Will the revamped Tough Enough return for a second season? 'Stone Cold' hopes so

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin made the trek up to the Great White North -- or at least his phone line did -- and had an interview with The Aftermath, a podcast from The Score. The Score is like ESPN's maple syrup loving cousin except better because they pay attention to professional wrestling. But as janky as ESPN is these days, I'm somewhat fine that they don't cover the sport.

But I digress.

They talked about Austin's movie career -- "I've got a long way to go. I wouldn't call myself Daniel Day-Lewis ... yet." -- and of course Brock Lesnar was brought up and Austin's refusal to lose to "The Next Big Thing," leading to a walkout on the company. "I would have liked to work with Brock too, had they done it right. But you ain't gonna put "Stone Cold" on Monday Night Raw with no build-up, no nothing, and go out there and just have a ... match with the kid. That was just dumb." I usually don't like wrestlers pulling rank and refusing to do their job but Austin does have a point. Why give away a match that would do big bucks on pay-per-view (PPV) for free?

But I digress.

They also chatted about his massive new DVD set coming out later this month. Four discs for the DVD version, three for Blu-ray! That's a lot of "Bionic Redneck." I hope the set doesn't focus solely on his days in the WWE considering how fantastic he was during his Hollywood Blonde days and his brief run in ECW.

But I digress yet again! I need to knock it off with that junk.

The topic of whether or not a second season of Tough Enough would see the light of day was eventually broached and "Stone Cold" gave fans an update as well as his opinion on doing a followup season.

"I wish I could tell ya that, 'Yeah, we're gonna line up to do Tough Enough in February or March' but I haven't heard any word." He went on to say, "I know the show was very successful -- it out-performed what they anticipated it doing. I absolutely had a blast doing that show."

Not just saying this to save myself from a Stunner but I agree with the "Bionic Redneck."

Here's why.

I didn't watch the series when it originally aired since reality TV shows aren't really my thing. I'll watch the occasional episode of Teen Mom or The Jersey Shore to remind myself how decent a person I actually am but if you placed a hobo and a cast member of The Real Housewives of wherever in front of me, I couldn't tell you which was which.

But reality TV shows aren't bad. They're just not my bag. If you watch them, good for you. I'm not going to see on my cloud of judgment handing down life lessons to you. I can't even hate reality TV. It's the main reason my other passion -- mixed martial arts (MMA) -- has enjoyed its recent success.

After 14 seasons, I still watch The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) on occasion. It lacks the same intrigue as the first handful of seasons but when it's something that I truly care about, I'll likely end up tuning in.

It wasn't that way for Tough Enough, though. I just wasn't interested for some reason. Cut to a Saturday afternoon about a month ago where I'm cleaning up around the house and taking care of my little girl. Yes, I'm an old man, that's how I spend my weekends.

A marathon of the first -- and so far only -- season of the revamped series was airing on G4 of all places and I figured, "Hey, why not? The Manchester United game is over and Arkansas doesn't play this week so I'll leave it on."

I'm glad I did.

It wasn't some life-altering experience where by the end of it I'm sobbing on the couch with a tissue in one hand and the other inside a box of chocolates. I'll save that for the last Twilight movie. But it was damn compelling television. Austin was fantastic as the head instructor and his crew consisting of Booker T, Trish Statrus and Bill DeMott provided just as much charisma.

The cast was great too. From from beauty queens to longtime local veterans, each WWE hopeful had their own, unique, and intriguing story. Well shot and editing, the production is testament to the fact that while the WWE may not know how to book a show, they sure do know how to film one.

The USA network can be sure that at least one fan who didn't bother with the first season will be eager to tune into a second, if and when the time comes. I mean, any reason to have Trish on my TV, right?

Anyone out there share my sentiment? Or should Tough Enough be put to pasture?