nxt

The Spotlight Tough Enough Power Rankings for Week 5

Tom Lynch Spotlight On The WWE Network, Wrestling , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Last week’s Tough Enough saw the surprising elimination of Patrick Clark who had been number one on our power rankings for quite some time after proving to be passionate about the business and also winning a string of competitions.  Patrick seemed to be the front-runner of this season’s Tough Enough.  So what happened?  Well, Patrick became everything that he hated from the Tanner in the beginning of the show.  In the beginning of the show, Patrick was the likable, humble kid who knew everything about the wrestling business and showed the most respect for the history of the WWE product in general.  He was also quite critical of Tanner for coming across cocky and not having any sense of humility after winning a few of the challenges.  Well, fast forward a few weeks and now Patrick is the alpha dog of the Tough Enough male contestants and he, in essence, became Tanner.  Patrick started to become less humble with each victory as the show went on and he started getting fights with, literally, all of the other male contestants, even ZZ.  To make matters worse, Patrick also started to show a bit of disrespect towards the history of the business by stating that the big guys’ time in WWE was over, referencing that the Ultimate Warrior was gone and Hulk Hogan had retired (Does he not know that Brock Lesnar and the Undertaker are headlining Summerslam this year and, more to the point that Hulk Hogan was a judge on the show?).  Lastly, to bring it back full circle, Just how Tanner motivated Patrick so much so that he eventually did beat him, Patrick got everyone else in the competition motivated by his attitude that he started to lose challenges. In the end, it’s a shame that Patrick got voted off the show last week but Patrick is just 19 years old and has plenty of time to grow as a performer and mature as a person.  I do expect that he’ll get a chance again.

Tonight is a new night for the final 8 of the show and actually for the show in general.  Obviously due to all of the controversy surrounding Hulk Hogan (I’ll get to him later in the week, don’t think I forgot about the Hulkster) in his personal life, there will be a new judge called on to take Hulk Hogan’s spot tonight.  Everyone from Ric Flair, to Mick Foley, to Bret Hart to the trainers rotating into the judge role has been rumored.  If I had to choose though, I would say that it’s either going to beTough Talk host, The Miz (who’s been the breakout star of tough enough, for me, thus far) or the actual host of the show, Chris Jericho, will make the easy transition into the role of judge.  I’m actually curious to see if WWE even makes mention of Hogan’s disappearance from the show, though I honestly wouldn’t blame them if they completely ignored him after his terrible comments.  With all of that out of the way, let’s get into this week’s power rankings.

1) Mada Abdelhamid (Last Week #5)

IMG_4061

A really tough week for the power rankings this week because honestly each one of the contestants has there faults and there is no clear breakout performer, now that Patrick is gone.  Mada is the one guy who I will say has been on the rise since day one and has continued to get better each week.  Mada has a unique look and also cuts a good promo in being able to throw some Arabic in with his English from time to time.  It’s also come out that Mada used to play professional basketball, so he’s obviously an athletic guy, he seems to be everything WWE would want.  The one thing about Mada is that he lost his biggest supporter in the competition with Hulk Hogan being gone so it’ll be interesting to see if he can win over Daniel Bryan and Paige.  Mada is the only male contestant never to be in the bottom three.

2) Sara Lee ( Last week #8)

IMG_4050

I will admit a bit of bias here as Sara Lee is my favorite of the remaining women in the competition.  Sara remains the favorite amongst the majority of fans and last week she showed a bit of fire getting right into the faces of both Giorgia and Amanda, showing that she isn’t going to stand for getting pushed around any longer.  The other thing with Sara is that she’s also getting better in the competitions.  While she hasn’t passed Giorgia yet, getting better proves that she is more trainable than originally thought.  The thing with her would be for her to stay out of the drama.  Patrick let Tanner pull him into the drama and Sara is now letting Giorgia and Amanda pull her into it.

