2015

July 28, 2015July 28, 2015 Tom Lynch Spotlight On Raw, Wrestling #RAWOKC, John Cena Broken Nose, Paige, Raw, Raw last night, Raw review, Raw Thoughts, Steve Austin Podcast, Summerslam, Summerslam 4 hours long, Tough Enough Preview, Undertaker Brock Lesnar, WWE, WWE dvias revolution

Monday Night Raw just went off the air and emanated live from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma tonight. I think Raw did a good job in continuing down the road to Summerslam but before we get into some of the highlights on the show, there were some news bits that came out of Raw that set us up for the weeks to come in WWE that I’ll briefly touch on. At the top of the show the Authority announced that WWE Summerslam will now be four hours long. I know this was announced earlier in the day but I think it’s a great idea as it makes Summerslam a big deal and almost like the Wrestlemania of the summer. I really think WWE can move Summerslam to a stadium show soon enough and wouldn’t be surprised to see Summerslam held at the Red Bull arena next year, or hell, maybe even Metlife Stadium. Also on Raw it was announced that Stone Cold Steve Austin’s WWE Network Podcast will be returning after a one month hiatus. His guest will be none other than Paige! I saw some stuff on Twitter surprised it wasn’t Sting or Undertaker (would have been a good time for Taker with Summerslam a few weeks away) but I think Paige is a really unique guest and I’m interested to see the chemistry between her and Austin. If Austin is going to do these podcasts more frequently, it can’t be a top guy every time and with the give divas a chance initiative, I’m glad to see Paige as the choice here. Truth be told, I believe that f4wonline reported that Hulk Hogan was supposed to be the guest this time around, and obviously that isn’t going to happen. Let’s get into Raw!

Highlights

John Cena is Beyond Tough- First things first, I thought that Seth Rollins and John Cena had one helluva match and if this is the direction that they’re headed for Summerslam, then I for one can’t wait. I wasn’t crazy about Seth Rollins tapping out but if the story is that Cena beat Seth when defending his title so he deserves a shot at Seth’s World Title, well then it made sense. With that out of the way, kudos to John Cena for wrestling the last ten minutes of the match with a brutal looking broken nose. His nose looked contorted with blood gushing everywhere from his nose after an errant knee to the face from Rollins. Say what you will about Cena but he’s as tough as they come and showed that old school “the match must go on” mentality last night. Even if Cena requires surgery, and I assume he’s going to, I don’t expect that anything is going to keep John Cena off of the Summerslam card.

The Opening Segment– I loved the way that they did the opening segment last night as it reminded me of segments from back in the attitude era. Having Triple H and Stephanie come out to set up the entire night full of matches (I believe they listed the four matches for the night) was a great idea as it gave the viewer a reason to remain tuned in and a lot to look forward to over the course of the show. Say what you will about the Authority but when they’re on the screen, it does bring an extra added level of importance.

The Divas Revolution Is In Full Effect- Other than the main event between John Cena and Seth Rollins, the match of the night belonged to the Divas as Paige took on Sasha Banks. I thought the match was very good and they ladies got about 14 minutes to really let their match unfold and the story develop. It made sense for Sasha to get the win as it continues to establish her and doesn’t hurt the more established Paige to take the loss. I also thought the tag match was very good in that Becky Lynch was profiled, I believe for the first time on Raw since being called up. It was also cool to see Lynch (again no relation, sadly) get the win and then moments later WWE put up a graphic for a one on one match between Nikki Bella and Becky Lynch for this week’s Smackdown. This made the whole room of people I was watching the show with go “oh wow set the DVR for Smackdown”, which has to be what WWE was going for. All in all, the divas got about a half an hour of Raw and two matches again this week. The divas division continues to have a renewed focus and I’m excited to see where it goes from here.

