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I very much enjoyed the WWE Tough Enough finale last night. To me, the live wrestling aspect made it a pretty enjoyable show, even though the bouts were short and at times, the physicality was really rough. Thoughts on how things worked out for the finalists:
THE WINNERS
Of the four competitors, Josh looked and performed the most like a wrestler that had experience. He deserved to win. I had actually tapped Patrick Clark to win the entire thing but Clark ended up eliminated after turning the audience on him by cutting a promo on ZZ. Josh really showed an aptitude and an eagerness to improve over the course of the show and deserved the victory. In the ring, it wasn't hard to believe someone that big and physical could hang with Cesaro. I don't know that the Yeti in all his furry regalia will be seen again, but Josh has the size and charisma to make a WWE run work. I hope he does. He's big, well spoken, motivated and moves well. I He's exactly what WWE wants in their talents, especially during an era where the talents aren't as massive as previous generations were. You can tell when Josh walks in a room that he's someone. WWE loves that. All all of the finalists, Josh is the one who is expect to (barring injury or something unforseen) to go the fathest from this past season.
I am not as confident about Sara Lee, but I remain hopeful. Of the women, before the show even debuted, I called Lee's win after watching her Youtube video. There was something unique that struck me about her and the viewers of the show obviously agreed. However, the most surprising thing about Sara actually winning, was that in the ring, despite her athletic background, Lee had a lot of problems finding herself.
Often, Sara seemed to be trapped in the awe of being involved but needed to break out of her shell more. Even her entrance last night lacked energy at times. But, as I noted, Lee was also extremely likable, personable and pretty and that allowed her to survive all the way to the end. It was hard not to root for her but at the same time, you wanted to see her have some sort of break-through where she would then kick ass in the ring. That break-through never came, but it's possible it might still come. Scott D'Amore once told me of a wrestler who was just terrible forever in training and then out of nowhere, it clicked and he was off to the races: Petey Williams.
Sara has a LONG way to go, but pro wrestling success isn't always dictated on what one can do as an in-ring worker. Sara has a pretty unique charisma and her promo last night was indeed the best she's ever done, although it didn't finish strong. She has a long way to go but now has $250,000 reasons to find her way beyond her skittery feet (trademark: Billy Gunn) and to find the type of poise and confidence that Amanda at times showed. She also now has $250,000 worth of reasons for every developmental Diva to be angry that she's now training alongside them. How she fares politically going forward will be an interesting story to follow.
THE RUNNERS-UP:
After last night (and having spoken to her twice for interviews over the last week), I absolutely get the impression that we'll see Amanda make her way to WWE one day. I can see the company locking her into a developmental deal.
Amanda was FAR better than Sara in the ring, although neither of them were going to be confused with Sasha Banks or Natalya anytime soon. She nailed a few spots last night -a really good headscissors takeover and a sunset flip that was damn great - that showed real promise and with her fitness background, she knew how to carry herself on TV and in public far more than most in the competition. That goes a long way given how many responsibilities the talents are given when it comes to live TV, media appearances, community outreach, etc.
I was also impressed that Amanda obviously smacked her face hard early on against Fox and still kept going. That's the sort of toughness WWE depends on their talents having. I really don't think it will be long before WWE gives Amanda a call.
As far as ZZ, who I loved on the show, he looked surprisingly good for most of his match against Cesaro last night. I write surprisingly because we really haven't gotten an idea of what's inside of him. We can tell he's a good guy and really smart and quick with his mind when it comes to telling stories and quipping good lines, but in the ring, not so much. He looks as if he could be a Santino Marella-esque undercard performer that kids would love and that sort of performer is great for media and community outreach as well, but I can see WWE wanting ZZ to actually prove he wants it before he gets the call. He ended up on the show when someone else dropped out and sort of coasted physically. While Josh lost close to 50 lbs., ZZ stayed the same.
Mick Foley wrote in one of his books that his biggest issue at times was his weight and it made him wonder how many good matches could have been great and how many great could have been legendary had he conquered that issue. Well, we have to say the same thing for ZZ. He made it that far based on his charisma and likability. What would he have accomplished if he dropped the amount of weight as Josh? How would his in-ring have improved if he had? We'll never know.
We also don't know how WWE sees that. If he wasn't motivated by a $250,000 contract, how motivated would ZZ be to work the independents, much less get a standard WWE developmental deal? How motivated will be to keep improving if he gets that deal? That has to be an important question WWE has to think about before they make an investment into him.
Mike Johnson can be reached at MikeJohnsonPWInsider@gmail.com.
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