MTV's WWF Tough Enough - The First Season (2001)

Good Concept With Poor Execution

I watched the entire first season of Tough Enough and it was a good concept that was poorly executed by MTV and the McMahons. The series started well enough over the first couple episodes with a look at wrestling training and people who want to be wrestlers. Unfortunately, after the first couple of episodes, the prodigal son in law Triple H and his bride of Frankenstein, no talent, wife (Stephanie McMahon) decided the show was "exposing the business" too much (despite wrestling fans being upset that the series did not show enough actual wrestling). Therefore, the second half of the first season and all subsequent seasons show nothing except the trainees doing generic exercises and running the ropes, which gets boring quick.

The first season is also hurt by the fact that every single contestant was a total flop in professional wrestling. The only person from season 1 of Tough Enough still employed by the WWF is Josh, who is a fifth rate announcer that barely ever gets on television. The so called winners from season 1, Maven and Nidia, were fired by McMahon because they never got to be any good in the ring and they developed insane egos by being handed contracts without working for them (real wrestlers work for years for no money before making it to the major league, unlike Tough Enough babies). Chris Nowinski may be the most well known member of the Tough Enough season 1 cast and that is just because he is a self promoting con artist who is trying to get wrestling banned and make himself money off of the Chris Benoit tragedy. December 30, 2007

Very Entertaining!!!

This was a great season. You don't even have to be a wrestling fan to like this show. I had one of my friends watch it and they hate wrestling and they loved this. When I bought it and started to watch it, I couldn't stop. I almost watched the whole thing all the way through that is how good this is. If you like wrestling or hate it, it doesn't matter because this is very good. It shows people how real wrestling is and how good of shape you have to be in to wrestle. For all of you people who say wrestling is fake, watch this dvd set and then tell me otherwise. I think that everyone should watch this and I guarantee there will be more wrestling fans out there to appreciate this sports entertainment. November 2, 2002

Good reality-wrestling show

In the current wave of reality based tv shows, this is one I can say I never missed. Good concept with a group that was in my opinion interesting to watch. I would say it's a mix of 65% wrestling and 35% MTV's Real World. Not a bad mix for fans who want to mostly see the training but don't mind seeing how they interact with each other in the same house. If your the sentimental sort you'll enjoy seeing the trainers go from feeling like there babysitting a bunch of spoiled brats who are being handed the same opportunity that they had to work their entire lives for, to being slowly won over my the hard work and pain these kids are willing to endure in order to make their dreams a reality. Even Tazz starts to respect them (in his own way). I really got a renewed respect for Al Snow, he excells as the head trainer and becomes a sort of father figure to the kids. The visits by the various superstars are definately one of the highlights of the show. The visit from HHH in the begining really puts them in there place and lets them know the seriousness of the business. Very moving.

Even though I really liked this series I gained even more appreciation for it after watching the current Tough Enough 2 series which appears to be less about wrestling and more about MTV's RealWorld. A major disapointment from my book. Plus Al Snow seems totally detached from this group.

The only thing about this set I didn't like were the special features. The "exclusive footage" is pretty boring with the exception of the extended footage of a few of the superstar's visits. The cast's submission tapes are somewhat interesting and might be worth watching. In my opinion MTV really dropped the ball on this one. It should have been packed with behind the scenes footage and unedited segments, instead you have to buy a seperate DVD to see that and it's pretty un-impressive anyways (see my review of that). All in all I thought this was a quality show with a good cast. If you like reality tv and wrestling, but don't mind scant special features then this is a show for you. April 17, 2002

Good Show .. even better music !

I liked the concept behind the show, but I though the music was just as good ! Several episodes features music from one of my favourite bands Film (from Atlanta)

You can check them out at ...and the songs on this video on on their CD 'rolling' available from amazon.com March 15, 2002

Nice Set

First off, the premise of Tough Enough was to show ordinary people getting thrown into a business that they thought they knew about. In reality, half the crew were wrestling fans, with Josh being the biggest and most knowledgable, the other half weren't big fans, with Bobbie Jo being the least knowledgable and prepared.

Really this show also tried to educate the general fans about the business and how tough it truly is. In that sense it really worked. I know a few people that never liked wrestling, despite my attempts at informing them. After watching the first season of Tough Enough, though they are all HUGE fans. Two even subscribe to the Observer now. As for getting stars out of the deal, well Maven seems to be a natural in the hardest places to teach - charisma and looks. He still needs a lot of work, but he realizes this and is working his a$$ off, with no complaints in OVW and HWA. Nidia is just beginning to wrestle now and won't be WWF TV for at least a few months. Anybody that thought these two were being fully prepared for immediate action, or would be a top draw upon their debut missed the point of the show entirely. Everyone knew 9 weeks training wasn't enough to make them real stars, but it provided them with a solid base to start from, which is why Maven is given zero offense and fluke wins.

As for the quality of the set, the picture is much better than the WWF's more recent releases (this is an MTV release after all) and the sound is average. The extras are nice, though. Included are 12 of the 13 finalists' submission tapes. Funny stuff, especially Jason's. I'm not sure what the hell he was doing, but it makes him look REAL stupid. Maven's was clearly the best as he cut a promo effortlessly. Josh's was pretty cool, too because it included footage of his backyard matches, including nice hurricanranas. Darryl's tape isn't included for some reason. Most episodes include extra footage, mainly of the WWF superstars when they visited. Cool stuff with Stone Cold and his stories of his early days (he also gets in a nice dig on Bischoff once again).

All in all, the only complaint I have about the set is I would've liked a commentary or documentary on Maven and Nidia's training in HWA and OVW. March 15, 2002

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