Miz is probably the only Tough Enough contestant who has withstood the test of time and had an unexpectedly successful career in WWE. It feels so surreal because many including myself had been following his journey on The Real World. Way before he signed up for Tough Enough. Those little toy replica titles he carried around would ultimately become the real deal leading to him becoming a 2 time grand slam champion.
Matt was my High School Egnlish Teacher. My English teacher had talked about him from time to time and his time I tough enough came up. I was already a fan of Wrestling long before high school so I knew who he was talking about. I thought it was awesome.
The research that goes into these is impressive, hats off to Cultaholic for scouring the internet for weeks to find out what some of these people are up to.
Miz was a pariah in the locker room early in his career. Came from The Real World, the whole washing chicken over a veterans bag (allegedly), made fun of and hated in by JBL when he called Miz's matches, his VERY punchable face and ended up with the lovely Maryse and started a family. Numerous Intercontinental and United States Championships, Tag Titles WHILE holding US Title, main event WrestleMania AGAINST John Cena (even though Miz was treated as an afterthought in said main event to set up a once, wait twice, in a lifetime main event between Cena and Rock. MITB winner, THAT promo on Talking Smack.... Love him or hate him, but The Miz has come such a long way from being a tool on the Real World to being a HEAT MAGNET on the main roster and going toe to toe with the greats of his era. You CANNOT deny Miz has accomplished his dream of being a WWE wrestler/champion and gone far above ALL expectations. Dude, even my 6 year old daughter LOVES Miz, ESPECIALLY his actions at this year's WrestleMania. Great job as always, I was VERY excited for the intro! It's been a while...
Miz has a great work ethic. I don't think being bullied from guys the likes of JBL got to him. He loves the business, and you can tell he was truly hurt/mad when Daniel Bryant said he was "safe". He had been in the WWE for a decade at that point, and he still can't get respect from some people.
He was eating chicken over Chris Benoits bag and got crumbs all over it, Chris kicked Miz out of the locker room (which was the style at the time) and he was forced to change in public bathrooms and the hallways of the arena. He apparently did that for 6 months, at this point all the stuff with Chris Benoit went down and apparently the rule was at the time the only person who could get you back in the locker room was the person who kicked you out which obviously wasnt possible. The only reason he got back into the locker room was when The Undertaker spotted him changing in a hallway backstage, The Undertaker approached The Miz and asked him what he was doing and The Miz told him. Undertaker took him to the locker room and announced that The Miz had served his time and was allowed back in on a promise to The Undertaker that The Miz wouldnt make him regret his decision or disappoint him. I would say The Miz has certainly kept his promise to The Undertaker!
You forgot Martin Wright who was in season 4 and was fired when WWE found out he lied about his age and was 40 when the age limit was 35. He claimed he was 30. He later went on to play The Boogyman and has a legend deal.
@@mattbernacki9282 yeah. It's nice seeing someone tell behind the scenes directly to the viewers rather than through someone else. He knows the responses he gets and listens to feedback.
EYYY MDB on a Cultaholic vid! Love to see one of my favorite RU-vidrs interacting with another one of my favorite channels! Can’t wait for Emerald with only fossils tomorrow!
ZZ is my cousin. Lovable idiot for sure. Didn't graduate school but somehow found his way on three different tv shows. Trading spouses, Swamp People, and Tough Enough.
Regardless of the topic, Regardless of the wrestlers featured, Regardless of what kind of a day or week we've been having, Regardless of the state of pro wrestling at this moment, You know we're all clicking this video. For that intro alone. This is a proven fact.
My partner woke up to go to the bathroom once and asked if I had Phil Collins on repeat. I wasn't, but he has hated me watching these videos ever since. Not because of the videos or anything in the videos, only because of the intro. I think that might have made me like it more.
yeah and he didnt even win! thats what baffles me the most but give him dues for sticking with it and proving himself even when all the other were trying their hardest to drive him out of the business
John Hennigan arguably has the most worldwide success considering how many places he's wrestled. WWE never put him on top, but pretty much *everyone* else he's wrestled for did.
You have a strange idea of “stayed at the top” considering the guy got a huge main event push 12 years ago then never really returned to the main event scene again.
I actually have gotten to know Alex Frekey a little bit personally over the last few years as he frequented my workplace until I left there in 2019. He's a stellar guy and is nothing like how he was portrayed on the show. I mean, he still resented Patrick Clark, though. Lol. And he really described his comments in a way that makes a bit more sense. He meant more or less just being a wrestling nerd won't get you far, but having a great physique and charisma will get one to the next level. The dude was also absolutely massive, but has since trimmed down to a physique he has said is much healthier for him.
The Miz is the only two time grand slam champion. He has gone from being an afterthought twice in his career to jump up to being a main event talent. First in 2009-2012, then 2016-2019. The fans always react to him, and he isn't the terrible in ring worker many say. The guy has gotten Sandow, Ziggler, RTruth, BTeam, over in angles. Made us wanna see him beat McMahon and then lose to Morrison. Guy is a all-time great imo. Can't believe it myself.
Shaniqua left after WWE well John Lauri fired her mentor Jazz n Rodney Mack, she went back to her basketball career hence she was tired of the backstage politics and creative doing what they do best with women like Shaniqua back then..
Forgotten from the last season was Ashley Urbanski, who passed the audition, but was then removed due to a heart condition. She returned later as Shotzi.
