WWE Tough Enough

After nine weeks of brutal training, arduous skills challenges and invaluable life lessons at the Tough Enough compound, only two contestants remain. Luke, the pretty boy from Maine impressed the trainers with his confident swagger and athletic prowess. And Andy, the quiet family man from Florida, took the competition by storm when he finally tapped into his silent rage. Away from the compound and back in the real world, these two finalists have been left to their own devices as they prepare for the final showdown. Andy jumped back in to family life, juggling his duties as a family man and preparing for a new baby while trying to maintain a rigorous workout regime. With the help of his wife Lauren, Andy has trained hard and utilized all resources available to him in order push his workout to the limit. Back in Maine, Luke was reunited with his friends and family and continued to live up to his rock 'n' roll lifestyle, partying hard just like he did in the Tough Enough house. But while partying hard, his workouts did not diminish one bit. Taking full advantage of his country surroundings, Luke endured intense outdoor workouts as well as working hard in the ring with his training buddies. Now, these two finalist must leave their friends and family once again and head to the FCW in Tampa, Florida where they will spend one final week in the ring preparing for the match that will determine who is the Tough Enough champion. Greeted by Bill DeMott, Andy and Luke are inspired to learn that their trainer for the week will be WWE hall of famer Ricky 'the Dragon' Steamboat. But their excitement is short lived when Bill delivers the bombshell that, when they step in the ring at the end of the week, they will face him as their opponent. During training, Ricky strategizes with Luke and Andy on how to capitalize on their individual strengths. For Andy he will need to slow it down and concentrate on using his size to his advantage. Luke, on the other hand, will need to rely on his speed and athleticism to pull off some risks against the bigger Bill DeMott. Training is hard, fast and intense and both guys give it their all. But now it's over, there is no more advice to be given, there are no more second chances now. It's down to which guy will deliver the best performance in the ring. On the night of the matches, the arena starts to fill up with excited fans, and backstage the tensions run high as both Luke and Andy psyche themselves up for the task ahead. This is the final showdown and neither one wants to lose. First Luke and then Andy, take to the ring and face off with Bill DeMott. The matches are intense and the crowd cheers them on. Backstage, Bill and Booker tell the two finalists that have much to be proud of, but the ultimate decision lays in the hands of the WWE and Stone Cold who will announce the winner live at RAW...

After surviving elimination, Luke and Christina arrive back at the house. And while Jeremiah is happy to see best-bud Luke, Ivelesse is not pleased to see Christina, who was the cause of her injury. Rattled by what "Stone Cold" Steve Austin said to her in elimination, Christina has doubts about her position in the competition. At training, the contestants are faced with possibly the hardest session to date and everyone takes a beating. When Eric predictably stumbles, Bill and Booker are there to harp on his appalling condition. But even Jeremiah, whose athletically ability has been unrivaled, struggles. With the theme of the week being focus, Steve Austin reiterates how important it is to stay focused on the task at hand because "if your mind is somewhere, you're probably going to screw things up." These turn out to be important words of advice since training is about to advance to working on top of the ropes. Cocky as ever, a reckless Jeremiah jumps the gun and despite having no experience, insists on wanting to take a jump from the top rope. Steve, seeing the potential danger, has no problem reining him in for his own, and others, safety. Christina digs deep and makes a huge comeback in training, impressing the trainers with her fortitude in the ring. Meanwhile, her rival Ivelisse is clearly struggling as her leg injury continues to worsen and by the end of training Bill and Booker find her questioning her ability to continue. At the weekly life lesson, the contestants are forced to use their focus once again when they have to navigate their way around a treacherous ropes course. To help motivate and support them, Steve Austin brings in special guest John Morrison. When Ivelesse's injury threatens to take her out of the game altogether, Morrison becomes instrumental in coaching her through the course. While most contestants complete the course with relative ease, it's a rough day for Eric whose body completely gives out on him. Stuck on the ropes, he flounders like a cat caught in the blinds. To add insult to injury, Christina not only passes him up but steps on him in the process. Determined not to quit, Eric tries to soldier on until Steve eventually has no choice but to call time. A dejected Eric is hoisted to the ground while his fate in the competition hangs in the balance. In the skills challenge, the contestants are forced to use every bit of focus when they are asked to balance on the top four corners of the ring. Unable to even stand, AJ takes a tumble making it one of the worst performances of the day, closely followed by Andy and Eric. For those who didn't fall, the challenge gets harder � balancing while big cats Eric and Andy run the ropes. Ivelisse holds on just long enough to beat Christina but by the end it is down to Jeremiah and Luke to be the last men standing. Their challenge is to go head to head in a drill from training involving elbow drops from the ropes. Finally, Jeremiah's greenness catches up to him and he slams the dummy the wrong way. Although he tries to save the mistake with a crazy aerial maneuver it's too late and the win goes to Luke. After deliberating on the best and worst, Steve announces the bottom three: Eric, Ivelisse and AJ Back at the house the talk turns to elimination. Both Eric and AJ are convinced that Ivelisse is sure to be going home. And at elimination they are proved right when her injury takes her out the game. As a wave of relief passes over Eric and AJ, Steve pulls out a wild card and delivers a shock double elimination, getting rid of Eric too.