Closing Thoughts

Overall, i really enjoyed Raw this week as they continue to focus a good portion of Raw on more of the in ring product which is nice to see. We also saw many of the stories going into Summerslam progress with Bray Wyatt cutting a promo reestablishing the Wyatt Family, the continued tease that perhaps Arrow will get involved in the Stardust and Neville feud, the buildup of the tag team division, the Kevin Owens-Cesaro feud and the Randy Orton and Sheamus feud. I like the focus that WWE is putting on every match heading into Summerslam, it makes the show feel like the Wrestlemania of the summer. I honestly had no problem with the Undertaker and Brock Lesnar not being on the show this week as the brawl from last week was so good that I feel it was OK to have a week reliving the brawl. At the end of the day, Brock Lesnar and the Undertaker were both taken out of the building in handcuffs last week, so having them return this week would have been too much. Besides, WWE already did a good job in promoting that Brock will be back next week, then you have Taker return the week after that and have both of them return the week before Summerslam.

That’s going to do it for me today but what did you think of Raw? Are you excited for Summerslam? I’ll be back later today with the Tough Enough Power Rankings. Tough Enough airs tonight on the USA Network and it’s being promoted that Sasha Banks, Tamina Snuka and Naomi will all be on hand.

The Spotlight Tough Enough Power Rankings for Week 3

July 14, 2015July 14, 2015 Tom Lynch Spotlight On The WWE Network, Wrestling New Tough Enough Contestant, nxt, The spotlight Tough Enough Power Rankings, Tough Enough, Tough Enough 2015, Tough Enough Contestants, Tough Enough Dianna, Tough Enough Episde 3, Tough Enough Episode 4, Tough Enough Power Rankings for Week 3, Tough Enough Preview, Tough enough review, Tough Enough Thoughts, tough Enough ZZ, WWE

Last Night the third episode of WWE Tough Enough took place live on the USA Network and it was a noteworthy episode to say the least. First it was revealed that Dianna had finally had enough of being away from her fiance while in the midst of planning their wedding and decided to drop out of the competition. This was something that we mentioned as a distinct possibility and was a shame as she seemed to be one of the more athletic girls in the competition. I was prepared to get all over Dianna for giving up the opportunity of a lifetime, it was revealed in an exclusive interview on the tough enough app that Dianna also left because one of her friends that worked at a bar that Dianna owned was attacked at the bar and left paralyzed. Thus, if Dianna also left because of that unfortunate circumstance than I can’t fault her for that and wish her nothing but the best. Dianna’s loss is somebody else’s gain as a new contestant Chelsea was able to enter back into the competition. Chelsea is a student from Lance Storm’s Storm Wrestling Academy and is probably remembered by die hard WWE fans as Daniel Bryan’s physical therapist who claimed that her and Bryan were having an affair (in a storyline quickly dropped, I might add). This is an interesting choice for a new contestant as I’m sure some viewers, like me, were either hoping to skip an elimination this week or that Ashley (who had the heart condition from the casting special) would be returning. Regardless, if she was trained by Lance Storm she is probably going to be very good in the ring, just ask Tyler Breeze.

Also last night on Tough Enough, in a bit of a surprising move, Daria, was sent home. (A quick side bar here, did you know that Daniel Bryan is a perfect 3 for 3 in that every contestant that he has placed in the bottom three, has gone home). I thought honestly that Daria was better than a few of the contestants and she had a ton of heart, as evidenced by her “Save Me” speech this week and how crushed she looked going home. It is obvious at this point that if it comes down to a fan vote and you’re in the bottom three with ZZ and Sara Lee, you can pack your bags.

Thus, after a noteworthy episode, ten contestants remain so let’s get into this week’s Tough Enough Power Rankings

1) Patrick Clark Jr. (Last week #2)

After two straight episodes in which Patrick won the skills competition, he has finally jumped up to the top spot in this week’s tough enough power rankings. One thing that I liked about Patrick this week was that he’s the only one who woke up to watch the Beast In The East Special at 530AM and was periscoping with fans right when he woke up. The guy obviously respects the business and looks to really be living his dream with this competition. I also really liked that Patrick showed that he was not going to be a push over this week by standing up to Tanner and coming right at him. Patrick also had a great answer when Tanner called him out for being a trained wrestler prior to coming on the show by saying tht his past training didn’t count as he’s here to learn WWE style. With Patrick showing his depth this week as a performer in the entrance competion, the sky is truly the limit for Patrick.

