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Posts Tagged ‘Stone Cold Steve Austin’

Finally, WWE is bringing its original reality series back to TV. In its initial incarnation, TOUGH ENOUGH ran on MTV, then the home of reality television programming. The show lasted three seasons on the music-centric channel, and had a brief revival on WWE SmackDown as an in-ring segment, but by and large was been absent from the airwaves in its original form for quite a while.

The original Tough Enough inspired careers for Christopher Nowinski, Maven Huffman, Josh (Lomberger) Matthews, Nidia Guenard, Jackie Gayda, Matt Morgan, Kenny Layne, John Morrison and Mike “The Miz” Mizanin. By far, season one led to the most careers, while season three resulted in only Morrison, and the SmackDown in-show segment spawned The Miz, who despite being part of the weakest Tough Enough incarnation, has has the most successful career of any WWE Tough Enough alumni to date. (Miz is the current WWE champion going in to WrestleMania 27, where he’s sharing the main event match with John Cena and The Rock.)

Perhaps the main reason season one of Tough Enough inspired the most careers is that the show did the best job of portraying the hard training involved in making it into a WWE ring. Maven was certainly the most promising winner, but injuries made his career all too brief. Nowinski joined WWE as Chris Harvard and did a decent job as a heel, but again injuries shortened his career. Nidia had a brief run as a WWE Diva, and Josh Matthews is the only Season 1 grad still with WWE, though as an announcer rather than an in-ring performer.

Layne enjoys a TNA career, Morgan had a WWE run, and Gayda has worked in both WWE and TNA. Morrison, one of the co-winners of season three, had the most successful career of any winner from the MTV incarnation of the show; he has appeared in several WrestleMania events, has held the WWE Tag Titles and the ECW Championship, but has not yet held either the WWE Title or the World Title to date.

Mizanin gained the attention of WWE for his clownish wrestling antics on MTV’s Real World – Return to New York, where he already had his in-ring character of The Miz in its infancy stages. Miz, who was shy around women normally, became boastful and self-confident around them when adopting his The Miz personality.

Not taken seriously during his SmackDown Tough Enough season, due in large part to his MTV Real World ties as well as the lack of any “behind the scenes” training schedule, Miz lost his Tough Enough season based largely on in-arena applause, yet went on to secure a WWE contract, and is the current WWE champion.

Tough Enough has a storied history, and for many years WWE has let the franchise rest; now, in relaunching it on USA, the company seems to be pulling out all the stops to put the show over as a legit bad-ass competition that can hang with any other competitive-style reality show out there.

The biggest and smartest move was naming Stone Cold Steve Austin the sole judge of who stays each week, and who is sent packing. His career history as the dominant personality of the WWE Attitude Era helps the show’s credibility. Austin’s no-nonsense, no excuses approach to evaluating competitors comes across as genuine and unquestionable.

In the pre-debut screener ProWrestlingViews.com received, the first episode (which debuts Monday on USA following the post-Wrestlemania episode of RAW) did not reveal the final segment containing who was the first cast member voted off, but we wouldn’t want to spoil that anyway. Let’s just say this much: the bottom three Stone Cold revealed are unquestionably the worst competitors in the challenges given during the show; no one will find themselves saying, “Well what about so-and-so, he/she was worse!?”

While the original Tough Enough featured a soft-hearted Al Snow as host, it’s safe to suggest that this incarnation won’t end with Austin getting all weepy and huggy with the winners.

The show’s three trainers, who give feedback to Austin before he makes his decisions, and who work closest with them during their training, are Booker T, Bill DeMott and former WWE Diva Trish Stratus. Stratus is to the Women’s Division what Austin is to the men’s: a legend. Booker T’s storied career gives him loads of legitimacy, and while Bill DeMott may not be a household name, he takes on the role of narrator for the show, at least in episode one, and is by far the most intense of the three trainers. Those familiar with WWE behind the scenes, which includes the best of these contestants, know DeMott and his trainer’s rep, and that’s what counts.

In fact, don’t be surprised if this incarnation of WWE Tough Enough becomes a bit of a star vehicle for DeMott.