After Steve dismisses her from elimination, Rima returns to the house to tell the other contestants that Ryan and his rival Mickael are still in the ring, fighting it out in a promo duel. When Ryan (AKA "Skidmark") walks in, the group is stunned that he has survived yet another elimination. Later that night, Rima gets what she asked for – a one-on-one midnight training session with Bill. However, it turns out to be more than she bargained for as Bill puts her through a grueling workout that exposes her lack of training. Rima is pushed to the breaking point but tearfully tells Bill that she doesn't want to quit. Bill offers encouragement, but Rima goes back to the house bruised and shaken. The next day at the training center, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin introduces the theme of agility. To bring the point home, he introduces his favorite opponent and WWE Legend, Bret "The Hitman" Hart. The Cast is in awe listening to the words of a season veteran. Training that day is a series of leaps over the top rope of the ring. The entire cast fumbles miserably with the drill, except for Luke and Jeremiah. While Luke isn't surprised that he and Jeremiah did so well, the coaches are surprised that the rest of the cast did so poorly. They have an uphill battle to learn the lesson of agility. The next day, Bill wakes up the house and sends them to meet Trish. They arrive at Friscoe's, a 50's style dinner and are told that they will be working as waiters and waitresses all day – on roller-skates. While many of the guys, especially 6'6" Eric, fumble and fall as they try to learn to skate, it's Rima who excels at this life lesson. She zips around successfully serving customers and perhaps improving her chances for staying. After a long day on the skates, the cast is treated to free drinks and the party gets rowdy as Luke and Jeremiah put on a show on the dance floor. Meanwhile, Andy sits quietly in the corner keeping a promise to his family to stay straight edge and focused throughout the competition. At the Skills Challenge the next day, the cast is given a sequence of moves to perform to test their agility. If they cannot perform well, they'll be eliminated from the challenge. First up is Rima who still hasn't grasped the most rudimentary of maneuvers and is thrown out of the ring by Bill. The rest of the cast shows various stages of improvement and it comes down to Andy, Martin and Luke. Andy is frustrated when he is next out, wondering what he has to do to break into the top ranks. Once again, Martin outshines Luke in the final round and wins the challenge. Arrogant Luke thinks the trainers are playing mind games with him and won't even shake Martin's hand. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin takes the trainers into deliberate the final three. While there were some standouts like Martin, there are some big disappointments – including the "110 pound elephant in the room." Steve Austin returns to announce the bottom three. He calls Rima's name then tells her he's not going to call anyone else. The shocked cast looks on as he eliminates Rima on the spot. She pleads her case but Austin's mind is made up. A dejected Rima heads back to the house to pack up her bags. After saying goodbye, she brings Steve Austin her Tough Enough belt. Despite her drawbacks in the ring, Austin tells her that there are other ways to break into the business and she may still have a bright future. After a Stone Cold hug, Rima leaves disappointed – but not defeated.

After surviving elimination, Eric and Michelle come back to the house and tell the other contestants how difficult the grilling from Stone Cold Steve Austin was. Reality hits the remaining 13 that the stakes are high as they compete to become the next WWE Superstar. The next day at the training center, Steve Austin introduces courage as the theme for this week's challenges. If the contestants are afraid to get hurt and take risks, they'll have no chance in the WWE. Trish Stratus puts Matt, a ten-year pro, through a personality drill. She's so impressed with him, she sends him to the ring for an exhibition match with the cocky but capable Luke. But Matt fades into the background as Luke takes total control of the match and shines instead. Ryan struggles during training, incurring the wrath of Bill DeMott who likes nothing about "Skidmarks." Miss USA Rima gets a real culture shock when she takes her first hard bumps and body slams in the ring. John Cena, the top WWE Superstar in the world, arrives to watch training and give advice about how to succeed in the business. Outside of training, Luke forms a fast friendship with southern livewire Jeremiah. The drunken antics of their bromance lightens the mood and entertains their fellow housemates. On the other side of the equation, Ryan and Mike won't ever be friends. Thinking Ryan is too nice and soft, Mike kicks off their feud by teasing him about writing letters to his girlfriend. The next day, Steve Austin really puts the courage of the contestants to the test when he brings them outside to try to outrun police attack dogs. Steve and Bill take great pleasure in watching the cast get taken down one by one. But it's Miss USA Rima and big Andy who take the hardest hits when the trained dogs bite into their protective gear. Surprisingly, Eric excels at the challenge, singing and skipping to the finish line as a dog tries to bite through the protective gear. Miss USA Rima is 20 minutes late for to the skills challenge, raising red flags about her commitment for the trainers. In the skills challenge, the contestants' courage is pushed to the limits. They will be squashed in the corner and then body slammed 5 times by the 300 pounds plus Bill. It's an agonizing and bruising exercise that shows how physically demanding the business is. After deliberating on the best and worst, Steve announces the Bottom Three � Ryan, Rima and, the veteran Matt. In the ring, Steve Austin grills Rima about her lateness but concedes her mental toughness. While Ryan might be too nice for the business it's Matt saying that he's "waiting for his moment" that seals his fate. Matt pleads as Steve Austin takes his belt but it's too late � Matt missed his chance and he's going home.

