Tough Enough Dianna

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.

This past Tuesday night the first episode of this season of WWE Tough Enough debuted on the USA Network. This season there are many different aspects to the show as in years past and I’m going to get into all of them down in the closing thoughts section but before then, let’s get into some highlights from the show…

Highlights

Hank Gets The Hammer- One of the things that we found out about this year’s Tough Enough is that the final say in who gets voted out will be the WWE Universe. This didn’t bode well for Hank who, as I said in my power rankings, really didn’t endear himself to the crowd & came off either timid or rude in the few times he was featured on screen. To make matters worse for Hank his comments about ZZ being the weakest contestant there, and that included the women, really rubbed Paige the wrong way as she felt the comment was a shot at women in general. It’s a bit of a shame as I do feel Hank should have played the “I’m an average Joe” card way before the final 30 seconds as that could have given him that extra four percent of the votes needed to beat Joshua. In the end, Hank is still young enough to give it a go in the wrestling business, it just won’t be on Tough Enough this season.

Tanner Scoffs At The Competition- Last night saw Tanner Sacareno blow away the rest of the competition en route to winning every one of the physical competitions. What made this all the more interesting is that Tanner isn’t as strong as some of the other contestants like Joshua, Mada, Alex & the departed Hank. Rather than taking the humble route, Tanner also then became the cocky villain of the season by telling everyone how much better he was than them and then backing it up! This was particularly surprising to see so much personality from Tanner because you didn’t see much from him at all prior to the first episode. The thing to watch with Tanner is his interactions and continued tension with Patrick. Patrick is the only trained wrestler on the show and, you can make the argument, wants it more than any of the other contestants. Patrick has also called Tanner to task (while the two almost came to blows) for only being in this competition for the money and after he gets the money he’s going to run right back to MMA. Patrick also vowed that at some point he will beat Tanner, which will be interesting to see if it happens.

The Ladies Bring The Heat– From a competition standpoint the most impressive candidate was Dianna. Unfortunately, this was the only part of Dianna that I was impressed with. This girl has gotten the opportunity of a lifetime to become a WWE Diva and win $250,000 and she’s already struggling to live without her fiancé and has openly complained about having to sleep on a twin size bed. I have no idea how she wasn’t in the bottom three and despite her being physically more dominant than the other female contests, I don’t see her having much longevity in this competition. The only other one of the female contestants to make an impression during week 1, for me, was Gabi. Gabi went from dancing on the stripper pole at the club to causing more drama on the show by questioning Dianna’s injury and then shrugging off claims that nobody likes her. The big knock on Gabi prior to the first episode, so much so that she was cut due to it, was her attitude. It was surprising to see Gabi continue to show that attitude off.

The Miz talks tough- Tough Enough wasn’t the only event to debut on Tuesday night for WWE. Immediately following the Tough Enough show, on the WWE Network, Tough Talk debuted and was hosted by the Miz. The 30 minute program really did a great job in showcasing each of the tough enough finalists as they each faced questions from the judges and the Miz. I was particularly impressed with the Miz who came off great and is such a natural in the role. I also found that the interplay between the judges and the Miz was a lot of fun and much more relaxed than even the Tough Enough show. Go out of your way to check this show out.

Closing Thoughts

In the end I really enjoyed the first episode of tough enough. It is a good amount different than the previous seasons of tough enough in that the material isn’t recorded ahead, but rather, takes place live. The show is set up in such a way that the live aspects of the show are intertwined with highlights that took place throughout the week which is cool because the viewers still get all of the drama and the major happenings from the throughout the week. From there, each one of the judges choose one contestant to go into the bottom three for the week. Each one of the judges also has one save that they can utilize at any point in the season. From there, the fans have roughly 5 minutes to vote for the contestant that they want to see stay in the competition, and they can do this on wwe.com, twitter or via text message. This means that the contestant who receives the smallest percentage of the vote is voted out of the competition. I like the inclusion of the fan voting, and I’m actually a little surprised by it. If it’s up the fans, I’d be really surprised if someone like ZZ were to ever get voted out by the fans based off his character and charming personality. The one change I would make is that I would give the fans a full week to vote out one of the contestants because having only five minutes really doesn’t give those fans not watching live the opportunity to vote.

Well that’s going to for me this week but be sure to check back tomorrow where I’ll be updating the power rankings for this week and I can guarantee you that there will be a lot of changes to the list this week. Until then what are your thoughts on the new season of Tough Enough?

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