What the first episode excels at is bringing the franchise back to what worked best about its first MTV season; showing all the unappealing behind-the-scenes gritty work that goes into creating WWE events, the sacrifices necessary, and the toll it takes on people as well as their family and friends. It also exposes who among the competitors are on a star trip and who are serious in their commitment level.

I won’t include any spoilers here; WWE Tough Enough is fun television (though USA will need a censor working overtime to clean up the family-unfriendly language on it, necessary to tone it down to a TV-PG rating like RAW enjoys), so I don’t want to spoil anything for you. But if you love WWE and like reality competitions, Tough Enough is back with all the stops pulled out, and in all its gritty glory.

Whoever survives this new Tough Enough ought to be ready for the career that awaits them in WWE. Cuz Stone Cold sez so!

The Rock returns to Monday Night Raw this Monday in what is certain to be an electrifying show. While there’s no word on whether Austin will play a role in WrestleMania, it would make for a solid promo for the return of Austin’s new USA show, WWE Tough Enough.

No word on whether The Rock will appear live the same night as Austin, but I’d give a diamond tennis bracelet to see them both back in a WWE ring again. I was appreciative of their star runs during the WWE Attitude Era, and with WrestleMania approaching, a little nostalgia could go a long way.

If anyone thought 02/21/11 was a disappointment, they should now zero in their viewing habits on 03/07/11. That’s the night Stone Cold Steve Austin returns to RAW… for one night, at least.

Stone Cold is one of the top stars of the Attitude era, and with Triple H, Undertaker, Diesel, Booker T and The Rock all making dramatic returns of the WWE ring of late, it’s beginning to look like Old Home Week on Raw. While the anticipation is high, Austin returning prior to a WrestleMania is no biig shock; he even did so last year, and with the re-launch of WWE Tough Enough coming up, in which Austin will star as the main mentor, his appearance was almost predictable, especially with that show taping in Dallas, Austin’s home stomping grounds.

Will he stick around through WrestleMania and play a role there, or is it just a one-off? Time will tell, but listen for the sound of the breaking glass tiles. Soon.

Stone Cold Steve Austin may be mostly retired from the squared circle these days, but he proved with a simple guest-hosting job on Monday Night Raw tonight that he still carries with him more charisma than ninety percent of the current WWE roster combined.

Sure, Austin’s staying in shape making movies instead of retiring to perform auto insurance reviews and the like, but does he still have “it” – that hard-to-define ability to transform an arena into an electric power plant? You bet.

Even though he did nothing physical and wrestled no one, Austin simply carries credibility – even now. Something much of the current WWE roster would do well to learn from and emulate. Anyone who’d watch Impact instead of Austin is just a loon.

Break out the external hard drive for your DVR, folks! Stone Cold Steve Austin is scheduled to appear on the January 25 episode of Chuck on NBC, according to various news sources. Austin will portray a close-combat expert named Hugo Panzer on the episode.

Chuck is one of the shows NBC is looked toward to rescue the network from a dismal season; Heroes has plunged in the Monday night ratings since moving to 7 PM Central and being paired with the bland medical drama, Trauma, which ran for 10 episodes.

When Chuck returns to NBC’s schedule, it will take over the 7 PM hour and return Heroes to its traditional 8 PM time slot, which the network hopes will result in better overall Monday night ratings, despite the horrid budget-slashing move of putting Jay Leno at 9 PM Central five nights a week, making NBC a bit of a joke as a major network… and a bad Jay Leno joke at that!

Chris Jericho put on a great show in full-on villain mode, but the WWE’s second-most-overhyped worker was his opponent: Batista. And of course, that meant the end of Jericho’s solid title reign.

Jericho carried Batista the whole match, and the introduction of the mystery special guest referee ended up being: Stone Cold Steve Austin, rather than Shawn Michaels. (Thank the L-RD!)

Austin played his role to the hilt, hitting Stunners on Randy Orton (who ran in), as well as Jericho before the match was over, and counting the three-count for the title change to make it more exciting than it would have been otherwise.

The top moment of the PPV was when Jericho tried to get himself counted out like a keylogger to avoid the match, and Austin threatened to switch the title on him if he did that. It was a classic “‘cuz Stone Cold says so” moment that really amped up the entertainment factor.