On this episode, Justice Smith was eliminated. The two final contestants have a boxing match at Armageddon (a WWE Pay-Per-View). Daniel Puder and Mike Mizanin also have a match in the ring tonight. They have to hit each other off of a big pillow they are standing on. They use big sticks to hit each other. Daniel Puder won.

This special showed footage of the tough enough we've seen on tv and the parts we didn't see. We saw the two contestants who lost a bet and had to wear a dress. There was also videos of the contestants learning how to wrestle, which we have not been seeing on TV.

The Tough Enough contestants had to do a challenge where they would have to grab a flag on the other side of the ring in 30 seconds. The Basham Brothers were in the way though. No one got past them. Al Snow announced the brothers the winners. Chris Nawrocki was voted off the show.

The show starts off showing the last few hours for the seven contestants. They had to do several hard tasks, eat a huge amount of pasta (like Fear Factor huge), and then have to continue doing the hard tasks. Then the seven contestants come out to the ring with Al Snow. Al Snow introduces them to Kurt Angle. Kurt Angle asks every guy for the guy's name and then makes fun of them for some reason. Kurt Angle then shows them an excercise. Kurt has a contest with them to see who could do the most (Kurt wasn't in the contest, see more on the contest in the recap). Chris Nawrocki won. The prize was to have a match with Kurt Angle. Angle quickly takes him down and wins. Then he asks if any other Tough Enough guys want to face Kurt. None raise their hand accept Daniel Puder. Puder goes into the ring and gets some cheers. It takes longer for Angle to beat Puder because Puder is in the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), yet he eventually does. Then Kurt says they aren't Tough Enough and leave

In this episode, WWE cut the 50 Tough Enough finalists to eight finalists. One guy lied about his age and was kicked off. There was a weight lifting contest, and during the contest one guys hurt his arm. The next day he returned and did a task where you have to use your arms. All of the WWE people running it thought that show tremendous dedication. In the ring, Al Snow told him he was cut. Like a true sport, the guy thanked WWE for the opportunity. As he left, a WWE official gave him a OVW wrestling contract. The eight finalists are: Chris Nawrocki, John Meyer, Mike Mizanin, Ryan Reeves, Daniel Rodimer, Nick Mitchell, Justice Smith, and Daniel Puder. See more about the final eight in our recap.

This week's episode of Tough Enough was highlighted by a trip to Iceland, but prior to leaving for the trip, the cast decided it was payback time for Jonah. Upset with rib he pulled on them last week, the cast poured laxative into his protein shake. Unknowing, Jonah swallowed the whole drink down. The cast and trainers then sat back and watched as Jonah was doubled over in pain. Finally, he had reached the boiling point. After getting to the bathroom just in time, he realized that there was no toilet paper. In an attempt to continue the rib, Al Snow unraveled an entire roll of paper and passed Jonah three sheets.

The Tough Enough 3 cast grew smaller this week while a few of the competitors expressed their desire to become more than just friends with their housemates. Jamie loves flirting with the guys in the house, especially John. She admits to having a crush on him, but there's just one problem. John has a girlfriend and has no desire to cheat on her. Kelly, meanwhile, began to buddy up to Nick. But Nick was clear that he had no intention of getting at all involved with his housemate. To make things even more interesting, Big said that he would draw two names at random and allow the winners to fly in a guest for the weekend. John and Jonah were selected and each chose to fly in their girlfriends.