3) Joshua Bredl (Last Week #7)

IMG_4063

I’m finally starting not to look so silly for picking Joshua as my number one pick to start the series off as Joshua is really starting to come into his own.  I know Joshua was in the bottom three last week, but that was an aberration as I don’t think anyone other than Hulk Hogan though Josh deserved to be in the bottom three.  Joshua has started winning challenges and has really improved his conditioning, dropping 35 pounds since the series began.  Last week, we even saw Joshua’s softer side as he facetimed with his daughter.  Joshua can still improve in the personality department but he’s getting there.

4) Tanner Saraceno ( Last Week #2)

IMG_4056

After one or two weeks where it looked like Tanner was just letting his reputation from the first week carry him through, Tanner really upped his game last week.  To me, he came across really arrogant during the first few weeks and that was ok when he was dominating competitions but once he started to show his weaknesses, Tanner lost his only redeeming quality.  Well, last week Tanner showed that he is a pretty good guy as after he dominated the obstacle competition, he went back to try and help all of his peers.  After that, Tanner also went to the doctor with Chelsea to continue to show this selflessness.  Tanner biggest thing is whether he can do it in the ring and also improve some of his promos.

5) Giorgia Priscina (Last Week #3)

IMG_4057

I don’t understand why every time a contestant on this show starts winning competitions, they have to become arrogant.  I really liked Giorgia prior to last week but she came off just as bitchy as Gabi was last week.  She really started having a big head and also ratted out Chelsea for not being able to compete.  She came off bad there and worse when she started fake crying about it right after this.  She may be the best in challenges but if this how she acts now imagine if she wins the $250,000 contract?

6) ZZ Loupe (Last Week #4)

IMG_4055

ZZ has the most personality amongst anyone left on the show and if he got voted out, I’d be pretty bummed to lose my favorite character on the show.  That said, ZZ really isn’t doing well in many of the physical competitions and his lack of conditioning is starting to become a problem for the judges.  The thing that rubbed me the wrong way was when ZZ said that he’s been trying to step it up over the past few days.  He really should have made conditioning a priority right when he made the show, like Joshua did.  ZZ is even losing some of the fan support as last week he ended up getting less votes than Josh in the vote to send Patrick home.  I hope ZZ finds a way to improve because I think he’d make a great addition to WWE in some role.

7) Chelsea Green (Last Week #9)

IMG_4267

Chelsea started out in this competition doing really well and even seemed to have a leg up on the competition due to her past training and brief stint in WWE.  Then last week she got hurt and had to skip out on the in ring competition.  If her injury continues to hinder her, there is no way she’ll be able to last in this competition.

8) Amanda Sacaranato (Last Week #6)

IMG_4060

Mark my words: Amanda is the next to go from this season’s tough enough.  As a matter of fact, I think she would have went home last week had she been put in the bottom three.  How this girl has escaped the bottom three every week is baffling to me.  She is the one contestant who really hasn’t showed anything throughout the whole completion.  She’s pretty and has a good look but she hasn’t looked good in the ring, she hasn’t showed the personality and, last week, she didn’t even finish the obstacle course.  I think Amanda is on borrowed time, and you know I’ve been a fan of hers since the beginning.

Well that’s going to do it for me today but make sure to tune into a brand new live Tough Enough tonight on the USA Network at 8PM EST! Do you agree with my ratings?  Let me know why or why not.  Please be sure to also hit the subscribe button so you can get these Tough Enough updates delivered to your email every week.

The Spotlight Tough Enough Power Rankings for Week 3

Tom Lynch Spotlight On The WWE Network, Wrestling , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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

IMG_4062

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.

IMG_4056

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.

IMG_4057

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.

IMG_4055

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.

IMG_4061

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.

IMG_4060

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.

IMG_4063

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.

IMG_4050

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.