WINNER: Batista
RATING: 8.9

This week’s RAW got me to thinking about John Cena’s antics and how they measure up to those commited by Stone Cold Steve Austin in his prime. Watching Raw from a new TV wall mount, I was amused by Cena abusing JBL’s stretch limo, with a little help from Crime Tyme, and for a moment flashed back to some of Stone Cold Steve Austin’s trash-a-limo antics in his fued with Vince McMahon.

It’s an easy and obvious comparison, but is it apt? The more I thought about it, the more I realized how much WWE has pulled back from the over-the-top, nearly NC-17 antics that were the hallmark of the WWE Attitude era.

See, when Stone Cold struck out at Vince McMahon’s limo, he left nothing to doubt and no thought uncensored. If he spray-painted anything on McMahon’s limo, it would likely say something like, “Austin 3:16″ or “Kiss My Ass” and then he’d flip off Vinnie Mac and the entire audience while cracking open some brewskis. It was on the surface quite similar, but in execution, much edgier.

Compare that to Cena’s destruction of JBL’s limo. The biggest insult Cena spray-painted? “JBL is poopy!”

Welcome to “Everyone Poops!” your host if John Cena, boys and girls. WWE has arrived safely back on TV-14 territory. Hopefully that will mean more viewers.

WWE Monday Night Raw turned 15 years old this past week, and it doesn’t take Doink the Clown dressed in a pair of golf shoes to point out what a watershed moment that marks. The 15th anniversary show had plenty of guest appearances for nostalgia’s sake, including Marty Jennetty, Mick Foley, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and a 15-man battle royale involving a lot of lesser-name jobbers from the past decade and a half.

Of course, personally, I had a lot of favorite moments that I appreciated. It was fun seeing Chris Jericho confront Eric Bischoff so soon into Jericho’s return after a two year absence; Bischoff, in the storyline, fired Jericho when Y2J left WWE to pursue his music career. Having Jericho come back and get his revenge was a satisfying storyline moment for longtime fans.

I also enjoyed the Evolution reunion, especially the flashback when Evolution betrayed Orton. Back then, Orton was the babyface and Evolution were the heels; now those roles have changed and it was surprising how well the betrayal moments still worked.

The only two notable superstars missing on the night were Bret “the Hitman” Hart and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Too bad.

Tonight, WWE Monday Night Raw will celebrate its 15th anniversary. After 15 years on the air, surviving the Monday Night Wars against WCW, the celebration is set to run three hours plus overrun, and the guest list is growing by the hour.

Currently confirmed to appear in some way, shape, manner or form tonight on Raw are the following:

* Hulk Hogan
* Stone Cold Steve Austin
* The Undertaker
* Mick Foley
* Sunny
* Trish Stratus
* Lita
* Eric Bischoff
* Evolution Reunion (Ric Flair, Triple H, Randy Orton, Batista)
* 15-person gimmick Battle Royale featuring stars from the last 15 years

All in all, it’s building up to be a great show, and even greater if The Rock decides to make a cameo. C’mon, Dwayne Johnson, don’t make us beg! Cat5E!

As much of a Mick Foley fan as I am, I was relieved during last week’s WWE Raw to find out that Foley was a swerve and that the real guest referee for the “Battle of the Billionaires” is Stone Cold Steve Austin. It’s always good to see Stone Cold in the ring, even if his main eventing, title holding days are well behind him.

I must admit, though, that despite it being corny and predictable and silly, without the Battle of the Billionaires angle, the WrestleMania 23 match between ECW Champ Bobby Lashley and big-man Umaga would be such a snorefest match, it could be sponsored by any company that makes sleeper sofas. With the angle, it’s more interesting if only because we all know there’s no way Donald Trump would ever agree to be part of something where he’d get his head shaved, so it’ll be a hoot to tune in and watch Trump shave McMahon bald.

Even after all these years of playing the evil owner, Vince McMahon still knows what it means to, “give the people what they want.” And if Vince complains about being bald, we all know Stone Cold will be there to deliver the final insult: a Stone Cold stunner!