For the first time this season, Al Snow, Bill DeMott, Ivory and Big made a cut, sending the 6' 10"" Chad back home to Wisconsin. According to the trainers, as well as some of the cast members, Chad just wasn't picking up the in-ring work. Plus, his charisma was lacking. As a result, Chad was cut, leaving only 10 Tough Enough contestants. As usual, Scott found himself getting into some trouble this week on Tough Enough. In addition to engaging in an ethnic/religious war with Rebekah, he also had a few too many drinks during the cast's night out. In fact, Scott had so many drinks, that an ambulance was called. Near lifeless, Scott rested in a puddle of his own urine as EMTs attempted to help him. Luckily while at the hospital, Scott received the attention he needed. Embarrassed, he returned to the house the next morning.

Last week on Tough Enough, the 13 members of the cast were chosen after a long and strenuous tryout process. As this week's show kicked off, Big told the cast members that their challenges were not done yet. He then pointed to a gigantic mountain-side house and told them they had to run to it because it was where they would be living. Even before everybody settled in, the drama of season three began. Apparently, Scott rubbed everybody the wrong way right from the start, especially his roommate Jamie. Before Jamie was even unpacked, Scott asked her if she was a lesbian. Jamie was clearly not excited about the question. Scott's insane comments intensified as the show went on. His most offensive comment to the house members came when he asked if there were a lot of fags in a certain location.

The cast of WWE Tough Enough 1 (Maven, Nidia, Chris N., Chris Ni., Darryl, Taylor, Victoria, Greg, Shadrick, Josh, and Jason) and the cast of WWE Tough Enough 2 (Linda, Jackie, Jessie, Kenny, Jake, Pete, Matt, Robert, Danny, Aaron, Alicia, Hawk, and Anni) get together for a WWE Tough Enough reunion.

Jackie decides to stay at Trax and work through her knee injury (Torn ALC and ligament), the cast cut promos and mimic each other, William Regal pays a visit, the crew cuts Pete because they don't think he has what it takes to become a WWE/WWF superstar, and the crew cuts Anni because of the lack of her in-ring skills.

The cast gets excited about going to South Africa, WWF Superstars, Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler pay a visit and join the cast in the hot tub, the cast goes to South Africa where the stay in a luxorius hotel, go in a hot air balloon, see animals, etc. ""Big"" reveals a cut is going to be made while in South Africa.

Jackie and Pete have and intimate moment in the hot tub and get ""frisky"", but Jackie later regrets it because her boyfriend said he would walk out on her, Jackie's boyfriend sends her a package with sad song lyrics, the cast gets action figures made of them, and Edge makes a visit.

The cast gets to go to WWF Raw Is War and meets a lot of superstars. Al Snow, Bob ""Hardcore"" Holly, and Ivory compete on WWF Metal/WWF Jakked. Matt is forced to leave Trax because he previously injured his knee on the beach.

The contestants continue their training. Alicia gets a back injury, Big places a bet with the contestants that if either Hawk and/or Kenny lose on the Horse, that the males had to wrestle in jock straps and the women had to wrestle in bikinis, Hawk ended up losing for everybody.

The announced thirteen participants are brought to their new home where, and Shad didn't show up because he didn't pass the required physical, so Danny replaces him. The thirteen start training on the beach where Aaron blacks out and is driven away in an ambulance.

The kids wrestle against each other as Vince McMahon watches from ringside. The chairman has more in-store for the troupe as they are called into his office at WWF headquarters.

Al takes the kids on a three day trip to Backlash, Raw is War, and SmackDown! in order for them to experience what life as a WWF superstar on the road is like where they get a crash course in cutting promos from The Brooklyn Brawler.

With the troupe feeling bruised and banged up, Al takes their mind off it by introducing them to "the circle game" and bets Chris Nowinski that he can beat him three times with it. After he loses, he must go to Yale University proclaiming that "Harvard Sucks." Meanwhile, Greg's doctor advises him that continuing to wrestle may be detrimental to his health.

After Kurt Angle visits the group and tells of how he broke into the wrestling business, the kids take a trip to the Bahamas where Chris Nowinski begins to annoy Josh and Paulina suffers a knee injury which forces her to make a tough decision.

Darryl can't catch a break when he loses a bet in a game of darts to "Big", Josh, Greg, and Maven and aggravates Chris Nowinski when he asks him for more money to cook dinner for Pat Patterson. Meanwhile, the trainers are not keen on his performance, either in the ring or out of it.

Triple H lectures the group about the reality and the integrity of the wrestling business; a reality that Jason decides he is not willing to be a part of and respects too much to waste.

With over 4,000 tapes sent into the WWF, 230 hopefuls come to WWF New York to audition for the show, but only 13 are selected to make the trip to Stamford, Connecticut to find out who is tough enough.