with Torrie Wilson.

When you think about the cast, and you look now and see that only one is still around it’s sort of crazy… Can you tell me who that is? TIMES UP!  You shouldn’t be looking in the ring, you should be looking at the broadcast table.  The WWE announcer and backstage interviewer, Josh Matthews, was one of the finalists on season one of Tough Enough.  In 2002 after the show finished, Josh made his debut on WWE TV in Canada, and then was a regular host for their Velocity show.  He wrestled only a few matches in WWE, but mainly stuck to the TV side of things where he remains now.  He hasn’t changed much at all in nearly ten years since the show.

When I first heard about NXT debuting for WWE at the beginning of this year, I thought that it was going to be a revamped version of Tough Enough, and I was a little disappointed.  However, I’ve come to grips with the fact that NXT and Tough Enough shouldn’t be compared at all.  NXT is just like any other WWE brand.  It’s about getting a story across.  Tough Enough may have been a reality show, and pegged as what goes on, but it really isn’t.  I’ve seen ordinary guys and girls work indy shows, and they work hard everyday of their life, and then go train in the ring at night after a full day of making a living.  The one thing I think Tough Enough did for me, and a lot of people, was open my eyes to the fact that these superstars actually have to go through a ridiculous amount of training and preparation to do what they do on a regular basis, and that with one misstep you could injure yourself or your opponent badly.  It really makes you think twice about whether or not you want to do something like that.  I have much respect for everyone that steps between those ropes to perform in that ring.