2) Tanner Saraceno (Last Week #1)

Tanner continues to be dominant in the athletic competitions and it really looks like it’s going to come down between he and his rival, Patrick as the competition continues. One thing I’d start to worry about with Tanner is that he doesn’t seem to be reacting well to Patrick beating him in competitions. His constant challenging of the other male contestants to fights may start to rub fans the wrong way, who in the end have the final say on the voting. Tanner’s lack of love of the business is also starting to really show and that’s not good.

3) Giorgia Priscina ( Last Week #11)

After plummeting last week all the way down to the lowest ranking for female contestants at number 11, Giorgia has really come into her own in the competion. She has won the last two athletic competitions amongst the girls and showed off some of her personality in the entrance competition this week. Giorgia is also the one girl to avoid all of the drama that so many of the other contestants have found themselves consumed by.

4) ZZ Loupe (Last Week #3)

ZZ drops a spot here this week, although if this competition continues to be decided by fans voting, he’s going to win the show as he continues to dominate in all of the fans votes at the end of the episodes. ZZ was called out for acting, what Billy Gunn perceived to be, silly during the entrance competition when he came out in a red, white and blue headdress and his underwear when he was supposed to be dressed as an American hero. I thought this was good for ZZ, however, as it allowed him to show off his more serious side. ZZ was offended that Billy felt he wasn’t taking the competition seriously and quickly spoke up about how bad he wants to win this competition. Lastly ZZ didn’t back down from his costume as he said that he felt he was portraying a hero because a hero could be many different things to many people. He said he was getting the fans out of their elements and getting them to believe in what he was doing. At the end of the day ZZ proved that his best quality is the support he has from the fans as he got the most again when in the bottom three.

5) Mada Abdelhamid (Last week #6)

I hate to be so male contestant heavy but I’m really not impressed with too many of the female contestants yet. I was actually most impressed with Mada this week to the point that I thought he won the character competition. It’s taken Mada a bit to show some of his personality but now that he’s showing off some of it and getting more comfortable, I think he has a shot to do well.

6) Amanda Sacaranato ( Last Week #4)

Mandy continues her desecnt down the power rankings as she really hasn’t showed me too much from week to week. I thought she did alright during the character competition but had one of the easier characters to emulate. I give Amanda credit for trying to ignore some of the things that Gaby says about her, which are basically that Amanda couldn’t be more phony if she tried, until shecf but she has to show more during the episodes or she isn’t going to be around too much longer.

7) Joshua Bredl (Last Week #9)

Joshua seems to have improved over the past two episodes. I liked that he was uncomfortable with the British Brawler character but he did his best with it and ended up doing a good job. He also seems to be getting better in the athletic competitions. While he remains a step behind Tanner, he seems to be giving it his all to get closer to beating him. I don’t think it’s smart of him to continue to go against the beloved ZZ (by telling ZZ that he’s just upset because the judges didn’t like his entrance when ZZ seemed really down about how he was treated) and I still cotnsider him to be the weakest amongst the five remaining men, but it’s good to see him improving nonetheless.

8) Sara Lee (Last Week #5)

Readers of my rankings know that I support Sara but truth be told she really hasn’t impressed in any of the competitions whether it be athletic or in personality. That said she continues to show her realism factor that the other female contestants are lacking. She is honest about struggling but working hard to improve. She has also survived two straight bottom 3’s so it’s obvious that she has the fan support which is key.

9) Chelsea Green (Last Week N/A)

It would be really easy to put the new contestant on the bottom but Chelsea is a trained wrestler and it seems that WWE is leaning more towards women’s wrestlers as opposed to the divas. Likewise, I’m sure if she does well enough, she won’t be put into the bottom three as she’d be at a distinct disadvantage being so new.

10) Gabi Castrovici (Last Week #10)

Gabi is gorgeous, but unfortunately that is where her good qualities start and end. Gabi continues to cause drama with the other girls in the house and really bullied Amanda, so much so, that I expected her to be kicked out of the house. Furthermore, I question how bad Gabi actually wants this as she continues to spend time away from the Barrocks with her husband. The main part about Gabi though is that she really lacks likability which means that if she’s ever in the bottom three, she won’t get the votes needed to stay.

