Tough Enough (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

WWE Tough Enough (originally known as WWF Tough Enough) was a reality television show produced by World Wrestling Entertainment and Music Television wherein a selection of hopefuls competed for a contract with the WWF (and later WWE). There were two winners per season for the first three seasons but only a single winner for the fourth season. All three televised seasons aired on MTV. A fourth competition was held in 2004, but was integrated into UPN's WWE SmackDown!

Tough Enough

Maven Huffman and Nidia Guenard won the first series of Tough Enough. Nidia was released on November 3, 2004 and Maven on July 5, 2005. Only two contestants were actually cut from the competition, the others who were eliminated voluntarily exited. Of the final five contestants, four of them would eventually join the Federation. The first season of WWF Tough Enough was released on DVD in 2002 as was the soundtrack.

Trainers

Al Snow
Tazz
Jacqueline
Tori

Contestants

Bobbie Jo
Chris Ni.
Chris Nowinski (a.k.a. Chris Harvard) (later joined the RAW brand, currently inactive)
Darryl Cross
Greg
Jason
Josh (later joined the SmackDown! brand as an announcer)
Maven (winner)
Nidia (winner)
Paulina
Shadrick
Taylor Matheny
Victoria

Order of Elimination:

Episode 3: Jason left because he could not sacrifice his girlfriend for being a WWF Superstar.
Episode 4: Victoria and Bobbie Jo both exited the competition; Victoria because she felt that she could not be a WWF Superstar; Bobbie Jo because she had no desire to become a WWF Superstar, she had intended to use the Federation as a stepping stone to get into Playboy Magazine instead.
Episode 5: Darryl was cut because he could not follow the trainer's instructions adequately, was sloppy in the ring, and did not get along well with the rest of the contestants.
Episode 6: Shadrick was cut because he could not keep up the pace with the rest of the group.
Episode 7: Paulina left because she tore a ligament in her knee and she decided that she needed to let it heal before further injuring it in the ring.
Episode 9: Greg left after he aggravated an injury in his spinal column.
Episode 10: Chris Ni. left because he felt guilty that he kept botching moves and injuring others; thus, decided Tough Enough wasn't the right place for him to be.
Episode 13: Taylor, Josh, and Chris Nowinski were all eliminated after Maven and Nidia were declared the winners of the first Tough Enough season.

Tough Enough 2

By the time the second season aired, the World Wrestling Federation had changed it's name to "World Wrestling Entertainment" and the show was renamed "WWE Tough Enough." The second season winners were Linda Miles and Jackie Gayda. Linda was released on November 12, 2004 and Jackie was released on July 5, 2005. The announcement of Jackie and Linda as the winners offended members of the male finalists, who claimed that this was not what was promised when they signed forms to compete on Tough Enough, citing that the forms claimed there would be one male winner and one female winner. One male finalist called into WWE's then late-night Saturday/early morning Sunday show WWF Excess (later replaced by WWE Confidential), who aired his grievances over the decision the following week after the winners were announced.

Trainers

Al Snow
Hardcore Holly
Chavo Guerrero
Ivory

Contestants

Aaron
Alicia
Anni
Danny
Hawk
Jackie (winner)
Jake
Jessie
Kenny
Linda (winner)
Matt
Pete
Robert

Order of Elimination:

Episode 3: Aaron was cut because he could not physically catch up with the rest of the group's speed. That caused him to pass out on the beach while exercising.
Episode 3: Robert was cut because he was struggling with all the physicality in and out of the ring; thus, he tired out more easily than others.
Episode 5: Danny was cut because he lacked of charisma while trying to perform an interview for the trainers.
Episode 6: Matt left because he tore a ligament in his right knee and his doctor told him it would not be safe to continue wrestling in the ring.
Episode 7: Alicia was cut because she had an injury and it hindered her from continuing to wrestle in the ring.
Episode 7: Jessie left because she was diagnosed with a heart condition.
Episode 11: Hawk left because he became concerned about his performance in the ring.
Episode 12: Pete and Anni were cut because they couldn't keep up in the ring as well as the others.
Episode 13: Jake and Kenny were eliminated after Linda and Jackie were announced the winners of Tough Enough 2.

