The 5 Tough Enough contestants who made it big in the main roster

Despite the numerous instances of villainous bossery, both on and off TV, that Vince McMahon has been responsible for, he has proven himself to be a shrewd businessman. Realising the marketing potential of pro-wrestling was one thing, but McMahon knew how to customise the product in order for it to reach the mainstream audience. Evidentially, Monday Night Raw is the longest running weekly episodic on TV and is likely to hold on to that record for a long time to come.

However without merely restricting the scope of marketing to pro-wrestling, realizing the marketability in the process that one follows to being a WWE Superstar was a master-stroke. The recently revived Tough Enough show stands testament to that. With Chris Jericho set to host the upcoming edition that features Hulk Hogan, Daniel Bryan and Paige as judges, interest in the show is sure to spike.

Over the completed 5 seasons of the show, various hopefuls have tried to navigate their way through a grueling process in order to make it to the big time – a full time WWE contract. Here then, is a look at 5 Tough Enough contestants who went on to have careers in the WWE.

Cameron

Cameron’s participation in Tough Enough season 5 was short lived. In fact, she was the first person to be eliminated but the WWE signed her on a developmental contract promptly following her elimination from the competition. Befuddled?

Maybe the WWE were just impressed with her originality, to be fair to her. She did manage to make a mark in her brief appearance on the show when she infamously replied “Melina and Alicia Fox” on being asked by Stone Cold about her favourite match of all time in the WWE.

I wonder if the next contestant to be short-routed to a WWE deal should say his favourite match of all time was The Miz versus John Cena. Beats me.

Josh Matthews

Now a play by play commentator for TNA, Josh Matthews is a familiar face for viewers who have been following the WWE product for a respectable period of time. After finishing as the runner-up in the inaugural Tough Enough season, Josh Matthews was never really considered for a full time wrestling role apparently due to his diminutive frame.

However that did not stop him from regularly appearing in Smackdown as a back-stage interviewer who also stepped up to do commentary when required. He was also memorably mauled by Brock Lesnar once.

Recently Josh Mathews was in the news for knocking the hypocrisy displayed by WWE in not changing Samoa Joe’s name after signing him up to NXT. If the WWE did not acknowledge TNA, why use the Samoa Joe name that was made famous in TNA for a decade before he signed on to NXT? Fair point Josh.

Ryback

The Big Guy has been over with the fans recently but after grafting in and around the WWE landscape for the last ten years, his success has not come easy.

Ryback, whose real name is Ryan Reeves, first appeared on TV in the fourth season of (otherwise known as the $1,000,000 season)Tough Enough. Despite finishing third, the WWE was understandably impressed with his physique and signed him on to developmental.

After debuting as part of the Nexus, he later evolved into a singles performer and has taken on the “big guy” mantle that’s metaphorically always been part and parcel of the WWE landscape. Though Ryback is no in-ring wizard, and was even accused of working stiff by CM Punk, the perseverance that he has displayed in creating a career for himself evokes acceptance and respect from the fans.

John Morrison

Undoubtedly, the most successful winner of Tough Enough, John Morrison, initially christened Johnny Nitro, was introduced into WWE TV programming as part of the team MNM, comprising of Melina and Joey Mercury (Yes, of J&J Security fame).

He’s since been on a fixture on every brand the WWE has produced, and is a former ECW Champion, 3-time Intercontinental Champion, and 5-time Tag Team Champion. On what turned out to be Morrison’s last WWE appearance on a late 2011 episode of RAW, he faced his former tag team partner and Tough Enough graduate, The Miz in a Falls Count Anywhere match.

There is a sense of what could have been when one remembers John Morrison for he possessed in-ring ability, the look and the charisma to have established himself as a mainstay in the WWE. He plies his trade in Lucha Underground as Johnny Mundo currently.

The Miz

He headlined Wrestlemania, held the WWE Title once, the IC Title 4 times, the US Title twice and the Tag Team Titles 6 times, squared off against The Rock and John Cena(collectively and separately) and also starred in a sequel of The Marine.He’s The Miz and he’s awesome. Nothing against his lack of in-ring excellence, but The Miz has established himself pretty firmly as a upper-mid card heel in the WWE nonetheless through sheer annoyance and self-glorification.

Then again, the job of a heel is to engender heat from the audience so you can’t really knock The Miz for doing what he does. He is arguably the greatest success story in the WWE to emerge from the Tough Enough series, and pretty much proves that winning the competition is overrated despite how much they try to market it by associating big names with it.

Here’s to the upcoming new season then, that reportedly is set to be presented in a new format and hopefully with a more relevant and functional method of elimination that does not make the WWE look bad in hindsight.