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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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.