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WWF Tough Enough by The Cubs Fan

20.9.1

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Open. TV PG L.

Previously: Chris and Josh (playing the recorder) have issues with each other - Josh is childish, Chris is a bully. Al reminds us that Josh has to work harder because he's smaller.

Trax. Suplexes. We start with snap suplexes and mix in the one Al used in his match last episode. Tazz complements Josh on his form. Everyone sits down and Al reminds them that they have seven days left, and it is a competition. Taylor says everyone is very excited. Josh says no one knows what they're going to be judged on, and Al doesn't help things by being vague: "I'm going to be evaluating them on a lot of different levels." Why not take a moment to do interviews with the trainers to give positive thoughts about each kid?

Chris: Tori says Chris stands out because he's got the size and not much body fat. Al says Chris has a good grasp on the intellectual part of it. 

Josh: Al says Josh has a lot of passion and heart. Tori says you'd tend to overlook him but he has good senses that are wonderful. 

Maven: Al says Maven has a certain charisma and look to him in the ring. 

Taylor: Miss Jackie says she's a lot like her when she really started out - really determined.

Nidia: Big says Nidia has more feminize qualities. 

Maven says they're all pushing each other, because they all want it. Al wonders who has the "x-factor" that gonna make people want to watch them. (But not look at them like at them like that.)

Gym. Everyone's working out. Here's a montage. Josh bugs Al because he wants to learn how to do moonsaults. Al eventually gives in and says first thing tomorrow. Chris says that Josh is young and small and he's trying to find things he can do that no one else can to make up for it. Josh says he hopes he stands out in the high risks stuff.

Mansion. Big told them all to get ready for him to drop by in the afternoon, so they're all hanging out in Josh's bedroom. Here comes a limo. Did Josh make a Darryl joke? Cool. Back to the limo, and out step Stone Cold Steve Austin and Debra. Cue Austin montage to Godsmack's "Alive" (no vocals.) Taylor says they had no idea any wrestlers were dropping by, were just chatting about stuff, and all the sudden they hear a ding-ing sound. We hear it too. Chris (reading a novel) hears it but Josh is sure it's a clock. Chris and Josh discuss this while Austin rings the door bell a few more times. Chris says he's never heard that sound before. Austin's now knocking. Chris and Josh finnaly decide to go find out who's at the door, by going out the side door and walking around the house. Steve and Debra exchange a look, and Austin starts talking about not waiting out here all day, and finnaly Josh and Chris get there. Unfortunately, we're looking from behind Josh so we can't see his jaw drop. But he tells us that it does so it's almost the same. Chris says Stone Cold was kinda cold to them, but then, they did keep him waiting on the front porch. Chris opens the door, then gets mad because they don't let Debra walk in first. 

Now they're all hanging out in the living room, and Austin's in full "leader of the Alliance dealing with the rank and file" mode. Austin asks why they wanted to do wrestling, and Chris says he watched throughout college, and thought it was better than working. Austin doesn't take it not being work and lets Chris know about it. Nidia says he was intense and the whole thing was intense. Austin talks about barely making ends meet when he first started out, having cheap food and not much of it. Austin talks about Debra sacrificed for her and he appreciates it. Nidia asks Debra about being a woman in the WWF and she compares the woman to candles on a birthday cake and says that the men make the money for the company. Taylor tells us that she'd like for women (or at least herself) to be more just the candles and as a viewer, thinks the women can contribute just as much as the men. Nidia doesn't want to be a candle, she wants to be a big shining star. Nidia tells Austin that it's a lot harder than she'd thought it'd be. Austin tells her to stay away from the high risk stuff, then notes that Josh probably does a lot of it. Austin says that Josh has to have psychology and can't be just flipping around for no good reason. Austin talks about having two leg braces and screws in his neck but he's gonna keep wrestling as long as he can because he loves to do it. Maven says it was a great experience and Austin is larger than life.

Trax. It's moonsault time. If you're not a wrestling fan and reading this recap (mail me and let me know and) a moonsault is basically a back flip where you land on your stomach (and hopefully your opponent) instead of on your feet. Usually, it's from the top rope all the way down to the mat, so there is the danger of landing very wrong and hurting yourself very bad. They get the big crash pad. Al talks about how dangerous it can be, with your back to the ring and landing on something that's pretty much unforgiving. Al demonstrates at Trax and we take a look at Matt Hardy and Kurt Angle (off the cage) doing ones. This would've been the perfect time for Essa Rios, but no. Al: "Who wants to go first?" And it gets very quiet. Josh is nominated since he was the one who really wanted to do it. Nidia says Josh is the underdog, he's her size. Josh says his size is an advantage, because there are things he can do that not everyone else can. Or at least he hopes. Moonsault attempt #1 and Josh twisted at the end - he can't commit to it. He keeps trying but he can't land it. Al says reality hit for Josh. Josh starts to go again, but he's too psyched out by his own mistakes and can't jump. Josh tells that he doesn't think he can win the contract if he can't hit this moonsault. Break.

Chris nails the moonsault, though his knees come down kinda hard. Al talks to Josh, as Josh tells us that the psychological parts of the contest are often tougher then the physical parts. Here's replays of his misses. Now here's everyone not named Josh hitting Moonsault after Moonsault after Moonsault, all good. I think Josh just created a big problem for himself. Josh is still twisting. Josh says he's competing against himself as well as other people, and by now he should be picking up stuff quick, so he's really frustrated.

