by Tony Kowalski
OO Message Board Regular/Exclusive to OnlineOnslaught.com

The following is a letter to WWE Superstar and the winner of the first Tough Enough, Maven.
 
Maven, my man! How the hell are you?
 
You're looking good. Damned good. It was awesome to see you on RAW the other night. I'm sure it was infinitely more satisfying to you than sitting out or wrestling on Heat or whatever the hell other WWE shows there are. Personally, I thought you made a very decent showing of yourself, from the run-in in the opening segment, to your backstage promo, to your match with Randy Orton. I actually thought you might take him that night. You've sure come a long way since Tough Enough.
 
That's kind of why I wanted to talk to you. Maybe someone has told you this before, and maybe they haven't. It's not going to be easy to hear, and I hate to say it to you because, Lord knows, I like you. I think you have enough talent and charisma to be fairly successful as a professional wrestler.
 
It's not going to happen.
 
Let's first examine the point of the Tough Enough competition. I hate to tell you, but it wasn't to find and train new wrestlers. It was, like any other television venture, designed to draw ratings and advertising dollars to its parent companies, namely the WWE and MTV. What's worse, it was an idea hatched during the wrestling boom — before the turn of the millennium — but implemented well after said boom had lost its steam.
 
My point? Tough Enough is killing you. It wasn't designed to make you a star or to get your foot in the door... or what have you. It was designed to make money. And make money it did. In fact, when it became obvious that there was going to be a second Tough Enough, the stake was driven through the heart of any potential career you had in the WWE.
 
I know, I know. Winning TE got you into the WWE. Well, losing TE got Nowinski and Josh into the WWE as well. In fact, many would say that Nowinski is doing better than you right now. So why didn't he win? Has he improved so much since the time came to make a choice on a winner? Not really. All of you were very capable in the ring. (Unforunately for Josh, he was what I like to call a "charisma face plant." As capable as he was, he was nowhere near as slick and refined in his presentation as you or Chris.) So it came down to the two of you, and a choice had to be made.  But the choice wasn't necessarily made based on which one of you was better.
 
This may be a bit tough to follow, so try to stay with me. When the WWE was faced with this choice, they knew that a second season of TE was pending. The WWE also knew that part of the key to pushing the show would be to have the winner on WWE TV as soon as possible. That winner would be heralded as the "Tough Enough Guy" for his gimmick, so that the fans would:
A. Instantly recognize him, and
B. Think of the show whenever they saw him
 
But the WWE knew something else as well. The wrestler they saddled with the "Tough Enough Guy" gimmick was going to have a very low glass ceiling. Honestly, does it seem feasible that the WWE champion would ever be someone that was created on such a ridiculous premise? The WWE knew that it had to have the TE winner on TV, but it also knew that guy was more or less extremely limited in the upward mobility of his career. So when they chose the winner, they were faced with a difficult question. Do we pick the guy who has the most upside potential and is easily marketable, knowing that despite out best efforts, he will probably bottom out at the IC title level? Or do we pick the other guy, giving him the needed rub from the victory, and invest some developmental time in the best candidate and debut him later, stigma-free?
 
What do you think happened?
 
We didn't predict how well Nowinski would get over as a dickish heel, but in hindsight, it was pretty obvious. His arrogant Harvard man is easily more marketable than your "Aw shucks, I'm just glad to be here" twaddle. I hate to say it, but I have to call a spade a spade, Maven. You don't sound as forced as Goldberg or as stoned as RVD, but your interview style doesn't remotely match your look and makes me think of innocent days spent in Mayberry, fishing with Andy Griffith and trying not to talk about what Gomer Pyle did to the sheep the night prior.
 
Look at how the announcers react to you. You are still the TE winner. You still come out to the original TE theme. Whatever you do seems to be inexorably tied to Al Snow in some way, shape or form. 
 
Now look at Chris Nowinski. Sure, he's had his TE issues. He still had to fight you every other week for months based on the "jealousy" he supposedly had towards you. He clashed with Al Snow for not picking him. He even came out to harass the last two winners from the third season.
 
But he's also been given time to develop a character other than a TE contestant. He went on an ill-advised quest to deflower Molly Holly. He went into an ill-advised public debate against Scott Steiner. He made the ill-advised choice to let out his inner Soul Man and join up with Teddy Long's stable. But throughout all this ill-advised nonsense, he remains an incredibly over heel wrestler who can make crowds absolutely loathe him. You needed Mick Foley to bring you down to the ring to evoke a face reaction to counter Randy Orton's vicious heel persona.
 
One wonders if, without Foley, the WWE would have even deemed your ring entrance worthy of TV time, or if they would have subjected it to a commercial break.
 
After you, the WWE seems to have developed the correct formula for what to do with TE winners. Either:
A. Go out and get some eye-candy like Linda and Jackie, and hope the public forgets that the WWE pushed them on to TV way to soon; or,
B. Keep them off TV for a considerable amount of time so that they can develop skills and personas. One doubts that Matt and John, the winners of Tough Enough 3, will be labeled so obviously as "Tough Enough Guys" when they finally make their debut. They were given the time to grow that was denied to you.
 
Of all of the TE winners, your future is the most bleak, Maven. What's worse, there's very little you can do about it. You sit on the sidelines and wait for the bookers to call your jersey, only to go out and put over some other guy. The last thing you want to do is complain, because you don't want to seem ungrateful for this "opportunity."
 
You could leave the WWE, but the wrestling landscape isn't exactly littered with golden opportunities. Even if you did go on to NWA: TNA or something else, you'd still be the "Tough Enough Guy." Wrestling fans watched you earn your shot on MTV, and they won't forget it, even if you are reintroduced under a new gimmick.
 
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of what I perceive as your plight is the fact that as the TE winner, you may feel pressure to "tough" out these hard times. How would it look if the Tough Enough winner wasn't tough enough to ride out some adversity in his career? The whole concept of TE was to demonstrate the reality of the wrestling business, and it's still doing that while it's off the air. We're watching your career go nowhere, as so many talented others have done before you. What could be more "real" than that?
 
In reality, I imagine it's not as bad as I've laid it out. You're still a WWE Superstar. You're undoubtedly making more money and getting more job satisfaction than I am. You get to be on TV. People want your autograph. You probably have very few complaints at this point. But the reason I write this is that I don't see it getting any better for you, and I want it to. I'm a fan. I'm your fan. I'm entertained by what you do when you're given the chance to do it. I want to see you do more of it. 
 
Sure, ask any dozen wrestling fans and they'll say the same thing about a dozen different wrestlers. "So and so is great. He deserves more TV time. He deserves to be higher up the card." But with those wrestlers, there is still a prevailing feeling of hope that our wishes might come to pass. This is not the case with you. Tough Enough has put a choke chain on your career to this point, and I don't see you breaking it.
 
But don't stop trying. Prove me and the other jackasses who sell you short wrong. I'd love to eat some crow over this one.
 
Your Fan,
Tony

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