Tough Enough III

The third series was won by John Hennigan and Matt Cappotelli. John, who wrestled for two years under the name Johnny Nitro, is now wrestling on WWE's ECW brand as John Morrison. He is a former ECW Champion and the first Tough Enough contestant to win a world championship in WWE. Matt was developing his talent further in the WWE development territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), but was diagnosed with a brain tumor in December 2005, forcing him to also give up his OVW Championship. However, the tumor was removed in 2007, although it is unknown whether Cappotelli will return to professional wrestling.

Trainers

Al Snow
Bill DeMott
Ivory

Contestants

Chad
Eric
Jamie
Jill
John (winner)
Jonah
Justin
Kelly
Lisa
Matthew (winner)
Nick
Rebekah
Scott

Order of Elimination:

Episode 2: Jill quit after the very first day of training. The trainers were all annoyed and labeled her as a "quitter" because she never put forth her best effort.
Episode 3: Lisa left because she decided wrestling wasn't the right career for her.
Episode 4: Chad was cut because of his lack of ability to keep up the pace with the rest of the group.
Episode 5: Rebecca left because she had a family emergency back at home and could not continue to pursue this competition.
Episode 6: Nick was cut because he had a shoulder injury and he lacked the ability to perform certain tasks in the ring.
Episode 7: Scott was cut because he didn't take the competition seriously; thus, he almost injured somebody because he kept botching moves.
Episode 8: Kelly was cut because she had a serious back injury and she was beginning to fall behind everybody else in terms of learning new moves.
Episode 11: Justin was cut because he lacked aggression in the ring as well as a competitive spirit.
Episode 14: Jamie, Eric and Jonah were eliminated when Matt and John were announced the winners of Tough Enough III.

$1,000,000 Tough Enough

The Fourth Tough Enough competition was conducted as part of WWE's SmackDown! program between October and December 2004 in response to RAW holding the first annual "RAW Diva Search" contest. The prize was a $1,000,000 professional wrestling contract split evenly over four years with only the first year guaranteed. The winner of the fourth series, announced on December 14, 2004 and televised on December 16, 2004, was Daniel Puder. Puder competed in his first (and only) WWE pay-per-view event on January 30, 2005, being the third entrant in the 2005 Royal Rumble match. Soon after, he was sent to OVW before eventually being released in September 2005. The most notable incident from this competition came on November 4, 2004, SmackDown!, in St. Louis, Missouri, the Savvis Center, Kurt Angle put the finalists through a Squat thrust competition for a prize. The winner was Chris Nawrocki. As part of the Kurt Angle Invitational, the prize Nawrocki won was a match against Angle. Angle defeated Nawrocki and then asked if anyone else wanted to try. Puder raised his hand and jumped in the ring to tie it up with Angle. During the tie up, Angle managed a takedown on Puder, forcing him to the mat, back first. Angle eventually scored a pinfall on Puder. However, Angle's pinfall on Puder sparked some controversy, as some fans believed that during the pinfall, Puder's shoulders were not grounded or on the mat. During the pinfall however, Puder shocked some fans by locking Angle in a real submission hold, a kimura . However, since Smackdown is edited before broadcast, this almost certainly would have been removed from the broadcast. After the bell rang, Angle got in Puder's face about the incident and told him to "get out of (my) ring." A DVD of this fourth competition was released in 2005.

Other finalists were:

Nick Mitchell (later joined WWE, most notably as a member of the Spirit Squad)
The Miz (later joined WWE)
Chris Nawrocki (later signed a developmental contract but was released in 2005)
Justice Smith
Ryan Reeves (later joined WWE but was released in January 2007)
Daniel Rodimer (later signed to a development contract but was released in August 2007)
John Meyer (selected as a finalist, but quit before the final selection stage began)

Marty Wright was cut before the finalists were selected for lying about his age. He was later hired by WWE, trained in OVW, before debuting on SmackDown! as "The Boogeyman." He suffered an injury not long after that and was eventually released. However, he was rehired in October 2006 to return as The Boogeyman. He is currently wrestling in ECW.

Trivia

Melina Perez tried out for Tough Enough III and made it to the final twenty-five, but was cut from the competition. However, she met John Hennigan during the tryouts and they eventually began a romantic relationship. She now works for the WWE as Melina on the RAW roster and became the first ever Tough Enough contestant to win the WWE Women's Championship.
Currently the only Tough Enough winner still on the WWE roster is John Hennigan, wrestling as John Morrison on the ECW brand. He is the first Tough Enough contestant to win a major World Championship in the WWE.

Refrences

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