Coaches, Judges and Hosts
This season of Tough Enough saw Booker T return as a coach alongside Billy Gunn and Lita. This was a great decision and all three really contributed to the show in what ended up being a very small piece of what we saw. They all proved more than capable of sharing the knowledge that helped them all to the WWE Hall of Fame (surely Billy Gunn will be inducted at some point) and it's a shame they had little say in the result.
Daniel Bryan, Paige,
Chris Jericho and Renee Young hosted the main show with The Miz hosting the first five episodes of Tough Talk and Byron Saxton picking up those duties for the last five. Jericho and Renee were both very good and could easily be relied upon for future seasons. The Miz was a very strong host of Tough Talk as well, and really stirred drama, which was the whole point of the after-show. Saxton didn't seem to stir things as much as The Miz, but still did a very good job and I wouldn't complain if he was kept in that role for future seasons.
Contestants
This season of Tough Enough saw seven men and seven women—there were originally six women, but Dianna quit and was replaced—compete for the WWE contracts.
From the men, Hank and Alex were eliminated in the first two weeks and we didn't really see enough of them to be able to say how good they could have been. The next two to go were Patrick and Mada, both of whom have real potential and I think could have won. They deserve to be given a chance at the WWE Performance Center, as they both looked good and showed real potential in and out of the ring, especially Mada who looked great with a pharaoh gimmick. Next to go was Tanner who had a good look and was progressing well in the ring, but wasn't up to the standard of the other men as far as charisma goes. Still, I think he deserves to be given a chance and could prove he has what it takes. The runner-up was ZZ, a fan favorite with a strong personality. I'm happy that he didn't win and personally believe he should have been eliminated before Patrick and Mada. ZZ was poor inside the ring and received constant criticism for his lack of work in the gym and his poor eating habits, such as when he when to Burger King and claimed he was having sushi. The winner for the men was Josh, who was without a doubt the best of the last three and one of the best in-ring performers who developed a good character to go with it. This is a great result and I think Josh could become a success story for Tough Enough and could at least become a mainstay on NXT.
Dianna (who quit), Daria and Gabi were the first three women to leave the show and I doubt any of them will be given a second chance at the Performance Center. Chelsea and GiGi, the next two who were eliminated, should have been the finalists in my opinion. Either of them could have won as they were the best women in the ring and had decent characters as well, so I hope both get a chance to make it in WWE. This year's runner-up was Amanda, who I'd rank third behind Chelsea and GiGi. I wouldn't have been disappointed if Amanda had won, so I hope she gets another chance, too. Our winner for this season, Sara Lee, showed a lot of improvement throughout the series. She came from zero prior experience and eventually showed some competence in the ring and some personality, but there is still a lot of work to be done with her. I wouldn't be surprised if she was released from WWE altogether next year.
Format
For this season of Tough Enough the three judges each chose one of the competitors to go into the bottom three at the end of the show, wherein the public would vote to save their favorite. Each of the judges had one "save" for the whole season which would grant them the power to prevent someone in the bottom three from going home. This went on until there were two men and two women for the finale, eventually resulting in one man and one woman getting contracts.
I think it is great that there were two contracts up for grabs instead of just one, however, I don't think it was a good idea for the public to be in complete control of who those contracts went to. Although it was up to the judges to pick the bottom three, I think they needed some more of a say in the eliminations themselves, too. The coaches should have also had a bigger role, since they worked with each of the competitors everyday and knew them the best.
Overall, the show was very entertaining, but WWE was far too trusting of the public and may have suffered as a result. There were some very strong competitors and as a way of finding potential talent and making an entertaining TV show out of it, they did a very good job.
What did you think of Season 6 of Tough Enough? Do you agree with what I've said? Who do you think should have won? Let us know in the comments below!
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