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Tough Enough 3
I have
mixed feelings about the end of the Tough Enough franchise.
On the
one hand, it was fun while it lasted. It exposed a lot of
people to the world of wrestling who might otherwise never
see it, proved once and for all how very obscenely hard wrestlers
have to work, and did bring us Maven.
On the
other, it brought us a whole handful of other "winners" who
haven't surfaced since, and spread the vaunted WWE creative
staff quite thin across the board, at a time when consolidation
of talents might have been wise.
As Chris
Garcia has already reported, John and Matt received the contracts
last night, which surprised me very little. I'd still have
preferred Jonah, but Harvard Chris gives me hope that I might
see him again anyway.
Jamie
was voted off, courtesy of the MTV/WWE viewing audience, also
not a surprise. ("My vote counted!" crowed fellow fanboy Jordan
Rosa, a proud Libertarian. "For once in my life, my vote counted!")
The hour
was mostly repackaged footage and greatest hits from the season,
but there were a few worthwhile highlights. The "dude" counter
and the extra footage of the trainers' attacks on the house
were fun, and the reels of the contestants in the ring were
promising.
Nidia
and Maven announced the winners, and Josh (season 1) interviewed
the non-winners. Harvard Chris was in attendance, and there
was neither hide nor hair of Jackie, Linda, or anyone from
Season 2. Such is my fear for these third season contestants.
By most
accounts, this third season was better and yielded more real
potential wrestlers than the last two, and any of the five
finalists (even Jamie) would be a perfectly acceptable worker.
I will never argue with bringing new blood into the ring,
but I have my doubts that we'll see John or Matt on TV any
time soon.
The WWE
has some hard decisions in front of them, and if you ask me,
a lot of those decisions should be about their talent roster.
Tough Enough winners are guaranteed one year contracts, but
if the current creative spiral continues, a year from now
we'll all be in dire straits indeed, and some of the fat will
have to be cut. Don't count on big names getting that axe.
It's
been nearly eight months since the second season officially
ended, and we haven't seen Jackie or Linda since their embarrassing
early scenes with Vince and Stephanie. That leaves four months
to debut, get wrestling, and get over. Eight months from now,
where will John and Matt be? How much TV time can a struggling
franchise devote to untested talents?
But I've
enjoyed the ride, all in all, and would hope that some of
the creative staff that brought us three seasons of engaging
wrestling reality television might find a place in the WWE
itself. It's not just the winners who deserve a shot.
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