IMG_4053

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

Tom Lynch Spotlight On Raw, Wrestling , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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 WWE Tough Enough Power Rankings For Week 2

Tom Lynch Spotlight On The WWE Network, Wrestling , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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)

IMG_4056What 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)

IMG_4062

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)

IMG_4055

” 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)- 

IMG_4060

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)- 

IMG_4050

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) 

IMG_4061

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)

IMG_4054

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)

IMG_4059

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)

IMG_4063

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)

IMG_4053

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)

IMG_4057

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)

IMG_4052

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!

The Spotlight On The Week Ahead In WWE

Tom Lynch Spotlight On The WWE Network, Wrestling , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hello everyone, in an effort to consistently improve the content of this site we’re always looking for different features that we can add to this site.  Thus, we figured we would start a new feature beginning today (the first week of July) looking at the week ahead for WWE.  This feature will focus on all things WWE for the week ahead so that if you’re a fan you now have your one stop source for all things to look forward to in WWE.  Without any further ado, let’s take a look at some of the highlights in the week ahead in WWE.

Highlights: 

  

1- A Jam Packed Week- This is the first week I can remember where there will be a new WWE live event style show on five different days of the week.  On Monday Night, WWE Monday Night Raw will emanate live from the Verizon Center in Washington DC and air live on the USA Network.  Immediately following Raw there’s an additional hour of programming on the WWE Network featuring a new episode of swerved followed by a first look at the new WWE Monday Night War DVD.  Tomorrow night, the second episode of Tough Enough will air live on the USA Network (Obviously from the content on here you can probably tell that I’m quite a big fan of the series) which is followed by Tough Talk, hosted by the Miz, on the WWE Network. Wednesday night on the WWE Network, there will be a brand new episode of WWE NXT which is the final show before the epic match between Finn Balor and Kevin Owens for the NXT World Title from Japan.  Thursday night Smackdown will air on the SYFY network and then at 10:30PM on the WWE Network there will be a 30 minute documentary on Finn Balor entitled “The Demon Revealed” which should be a fun preview for the Japan show as well.  This all leads to way early Saturday morning where WWE will emanate live from Japan and air on the WWE Network at 5:30 in the morning.  Tons of content should make for an exciting week.  

2- How does the Beast respond?- Last week Monday Night Raw ended with Brock Lesnar being laid out by Seth Rollins, Kane and Joey Mercury.  This is actually the first time that I can remember Lesnar being laid out like that since his return to WWE in 2012 so I’m interested to see what type of response we get tonight.  If Lesnar is not there tonight, I expect that Paul Heyman will be in the house to address the authority.  Unfortunately Jamie Noble got injured pretty bad last week on Raw but in doing so, has set up a storyline where Brock can take out each member of the authority until he gets Seth one on one at Battleground.

3- Nothing says Americana like WWE-  When I think about WWE and the 4th of July I’m immediately brought back to 1993 when Yokozuna was aboard the USS Intrepid for the stars and stripes challenge.  This was the day where different members of the then WWF and athletes from the sports world took turns trying to bodyslam the mighty Yokozuna.  Everyone tried and everyone failed until a helicopter showed up with new american hero, Lex Luger, who saved the day, bodyslammed Yokozuna and went on a summer tour aboard the Lex Express leading into Summerslam. There was also a famous episode of Raw from July 4th, 2005 in which Shawn Michaels turned on Hulk Hogan following a tag match victory setting up their program for Summerslam of that year.  Fast forward ten years later and WWE returns on the 4th of July, this time emanating live from Tokyo, Japan.  The special will air throughout the day on the WWE Network, however if you’re like me you’re getting up super early, brewing a fresh pot of coffee and kicking off your fourth of july at 5:30AM with WWE action.

All in all it promises to be a fun and exciting week for WWE.  What event are looking most forward to this week?  Is there something I forgot or didn’t include that you’re looking forward to this week? Let me know in the comments section below and be sure to continue to come back here to thedailyspotlight.com where we’ll have continued coverage throughout the week.