Mansion at night. Chris is on the phone with Big, to find out that they'll need equipment for something they're doing after Trax. Swim suits and towels (so they're swimming) and the boots they had when they first met Tazz are all the important things. Nidia was scared that they were going get another mud-wrestling type thing. Since Darryl is gone, we watch Tazz yelling at Nidia. Nidia wonders what they're going to do to them now.

The kids end up at a rock quarry that has it's own pond (maybe the filled in hole.) Big has a sword for reasons only known to him. Big hypes it as their last challenge and how fitting that it's at a rock quarry, but since we've only see three of these it doesn't make any sense. First thing is swimming to the far side of the pond and back. Big comfortable smokes a cigar while they swim. Josh is in first, and Big thinks that Josh thinks he's got to do really well to have a chance. Maven is next, and he's got a real competitive streak, we're told. Here's Taylor. Then Chris, and he's slow. Nidia is last. Josh says Chris pouts every time they have a challenge and he loses.

Next event is climbing Mt. Rockpile. Really small rocks and they shift whenever weight is put on them, so it's not going to be easy. Quickest one to touch Big's boot wins. Maven notices how steep it is. Nidia struggles in her climb. Big says she showed a lot of heart, because she did not give up. Maven says it was pretty challenging, but it didn't look like much of one for him - he kept his balance by holding on to the sides while he ran. Josh is next. He's really close and doesn't lunge for the foot right away. Taylor, and she seems a little better than Nidia. Then there's Chris. Big says that Chris probably figured, being a Harvard football player, this would be no problem. I don't know if he's talking about this challenge or the whole show. Chris comes really close a few times but keeps sliding down. Josh says Maven beat him by .3 seconds - at 24.1. Chris came in some where around 3.5 minutes. Chris says he really wanted to do in this competitions, but... Josh says Chris handles losing like a baby.

Big says they're just going to hang around at the quarry and start a fire and encourages them to take a swim if they want. Josh and Maven hang out by the pond while Chris chats up Big. Josh and Maven make fun of Chris' "24 hour" brown nosing. They both rather win on merit than having kissed butt. Maven does his Chris imitation, but he needs to work on. Maven says Chris is beginning to get a little worried. Chris says he didn't do that good on some of the challenges (we only look at todays, though him getting a DNF on the rock climbing would fit) so he'll have to make it up elsewhere. Break. 

Trax. Al says four more days. Al demonstrates how to throw a stiff forearm. Hey, it's Ivory! Here's a montage. This is all pre and post-RTC stuff for some reason. No shots of Chyna. I love the fireman's carry into a powerbomb move she does. Ivory offers to teach. Stiff forearm montage. There's some other strikes. Chris says that she raised the level of the class and had "the balls" to take forearms from the kids even though they hadn't thrown them before and might make them too stiff. To back this point, Josh hits Ivory with a hard back elbow and is worried about her reaction for a second, but she congratulates him for a good job. 

Since we've got her here, Ivory will give her thoughts on each one. She'd hate to have to pick. Chris' size is a great factor. Josh has a lot of spunk. Maven is the middle between too. "Maven I'd just like to take out for cocktails, you know what I'm saying?" Ha. Big says Ivory is unique to the WWF, and the women are going to learn a lot from it. We watch Ivory watching Taylor and Nidia. Ivory says neither are crybabies and their toughness will allow them to go further. Ivory tells them that it's a great time to be a lady in the WWF, and Tori agrees. Ivory: "Good guy against bad guys, crowds with it, into all the spots and nobody's saying 'show us your boobs!'" I think we're trying to make Ivory the anti-Debra and the truth of women in the WWF is somewhere in between. Taylor's inspired more by Ivory than Debra. Nidia says she's starting to get into character, but she's not sure what they are looking for. Ivory leaves and says she wish she could to this all the time. 

Back to practice. Josh does a 'rana on Maven and the corner sunset flip. Taylor with a 'rana. Maven with the corner sunset flip. Now it's time to do the moonsault. But no crash pad this time. Taylor first, and Miss Jackie calls her Popeye. Taylor says she's gotta believe in herself. She hits it, knocking the win out of herself in the process. Nidia next, and she wants to be the best their is. She hits it, for zero distance but not killing herself. Maven hits it for a longer distance. He hopes people look at him and see how much he wants it. Chris gets his shot, and he hopes people notice how much he wants it. His lower body comes down hard because he didn't get it up high enough. Chris says he doesn't feel that this is an easy win. 

Josh is last, of course. He's nervous but Al is making him do it. Al inspires Josh to go do it, and he hits it right. Al says he has no question about Josh's desire. Al says he felt good that everyone was able to make that leap over a barrier they didn't even know they could do. Big points out that they couldn't even fall down right, and now they're doing a moonsault. Big says he didn't think it would ever be an easy decision, but he never thought it'd be this difficult. Al says it's gonna be a tough decision as we look at everyone one more time. They've all earned his respect, and it's everyone's race. Josh is pretty excited. That's it.

On the next Tough Enough: Maven says when Big told them they'd have a match with the trainers, they didn't realize how mean the trainers were going to be. Stiff shots galore. It's Vince McMahon. Everyone's sad because it's over.

This was followed by a hype show for the WWF Tough Enough CD. Alien Ant Farm hosted and read lines from cue cards really stiffly. Their "Smooth Criminal" video, along with "Stupify" by Disturbed, "Dig" by Mudvayne, "Beat The World" by Powerman 4-5 and "Alive" by Godsmack. There were scenes from next week's episode but it's pretty much what they just showed on the next Tough Enough.

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