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Tough Enough 2
Original airdate: 4-25-02Nidia has a logo?
Quickly, to get it out of the way: Jackie and her boyfriend have sort of reconciled via letters and phone calls. ("Look, more letters for Jackie!" quoth Hawk.) Pete is disappointed. ("He'd still like to bag her," quoth Jake.) But they're both okay with each other now. Whenever "now" is - I'd assume a few weeks later. Phew.
This was a very training-heavy episode, to remind us that professional wrestling is hard. Really, really hard. And we're only seeing a fraction of the training process, as edited by MTV. The physical demands on the contestants have taken a drastic toll on their well being, physically and mentally. And that was before they'd even hit the ropes.
Morale is low, everyone is stressed, and the trainers are disappointed in their progress. (I'd also venture to guess that Jackie and Pete's little passion play didn't help the overall mood.) Hawk actually breaks down crying out of frustration and exhaustion, only to be berated by Bob Holly. Apparently there's no crying in wrestling, either.
They're lackluster in the ring, dragging ass at the Optimum Fitness confidence course, and worst of all, slowly losing confidence in themselves. Even going out drinking at their favorite bar (Yankee Doodle's) isn't helping them unwind.
Al wants to figure out what will motivate them, because each performance carries the trainers' reputations with it, and Al doesn't want his besmirched. The answer he comes up with is to bring in last year's Tough Enough winners, now WWF Superstars themselves, Maven and Nidia.
MTV must know something we don't, because Nidia's introductory montage showed a logo we've never seen before. Maven's is more familiar, but keep in mind, at the time of his visit, he hadn't even made it to the Royal Rumble yet. They may be miles ahead of this year's Tough Enough contestants, but they're still light-years behind Al.
It's Nidia who points out that even watching Tough Enough won't give an accurate idea of how hard the training is. She says something about puking in the corner after cardio, and the nodding response she gets is enough to convince me once and for all that I am nowhere even remotely near tough enough.
Like a proud grandfather, Al watches his former charges train the current ones, telling them exactly the same things he would but with a more immediate sympathy that obviously gets across to the struggling contestants. It's been a long time since the trainers went through this system shock; in less than a year Maven's gone from Trax to a ring in front of 18,000 people, all of them shouting his name.
Whatever they say, it does the trick. Big helps things along by announcing this year's vacation, which will be to Sun City, South Africa. Unlike last year's relaxing trip to the Bahamas, they will train while they're there, but he promises the vacation of a lifetime as well.
And with the rest of the mat basics finally covered, they get to incorporate hitting and bouncing off the ropes into their training routine. Ouch. The resulting armpit-chorus line of rope burns and bruises looks stunningly painful. Ditto the forearm chop from Hardcore Holly. Hawk, naturally, is the first to experience Holly's own unique brand of pain, and he dances around the ring whooping like a little girl after the first. Jake is the only one who can withstand it in place, but even he grimaces something fierce.
Jake, by the way, has twice demonstrated the right persona in the past few episodes; his comment last week about women playing evil mind games, coupled with the above comment about Pete and Jackie, present exactly the attitude he's suited for. I'm not sure how you would classify it, but I know it when I see it.
Anni, my other personal pick to win the contract, is also improving, most notably in her confidence levels. The harder you're trying to do something, the harder it becomes to actually do, as both she and Al pointed out, and Anni has finally stopped trying so hard. She and Nidia would make a fine tag team.
Just as soon as Nidia gets put on one of the rosters, that is.