That’s going to do it for me this week but as always if you disagree with my power rankings, feel free to let me know where I was wrong. Be sure to catch WWE Tough Enough live tonight on the USA Network at 8Pm EST.

The Spotlight On Raw for 7/13/2015

July 14, 2015 Tom Lynch Spotlight On Raw, Wrestling #RawAtlanta, Battleground, Battleground Preview, Becky Lynch, Brock Lesnar, Cesaro vs Rusev, Charlotte, Divas Segment, john cena, Kevin Owens, nxt, Raw, Raw 7/13/2015, Raw review, Raw Thoughts, Sasha Banks, seth rollins, Tough Enough, WWE

First off I like to apologize for being off the grid these last few days. I’ve been a bit under the weather really since last Wednesday and it just got worse until finally kicking my ass all weekend. I’ll get more into that on tomorrow’s Daily Spotlight but thankfully I started feeling a bit better just in time for a great Raw (and an awesome Home Run Derby, which I’ll also get into tomorrow morning). As for Monday Night Raw, it emanated live from Atlanta, Georgia and was the final stop of the road to WWE Battleground. Without any further ado, let’s get right into some of the highlights of the show…

Highlights:

1) Divas Get Their Chance- Tonight’s Raw didn’t only see one call up from NXT but rather saw three call ups as Charlotte, Becky Lynch and NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks all made there Raw debut tonight. The segment was probably the greatest womens segment since Paige debuted and beat AJ Lee for the women’s title the night after Wrestlemania 30. This was really a relaunch for the women’s division in WWE as Stephanie McMahon showed up to introduce the three ladies from NXT. What made the segment even more special was that the crowd absolutely exploded with “This Is Awesome” chants and showered the ladies with praise. It was really a telling sign as to how far NXT has come that the NXT women were instantly reconized and admired for their athleticism and past accomplishments. If you only have time to check out one segment from this week’s Raw, its this segment right here.

2) The U.S. Title Open Challenge- What else is new? These segments are great every week and it is nice to see that each week more and more people continue to come out and challenge John Cena. The U.S. Title has become the most prized possession in WWE & it’s great to see how John Cena has brough prestige back to that belt. Cesaro continued his streak of having the best match on Raw as he and Rusev (and for a little while Kevin Owens) had a great, nearly , 24 minute match. It was great to see that Rusev is back showing his aggressive side and it was nice to see him, not only, getting a big win over Cesaro but also to see him getting a DQ victory over Cena. Kevin Owens costing Rusev the match ,after taking himself out of the three way, added some heat on Owens. Owens is obviously respected and, by a certain percentage of the audience, adored. The problem with that is that he’s being counted on to be a top heel in the company so by having him taking himself out of matches and then also costing the fans the opportunities to see clean finishes, (with Cesaro and now Rusev) the crowd may be more inclined to boo him. WWE has done a good job over these past few weeks of adding Cesaro and Rusev to the Cena and Owens story. They’ve used a hot feud like Cena-Owens to create new contenders for the US title in Cesaro and Rusev and giving both of those guys a rub in the process. Good stuff all around.

3) The Champ Stands Alone…Confidently?!?– This week Brock Lesnar continued his destruction of the Authority by taking out Kane after previously taking out J & J Security. This set up the showdown between Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins well in that now, theoretically, Rollins is all alone to face Lesnar. In the process, however, I felt that Rollins cut his best promo to date in that he claimed not to be afraid of Brock Lesnar while also rediculing Kane. He also, correctly, pointed out that while Lesnar had gotten better of all of his past challengers, he never did get the better of Rollins. I felt the end of Raw did a good job in setting the stage for the Battleground main event and a number of possibilities moving forward. If Seth Rollins proves he doesn’t need anyone and defeats Brock Lesnar retain the championship, he’s a made man. If Brock Lesnar wins back the championship and Triple H doesn’t come out to help Rollins or fails to help when he does, this starts issues between Rollins and Triple H. Lastly, it’ll be interesting to see where Kane goes from here after being verbally undressed and humiliated by Rollins to end the show.

