It’s the final episode of Tough Enough and we have ourselves a winner and new WWE Superstar. Is it Luke or Andy? Find out here.
Before the show starts we get a five minute montage recapping the entire series to date. It was nicely put together and did its best to sum up 9 weeks, but there’s not a lot of point in talking about it because I’ve spent those 9 weeks writing about Tough Enough.
Home Time
We begin the finale by following each of our finalists around their home towns as they prepare to compete in an FCW ring. Andy, a native of Tampa, spends some quality time with his wife and daughter, and we learn his wife has a degree in sports exercise or something, and she puts him through his paces with some pretty unique training, including pushing a freakin’ car. Luke meanwhile, parties it up with girls in bikinis on a boat in Maine, works out in the woods, and wrestles two fat guys in a ring in his brother’s bar, teasing a pretty unique finisher in the process (a crucifix backstabber). He claims he’s in fact not arrogant, and talks about all the sacrifices his family made for him, breaking down in tears while saying goodbye to his mother. Pretty radical differences in terms of lifestyle, but that was of course to be expected from their attitudes throughout the competition.
FCW Training
Luke and Andy roll into the FCW arena and meet Bill DeMott and Ricky ‘The Dragon’ Steamboat in the ring. They’re told they’ll each be having a live exhibition match, but not against each other as Austin teased, but against Bill. Yikes. Steamboat puts them two through their paces, calling out moves, and talking about their strengths and weaknesses. This is the man that tests all the would-be-superstars, so I’m sure his input was invaluable to them. They both did pretty well and seemed to learn from his pointers. It was also nice to see there’s two rings backstage in addition to the main one at the FCW facility, so there’s plenty of room for the talent to train in.
The Matches
We don’t see the individual matches, but instead footage of each one spliced together with the Tough Enough theme song played over the top. The reason for this is that it looks like they had to wrestle almost the exact same match, but with small exceptions such as a big boot for Andy and a dropkick for Luke. Showing both of these matches in their entirety might have been a bit tedious, but them wrestling the same match is the only way to keep things fair and assess their skills. Both men win with an elbow drop off the top rope and earn begrudging handshakes from Bill, and enthusiastic ones from Ricky after their matches.
Booker T and Bill meet them backstage and ask if they gave it everything they had. Andy says yes, Luke claims he could have done more. I can see why he’d offer that answer, but it might not have been bright to admit you didn’t give it your all in the most important test of the competition.
Building to the Decision
Booker, Bill and Trish are introduced to the live Monday Night Raw crowd and hype them up, bringing out the eliminated contestants. Ivelisse and Martin’s injuries have healed so if there was any doubt that a decent amount of time passed between the rest of the series and the finale, you can put that to bed. Mickael doesn’t even do anything and I still hate his guts. Eric gets booed for no reason. Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler are providing commentary, and Lawler invents a contestant called Jennifer. Okay, he got Michelle’s name wrong. It was a pretty classy move to let everyone come back one last time in my opinion.
The Final Two
Luke and Andy are brought out last, and Andy is wearing a Silent Rage t-shirt under his jacket, while Luke is dressed to the nines. Stone Cold arrives and naturally, the arena goes insane. After getting the crowd more excited for Tough Enough than perhaps any of them were before, he asks the trainers to assess the final two live in the ring in front of them. Bill is heckled for not dressing up and he laughs. He talks about everything they overcame, and says he’d pick Andy. Trish talks about their human side (cos she’s a woman) and picks Andy as well. Booker talks Luke up but surprisingly says Andy has the ‘It-Factor’.
Austin conducts the standard bottom three process, asking them to comment on each other while playfully mocking them. Luke cuts a nice little promo about how he’ll be a superstar while the crowd boo. Andy feels insulted that Luke is in the ring with him, and if you’d never seen Tough Enough before now you’d think Andy was the arrogant one.
Vince McMahon Arrives for The Final Decision
Vinny Mac poses like a maniac and then struts to the ring, which has conveniently emptied with the exception of Luke, Andy and Austin. He wants a hug from the Rattlesnake but gets turned down. Vince asks the final two why they belong in the same ring as Shawn Michaels, Andre the Giant, Sgt. Slaughter, and Austin himself. Andy gets cut off for saying guaran-damn-tee in 2011, while Luke claims the fans will never forget him. Andy gets another try and says he’s the biggest, the baddest, and the best athlete. Vince asks him if he’s nervous and he lies.
Vince prepares to name a winner but Austin says it’s his decision. The lights dim and a drum-roll plays before Andy is announced as the winner. He goes crazy for a few seconds before calming right down to the point you wouldn’t even know he won. Luke graciously shakes hands with Austin, Vince and Andy before giving up his belt and leaving.
Welcome to the WWE, Andy
Vince says he would have chosen Luke and then slaps the urine out of Andy. Austin helps him back up, congratulates him on winning and then gives him a Stunner. Andy crawls out of the ring with his tail between his legs while Vince and Austin celebrate with beers, rolling right into the start of Raw. Bring on the accusations of burying the winner.
Overall Thoughts
This certainly didn’t turn out the way I thought. When Austin said the two would be competing in an FCW ring to determine the winner, I imagined they’d be building towards a match between Luke and Andy, and the training staff, Austin and some unseen WWE management members would be at ringside. It was a little disappointing to never get to see a full match from any of the contestants, especially the final two, but when you consider the two had to have the same match in the interest of fairness, it made sense to not show them in their entirety. And they couldn’t compete against each other, because of what happened with Matt Cross in week two. When two people compete, someone has to win, and the loser is going to look bad, so they couldn’t show any bias.
The footage from their home lives was actually pretty interesting, and it was good to see them get some advice from Ricky Steamboat. I thought it was classy to bring out the eliminated contestants and give them their individual moment in the spotlight. Seeing the reactions of a live arena crowd made the chosen format make sense, because it gave the final some gravitas. Throwing them in there with Vince was a surprising but entertaining move, as you could tell they were both very intimidated by him.
The right guy probably won, because Luke is going to make it in the WWE regardless with his look and attitude. Andy is lacking a little in personality, so attaching the moniker of Tough Enough winner to him will help him out. The audience remembering him for being slapped to the ground by his new boss, and Stunnered by Stone Cold may have lowered some people’s opinions of him, but at least you’ll remember him… right?
Plugs
– Please watch this Amasis Video Tribute I made to wish him a speedy recovery.
– Check out the latest edition of PWP Radio with Jerome and Justin discussing the weekend that was… and wasn’t for DGUSA.
– Look out for a very special edition of the fun hour that’s coming soon. I won’t say anything about it now, but it won’t be like anything you’ve heard from us here at the site before. Oh, and it will be featuring Jerome, Justin, Kevin Ford and myself.