Cross Examination: Analyzing The Remaining Tough Enough Contestants

I watched the fourth episode of Tough Enough with my roommate, who has never been a wrestling fan. At the beginning, he was apathetic, but at the end, he watched Gabi’s 30-second plea and immediately said, ‘That bitch is going home.”

He was right.

As much as we want it to be, Tough Enough is not about wrestling. It’s about building these people up from nothing and giving the viewers reasons to root for them to succeed. WWE has seen people like Finn Bálor and Hideo Itami come into developmental and carry a sizable fan following with them. Of course, they’re also fantastic wrestlers, but the built-in support is still a big reason why they’ve succeeded in NXT so far.

Tough Enough is already succeeding on that front. Patrick has smartly positioned himself as the torchbearer of the IWC, and he’s generated tons of support from that.

Even though it’s not ideally put together and it took them four episodes to properly utilize Chris Jericho, the show is entertaining, especially since I need something to watch and I don’t like True Detective. The remaining competitors all have some good qualities and as well as some bad.

Amanda is in great shape, finishing second overall and first among the women in the first contest of the show, which involved running back and forth on a football field with parachutes and weights and then running to the top of the stadium. However, she’s most notable for feuding with Gabi. I’m of the belief that this show is scripted, especially the feuding between contestants, but I need to see more character work from Amanda before I’m sold on her.

Chelsea just arrived last week as a replacement for a contestant who quit. You may remember her as the physical therapist Stephanie McMahon claimed had an affair with Daniel Bryan last year on Raw. Thankfully, Chelsea is trying to put that behind her. She is the most experienced in the ring of all the contestants, having trained under Lance Storm. Since she’s only been on one episode, we haven’t seen much of her.

Giorgia, also known as GiGi, has been the most impressive woman so far. She’s won the majority of the challenges and has stayed out of the petty squabbling that has plagued Amanda. GiGi is Australian, which helps her stand out, and her gymnastics background has served her well in the show so far. She hasn’t shown a ton of personality, but she’s still above the rest of the women in that respect.

Josh is a former college football player whose best attribute is his look. He’s 6-foot-8 and physically looks like a match for anyone on the main roster right now. The problem is his character. He’s been trying out a British accent lately, which seems pointless when there are actual Englishmen like King Barrett and Neville hanging around. He’s only 24 and has potential, though, so even if he doesn’t win, he’ll likely get a contract.

Mada is another big dude. A former Egyptian professional basketball player, he left the country in 2011 to escape the revolution. Mada ended up in Los Angeles as Jason Momoa’s personal trainer. Mada has a great look and has grasped the character/promo part of wrestling pretty quickly – he’s already adopted the character of “The Pharoah.” It’s hard to say exactly where he stands in the ring, but he has a lot of potential.

Patrick, as stated above, has revealed himself to be the smark of the group. He’s the only one who watched the Beast in the East special live and he constantly references other wrestlers. He’s also won plenty of physical challenges and cut a great promo on Mada this week. He’s the favorite among the men, although Hulk Hogan was right when he told Patrick to find a character that isn’t “smart mark.”

Sara has done nothing of note besides one promo at the end of the most recent episode, and it took longer for that promo ability to be pulled out of her than it did for Excalibur to be pulled out of the stone. Even so, she’s gained IWC support for being the “nice girl” who stays out of drama with the other girls, even though the drama on this show is about as real as the Phillies’ chances of making the playoffs. I know that we see just a tiny bit of what these competitors actually do during the week, but I have seen nothing from Sara that makes me want to see her wrestle. I’m not sure if it’s her fault or the producers’, but something needs to change.

Tanner got off to a fast start, winning all the physical challenges in the first few episodes, but he’s lost his advantage to Patrick since the challenges have moved to more specific in-ring workouts. Tanner has a good look and comes from an MMA background, but besides his cockiness, he hasn’t shown much character development. If that changes, he’s the one with the quickest path to the main roster.

ZZ is the enigma of the show. He’s the only one who isn’t in great shape, which helps him stand out but hurts him in the physical challenges. On the bright side, ZZ has a ton of charisma and is probably the most popular contestant – among fans and his competition. It’s hard to imagine him getting voted off. He needs a few years of seasoning, but he has the personality to succeed. He also just turned 19, making him the youngest contestant.

Overall, Patrick and GiGi are the front-runners, their biggest threats are Mada and Amanda, and ZZ and Chelsea are the wild cards. However, one good week can catapult anyone to the top.

Wrestledelphia.com columnist Evan Cross can be reached at . Follow him on Twitter .