4) Stardust Returns- While I was surprised to see Stardust return as a heel (presumably to continue his program with Stephen Amell), it was great to see Stardust back on Raw for the first time since the untimely death of Dusty Rhodes. I thought Stardust cut a great promo to hype his return prior to his match with Neville and seemed incredibly passionate. It was nice to see him get such a warm reaction from the crowd and it’ll be interesting to see just how long WWE will be able to keep Stardust a heel.

Closing Thoughts

Overall, I think Raw was a really good show, perhaps the best since the Raw the night after Wrestlemania. The show did a good job in building towards Sunday’s Battleground and even beyond. It’s interesting to note that with only Smackdown remaining before the Battleground show, Dean Ambrose (who’s main evented the past two pay per views), Cesaro, Rusev and the Divas are not on the Battleground show. I’m sure some will be added but since Battleground is, likely, part of the larger Summerslam picture, it’s ok not to have everyone on every pay per view.

That’s going to do it for me but I’d love to hear your thoughts on tonight’s Raw. Until then keep your eyes pealed for a new Daily Spotlight in the morning, updated Tough Enough power rankings prior to tomorrow’s show and a whole lot more right here on thedailyspotlight.com!

The Spotlight On Raw 7/6/15

July 7, 2015 Tom Lynch Spotlight On Raw, Wrestling #RawChicago, Bo Dallas, Brock destroys the car, Brock Lesnar, Dolph Ziggler, John Cena Vs Cesaro, Monday Night Raw Thoughts, randy Orton, Raw, Raw 7/6/2015, raw highlights, Rew Review, Rusev, seth rollins, Titus O'Neil, WWE

WWE Raw just went off the air and I have to say I really enjoyed this show as it did a good job in continuing the build for Battleground while also delivering with a great main event. Let’s get right into some of the highlights of the show.

Highlights:

1) Chicago Made- It’s not easy for me to admit it, as a proud New Yorker, but the best WWE fans belong to the city of Chicago. This crowd was into everything on the show and remained lively for the whole three hour show. The crowd was a lot more than CM Punk chants as they showed support for everyone and respect for everyone not named John Cena (though I think with Cena its a little tongue in cheek and he won the fans over in the end). I hope WWE also heard the support for Bo Dallas. As I say on a weekly basis, they have something in that guy, I just hope they realize it.,

2) What a Main Event- Another week of raw, another show where the John Cena US Title Open Challenge has stole the show. John Cena and Cesaro tore down the house for over a half hour pulling out innovative moves and reversals while going move for move with each other. In the end I found myself torn as, while I wanted to see Cesaro get the win, I don’t want to see the John Cena Open Challenges end. Cena continues to reinvent himself with new opponents each week and knows how to work a crowd like none other. He knows he’s hated in Chicago and has no problem embracing the hate as a bit of a heel. I also like the nice tough of Cesaro wearing the Candian armband out of respect to Tyson Kidd. A very classy touch from Cesaro, who I hope to only see grow from here.

3) Brock Lesnar Vs The Cadillac- Right when Seth Rollins rewarded J & J Security with a brand new Cadillac last week, you knew it was only a matter of time before Brock Lesnar got his hand on the $55,000 automobile. Well this week Brock didn’t disappoint as he destroyed the car as only Brock could. I also liked that he was able to take out Noble and Mercury. They’re doing a great job in building up the Lesnar-Rollins title match at Battleground as Brock continues to take out Seth’s support system.

4) Rusev Crush- Maybe it’s just me but ever since Dolph Ziggler started hooking up with Lana, I started to feel a bit bad for the Bulgarian Brute. Every week Rusev would show up to Raw, broken foot and all, and every week he’d have to see his ex girlfriend kiss another man. This week when I saw Dolph and Lana kiss right in front of Rusev, I was hoping Rusev would take him out..and did he ever! Thankfully, Rusev revealed that he had healed and destroyed Dolph (Who did a stretcher job to boot). Maybe Rusev isn’t supposed to be the baby face here but I like the shades of grey of all the characters involved here that allows fans to support who they’d like to. This slow build between Rusev and Ziggler can lead to a fun match at Summerslam either with just the two or a mixed tag with the ladies involved.

