Tough Enough 2015 Finale Recap & Reactions: We are Tough Enough

After a long, and sometimes grueling, nine weeks, the Tough Enough finale aired tonight (August 25, 2015).  After starting with 13 competitors, the two winners of the $250,000 WWE contract would be crowned tonight.  Let's jump on to it.

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Given the fact that Tough Enough is in the end of its home stretch, along with the fact they're finally finding footing with their format, the last few episodes were crisper and more wrestling based.  Time in the barracks were minimal tonight, which is always plus.  Instead of the drama, tonight, each of the final four competitors would have a live match.  Sara Lee and Amanda would go against Alicia Fox while the guys, Josh and ZZ, would face the Swiss Superman Cesaro.  Prior to the match, the competitors would have an entrance with ring gear, which was picked prior with Jericho and the creative team, and deliver a quick promo in the ring.

Even though rumors from a couple days ago speculated that these matches were filmed beforehand so they could edit them for TV, that was not the case. (0/1)  Instead they were live for the wold to see every bump and every botch.  And that was absolutely the right call.  The biggest criticism of this entire season, asides from the abysmal voting system, was that there was never enough wrestling on this reality show about wrestling.  That was rectified for tonight's finale.  Watching a live match not knowing how bad these greenest of the green would mess up was exciting and some times nerve wracking at others.  WWE prides itself for it's "Anything can happen" excitement for the first time all season, it was really the case.

Now a quick look at how each person did.

Amanda came out as her alter ego Mandy Rose, a name I would be weary of googling at work  (Though it's actually not the name of a current porn star.)  Her promo was forgettable in the sense I pretty much forgot what she said less than 45 minutes after she said it.  Her match would be choppy (though all of the matches would be) but it was ambitious.  She even delivered a head scissors takedown.  Sure, much of that move is on Alicia, but it still looked pretty good.  My biggest surprise was she worked face.

The judges were overall pleased.  Obviously, they all mentioned it was choppy, but were impressed that she didn't let that phase her as the match progressed.

Sara Lee came out as Hope dressing like a lumbar jill and delivered a promo that was actually impressive for her.  The judges even acknowledged the fact afterwards.

Going into the match, I thought this would a train wreck.  I feared part of me would want to look away and part of me would not.  Surprisingly enough, it was not a train wreck.  It was definitely more basic and less ambition than Amanda had, but over all, she did well playing up the face in peril.  She bumped too earlier taking the finisher though.

The judges were again overall positive.  They thought the entrance was dull but liked the promo and the match.

ZZ was the King of the Bayou and wore this huge alligator head on his head that took him forever to take off.  He delivered a ZZ style promo which people seem to love.

His match was basic.  He was too slow to get down on a couple of drop downs.  There was a spot that he dropped down too late and Cesaro just picked him up and gut wrenched him.  ZZ did take the Cesaro swing because everyone should take the Cesaro Swing.  He tried to his his Gator Grip finisher but ended up tapping to the Crossface.  It wasn't bad, but Cesaro is awesome.  I think if I trained for a month, Cesaro could make me look good.  Tyson dug that about Cesaro as well.

Yeah @WWECesaro is THAT good #ToughEnough

— TJ Wilson (@KiddWWE) August 26, 2015

While Paige and Bryan were overall positive, Miz took this time to tear ZZ down for not having the passion for the business.

Finally, Josh came out as the Yeti, looking like Jon Snow if Jon Snow went into battle with just his coat and boxer briefs.  Probably not the best idea because it can get cold beyond The Wall.

His match with Cesaro was the best of all four by a mile.  There were a lot of power moves but it was over all crisp, which couldn't be said about the other 3 matches.  Extra props for Josh for not putting his hands behind his head while taking the Swing.

Miz and Paige were extremely positive.  Surprisingly, Daniel wasn't as positive, saying he liked ZZ's match and though it'd be a close call.  I'm sure Vince was fuming that Bryan didn't put over Josh.

In the end, the favorites to win won, with Sara Lee and Josh taking a sizeable vote lead.  This could have been predicted weeks ago knowing how the voting works and how the fans think.  It's a shame that the voting system was so poor this season, really hindering the success of what this show tried to be.

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No quick hits today.  Everything was so streamlined that there's not enough to really go over.

But with this being the last Tough Enough review, barring any full season review that I may or may not do, I must mention the other true person who was Tough Enough:  Me.  Me and all of you who watched all 10 episodes of this show, a show that was extremely rocky, often annoying, and consistently frustrating.  Whether it be over the top Paige, seeing guys like Patrick or Mada go home way to soon, seeing ZZ and Sara Lee stay around way to long (or win), we stuck through 10 episodes with no $250,000 reward handed to us by Triple H.  Is watching all 10 episodes of Tough Enough harder than swimming across a moat to retrieve an NXT title or dragging sandbags across Sun Life Stadium?  I'm not saying it is, but I'm not saying it isn't either.

So if you watched all season, or even came by to take time to discuss this show, take solace in knowing:  You Were Tough Enough

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Thanks for reading, folks.  As you know, it's time to sound off below on the show.  And look out for HubCapDave's Tough Talk review later on, where I hear despite winning, Sara Lee still gets chewed out.