Smark Out Moment

The first episode of the new season of Tough Enough was tonight and, like I do with WWE NXT, I figured I'd do my coverage.

There's nothing dramatically different between this season and the previous incarnations of the show. It's very much in the same vain. Some nuances have changed, such as having people that are slightly better qualified to be in the ring than those who have literally zero experience, but it's essentially the same show. One thing that retains that I've never been a fan of is that it follows the typical reality show concept where the judges/trainers are yelling all the time and every little thing is a mistake, everything is about how if you don't respect them, they'll throw you out (and they always complain that the kids don't act like dicks to them, which if they ever do, they get yelled at for). Hypocritical stuff like saying they can't be on their knees while Bill DeMott sits in the corner will drive you nuts if you're like me. At the moment, my favorite of the coaches is Booker T for being a reasonable guy - even though I'd much rather look at Trish Stratus ;)

As for the contestants themselves, let's break it down, starting with the first elimination and then going alphabetically:

Do I see why she was eliminated first? Totally. From the first thing they showed of her, I was already annoyed. We all know that reality shows are edited to fit certain molds and that what you see isn't necessarily exactly how everything went down. However, she was annoying in everything. She stood up for herself when Mickael was being a douche, which was good, but she did so in a bitchy way which was consistent in all of the other bitchy things she was saying. I don't think her holding up her pants when running the ropes was as much of a travesty as they seem to, but then again, I'm not a wrestler, so I'm not as qualified to criticize about something like that. I think there's one other person that should have been eliminated before her, potentially, and we'll get to that when we get to her, but for now, I can completely understand why Ariane was let go.

AJ didn't really stand out on this first show to me. Now, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Flying under the radar can be your best friend in competitions like this because you can sneak up on a win. I'll have to see more of him to judge.

The love child of Kevin Nash and the Undertaker. He's a bit slow, it seems, but the guy's got a ton of size and he seems like he has a good head on his shoulders - especially when it comes to doing the work necessary instead of partying. I could see him being eliminated down the line due to struggling with something athletically, and then coming back under a developmental contract anyway, but I didn't really see anything that showed that he wasn't a potential winner of the competition, either. I'd watch out for him, and not just in an alley.

The sister of WWE Diva Alicia Fox. While I'm a fan of Alicia, it looks like Christina isn't quite up to par in comparison. She's had some experience in FCW, so I expected her to be better than what I saw. Maybe the editing was off or something, or maybe she'll improve. We'll have to see.

Eric came off this first show as a guy that has a good story for reality TV, but has no shot at all at winning the contest. If you were to look at him just standing there, he could pass off as a WWE Superstar, but when you saw him actually doing something, you'd change your mind. Granted, he did a better job than I would have done, but in relation to what the show is about, he'll be gone soon.

I have absolutely no clue how to pronounce her name, but I'm picking her as the top of the females. Not only does she supposedly have indie experience but she also didn't come off as a snob looking for TV time and it seemed like she might have the talent as well. Potential finalist/winner.

Jesse and Festus have a long lost cousin. Jeremiah's the kind of guy that seems like "the funny one" of the group. Does he have what it takes to be a WWE commodity? I don't really think so at the moment, but there's always room to prove me wrong, especially since we're only one episode in.

If you asked me to pick someone that will win right now, I'd go with Luke. Not only does he have the look but he seems to have the talent as well. If he stays as impressive as he was in this first episode, then I'll be extremely shocked to see him not win.

Martin kind of came off as the everyman. There's really not much to talk about yet. He didn't stand out positively or negatively.

Matt, if he's as athletic all the time as they partially showed, could have a potential win on his hands.

She claimed to have had 11 years worth of experience yet in my opinion, she looked the worst out of all of them. This is the one I was talking about as the only person that I would have eliminated over Ariane. Michelle also seems very full of herself, thinking that she's extremely gorgeous. She's not bad looking, but put her up next to Maryse and you'll see what I mean. If she doesn't DRASTICALLY improve in the ring she's probably gone next week.

The jerk of the competition. Every reality show has one. That has no indication about his talent level, though. I'd guarantee one thing...if he actually is a jerk on a frequent basis, he won't make it to WWE.

I totally agree with whomever it was that said it on the show (I forget) that she's probably just looking to add something to her resume and stay in the spotlight with the show. She'll stay around for a while as the producers will want to keep her celebrity status to hype the show up, but I'm not expecting her to have any chance at winning.

I didn't see enough of him on this episode to have really anything to talk about. Again, that's not a bad thing necessarily.

Every Monday I'll be updating the site with the results and a review of Tough Enough. Be sure to check back.