Closing Thoughts:

You know as much as I loved the period in May and June where every two weeks there was another pay per view, WWE has done a good job building Battleground with a little extra time to do so. We’ve known the big matches for that show for a while and each week of television has nicely built to those matches. This week was no exception as if you have some extra time, I’d suggesting checking out this weeks Raw as it was a really fun show. On top of the highlights mentioned above, you also had a nice return by Randy Orton and I also thought Titus O’Neil, of all people, did a great job on commentary during the New Day-Lucha Dragons match.

That’s going to do it for me but I’ll be back with the Tough Enough Power Rankings and a whole lot more tomorrow. Until the. Let me know what you thought of this week’s Raw in Chicago and be sure to subscribe to the Daily Spotlight below. Thanks for all of your support!

The Spotlight WWE Tough Enough Power Rankings For Week 2

June 30, 2015June 30, 2015 Tom Lynch Spotlight On The WWE Network, Wrestling nxt, Tough Enough, Tough Enough 2015, Tough Enough Contestants, Tough Enough Eliminated, Tough Enough Episode 1, tough enough episode 2, Tough Enough Preview, Tough enough review, Tough Enough Tanner, tough Enough ZZ, WWE, WWE Tough Enough, WWE Tough Enough Power Rankings, WWE Tough Enough Week 2 Power Rankings

The first episode of Tough Enough is in the books and with it comes many changes to our last week’s power rankings. While we were dead on to rank Hank as the final male contestant (12th overall), we damn near lost our number one ranking (Joshua) the first week. Let’s get right into it with updated rankings of all of the contestants following week 1. Obviously, this week there are only 12 contestants, following Hank’s elimination.

1- Tanner Saraceno ( Last Wk- #7)

What else can be said about Tanner really? The guy completely dominated every one of the physical competitions including almost doubling all of the other contestant’s times during the in ring competition. The only thing to worry about with Tanner is that he has never disputed reports that he’s only in this for the money and that right after he does a year in WWE, he’ll be right back in MMA. He seems to really have the support of his trainers, who even seem to like his confident attitude but if he doesn’t dispute those claims, he may lose it. Tanner has also come across both friendly and humble on Periscope. It’ll be a good idea for Tanner to show this attitude during the shows because the more likable he is, the more likely people are going to vote for him.

2- Patrick Clark Jr.- (Last Week- #3)

Patrick remains steady this week, up a spot from last week. While Patrick remained a notch below Tanner throughout the first week of Tough Enough, he’s a notch above all of the other contestants. Patrick also continued to show his heart & motivation for how bad he wants to be a WWE Superstar. Patrick remains the most active on Periscope, even deeming it Patriscope, so he’s developing a good report with the fans.

3- ZZ Loupe (Last Week #8)

” I belong on this show because I was made for this, I love making people smile and that’s what WWE is all about, making people happy!” Any other contestant would have a hard time climbing five spots following a week where he finished in the bottom 3 but ZZ is up to the third overall spot this week. Like I said last week, now that it’s been determined that the voting is going to be determined by the fans, how is ZZ ever going to be voted out? He is obviously the fan favorite and the most likable contestant on the show. Having him in the bottom three last week probably only added sympathy and more support for ZZ as well. From the outfit he wore to the live show last week to him taking off his underwear in the hot tub with the ladies, he has undeniable charm and charisma. The physical attributes will develop.

4. Amanda Sacaranato (last week #2)-

We didn’t see too much on the live show from Amanda, to be honest, last week which is why she drops a couple of spots this week. That said, none of the female contestants did enough for me to overtake her for the top spot. “Mandy Sacs” seems to be a bit more level headed that some of the other females & hasn’t complained about missing her boyfriend yet either. Another thing about Amanda is that she remains close to ZZ (the two do some periscope shows together) which will only help her likability factor.