Honestly, it makes me smile knowing most of these people are doing good, especially the ones who’s wrestling stories never ended. Sometimes pursuing your dreams is just as good as achieving them, because you know you gave it anything you’ve got. PS: Dan Rodimer from Tough Enough 4 has the funniest story.🤣
Man, I really want you guys to rank every NWA champion, mostly because I really want to see the reaction to inevitably ranking Ron Killings and Nick Aldis over guys like Dusty Rhodes
Poor Mada, he believed his own hype because Hogan was onboard his 80’s mentality towards wrestling. As soon as Hogan was out and replaced by the Miz, Miz literally told him to get out with the 80’s crap.😂
Only wrestlers that was truly Tough Enough never even won the contest. The Miz, Boogeyman, Velveteen Dream, John Morrison, Aj Lee and Ryan Reeves (Ryback)
It's interesting how you can literally see how culture changed between season 4 (2004) and season 5 (2010) by seeing the professions of those who were in the program. Most of those from the earlier seasons are in pretty typical office jobs, while in the newer seasons most of them tried harder to push themselves as brands. Many of them selling custom T-shirts or booty pics over working on spreadsheets. This isn't a value judgement. It's just interesting to note.
Work culture has definitely shifted the past decade. It's really fascinating how many are focusing on self endeavors instead of office jobs. Then again I really can't blame many, you can only do the same job for said amount of years before you feel like you want to rip your hair out.
Even though she's not featured here due to having to leave before things really got started, I'll never forget seeing Shotzi for the first time on on the 2015 season. She had that star quality instantly, so I started taking note of her in Hoodslam afterwards. So glad she made it to the big time, she very much deserves it. She's wonderful!
I took a pic with Jackie Gayda right after her win in 2002 in WWE NY (The World) as it was called then. I freaked her out I think when I put my arm around her. I never took pics with anyone (I hate photos) & it just seemed natural. I felt her pull away for just a second but relax when she saw I wasn't harming her. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I didn't know what to do with my hands!
Maven's doing a ton of great videos on youtube talking about his time in the WWE. It's not the cliche "here's what REALLY happened behind the scenes, this company is bad, this person is a monster" type videos. He does reveal a few insider secrets here and there like how wrestlers make themselves bleed, but he does just a lot of very introspective looks at his time there. Apparently he would have come back for an announcing/commentating position on NXT if it wasn't for COVID.
I love how he takes full accountability for his mistakes and doesn't blame WWE or anyone else for the bad things that happened. I even like how he doesn't try and bury any of his previous coworkers. It's seriously refreshing to see a positive former WWE guy who isn't blaming WWE or everyone else and have accountability for once. Mad respect to Maven, guys amazing.
You FORGOT Michelle who was married to Johnny Fairplay where he appeared in TNA. Also she was on America's Next Top Model where she flopped there as well.
You know what I noticed in a lot of these competitions like this American idol whenever someone won they didn't really have much success after that it was usually the runner-up that ended up having the better career
idk how people can say this show was a failure. you had the miz, john morrison, chelsea green, sonya deville, ryback, maven, nidia and the velveteen dream. some of the other contestants ended up working for wwe in other ways, went to the indies to help future stars or were/are in relationships with wwe stars. Some even died before they had the chance to showcase their abilities on Raw or smackdown. I see this show as a success even if it didn't always do the best ratings wise or winner wise.
Matt Cross still wrestles a lot for MLW and I just saw him wrestle last week winning the SAPW title in Spokane against Martin from that same season 5 and Christoper Ryseck.
You mentioned John Morrison being the most successful one ever but the Miz headlined Wrestlemnia, did some movies I never watched and has a reality. This man is undefeated lol
Honestly, it's pretty neat seeing as how most of the contestents maybe didn't go on to have successful wrestling careers, but seemed to eventually go on to have successful careers outside of wrestling with families..
Chad Angeli (pronounced Ange-uh-lee) was a former Division 1 basketball player for UW-Milwaukee prior to Tough Enough Season 3. He had cancer in his eye as a young kid and actually had to have it removed. So the fact that he overcame that to become a Division 1 college athlete and competitor on Tough Enough says a lot about his drive and perserverence.
I met Maven at a wrestling show in NJ 2 years ago. He's getting back into a smaller circuit of an NJ wrestling league called ISPW. Super cool dude, down to earth
Outstanding video post, you all definitely did your research. I'm very proud of all of them for having the guts to step out of their comfort zones to do this type of professional taxing work. I'm very proud of Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose. I'm very proud of The Miz and former Johnny Nitro. I'm also proud of Nidia, Jackie Gayda and Alicia Myles.
Hate how it only takes an accusation and a man's career is over. Patrick Clark was convicted of nothing, but was fired and is most likely blackballed from wrestling because of it.
Chrstopher Nowinski is helping others with concussion injuries. BRAVO! Thanks for all the hard work in keeping up with former contestants. Thanks for follow up on Andy Levine.
Ivelisse looks *weird* as a blonde. also nutty that two LU mainstays came from the same season of Tough Enough EDIT: THREE? Three Lucha Underground wrestlers, AND two thirds of Team Havoc? Amazing.
I worked on a really low-budget sci-fi movie, Stormageddon, with John Hennigan, for two weeks. I thought I was going to hate him, but he was an extremely nice guy, even offering to help me train out of some health issues that I was having at the time.
@@paxtonpomykal2293 I had nothing to do with the story or anything. I was just hired to keep the set moving. Just wanted to point out what a truly nice guy John is. Thanks, though.
Can't believe that all the tough enough contestants that failed are doing better than me who probably did more training for wrestling than this group lol