5) Sara Lee (Last Week #13)-

Making the biggest jump of the week this week is Sara Lee. Sara has really gained a bit of a following as someone that people can relate to. She has become the average Joe that Hank was trying to pass himself off as last week. Sara has also showed a good amount of personality in getting used to Periscope and Twitter. I think Sara is going to be in this competition for quite some time.

6) Mada Abdelhamid (Last Week #4)

Mada didn’t do too much to impress me this week until his appearance on Tough Talk. When Mada was asked about his child, he revealed how he has a six month child at home and the child is completely the reason why he’s doing this. While Dianna seems like she may drop out of the competition due to missing her loved ones, Mada seems ready to use his loved ones back home as motivation to win this competition. Mada also has a good look but really would fare better staying away from the “Quadruple Towers” and developing his own personality because that clique has a bad stigma around them.

7) Dianna Dahlgren (Last Week #9)

So Torn On Dianna because truth be told that despite her silly complaints about the twin size bed, she did do far better than any of the other female contestants during the competition, and this was with an injury, no less. Furthermore, if you look up Dianna’s personal twitter, she is already pretty well established with over 65,000 followers. This would lead one to assume that she has the backing to get votes if she were placed in the bottom three. That said, I wonder how much longer Dianna is going to stay in the competition just because she seems so preoccupied with her wedding. If she can’t last a week without her fiance, how is she going to last 10? If there’s one contestant who will remove themselves from the competition, it’s going to be her.

8) Daria Berenato (Last week #5)

Daria drops 3 spots this week because she really didn’t show too much last week. I think Daria has a good personality and she shows it on social media and periscope but for whatever reason seems a bit camera shy under the bright lights of live WWE television. Even when Daniel Bryan obviously threw her a softball by asking her the riskiest thing she’s ever done, (because he, like me, is a fan) Daria became timid and couldn’t really find a real risk she’s taken. This of course comes a week after she came out on national television.

9) Joshua Bredl (Last Week #1)

Yeah you read that right, last week Joshua was my top pick on the tough enough power rankings but this week he takes a big time tumble to number 9, the biggest drop of the week. Joshua was basically non existent during the first episode and was just 3% of the vote away from not even surviving week one. Joshua needs to show some personality and needs to also realize that he won’t get by just on his look. He may look a little like Roman Reigns but Reigns has about 100 times more charisma than Joshua showed week 1. To make matter worse, when Joshua was asked his opinion on ZZ on periscope following last week’s episode, he said ZZ was obviously only there because of the television aspect of the show. Putting down the favorite of most viewers isn’t going to do Joshua any favors.

10) Gabi Castrovici ( Last Week #10)

The only contestant to remain idle on the rankings this week is Gabi. Gabi continues to show off a good amount of her attitude that got her kicked off the show in the first place. She has to stop questioning Dianna’s injury and just find a way to improve. I also think the fact that Gabi continues to see her husband while she’s staying at the Barrocks won’t do her any favors as it will be hard for her to fully commit to the competition.

11) Giorgia Priscina ( Last Week #6)

Another contestant that I fell out of love with after last week is Giorgia. While none of the female contestants seem to like Gabi, at least they have an opinion on her. I didn’t see much of anything from Giorgia last week and haven’t seen much of her on Periscope throughout the week. This comes off the heels on her courageously showing off her full face birthmark on one of the most worthwhile periscopes I’ve seen during the first week. Hope to see more from Giorgia this week or she could just be the person to go home next.

12) Alex Frekey (Last Week #11)

Last week Alex joined the “Quadruple Towers”, a clique that was called out by Paige, didn’t do well in any of the competitions and was called out by Daniel Bryan after saying that Tanner couldn’t “Pack A House”. Not exactly a strong week for “The Freak”. I’ll give Alex credit for appearing on periscope and trying to interact with the fans but he really needs to become more familiar with the business and the WWE product or he too could be the next to go.

That’s going to do it for me this week but be sure to check out Tough Enough tonight on the USA Network at 8 PM EST. As always, if you agree or disagree with my power rankings, I would love to hear yours!

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