The Magnificent Seven: The Top 7 Tough Enough Alumni

Tough Enough returned to television this past summer with a new host, new judges, new format, and, of course, new contestants. Say what you will about this most recent incarnation—the show brought with it a unique legacy.

To be fair, plenty of Tough Enough guys haven’t made it in mainstream wrestling. Season five—arguably the best season of the show—produced only two talents who ever made it to the main roster for more than a one-off appearance while they were competing on the show: Cameron of the Funkadactyls, and Ivelisse Velez (who worked on a nationally televised season of NXT).

This week, I’m looking at seven talents who did make it, with a focus on success in WWE, and a focus on in-ring success (a mix of kayfabe accomplishments and progress as a performer). Other, lesser considerations included accomplishments outside WWE, in and related to wrestling.

#7. Marty Wright

Marty Wright achieved infamy in the Tough Enough ranks on season four when outed himself as ten years older than he had suggested himself to be, and thus five years north of the age of eligibility for the show. Despite an early exit from the contest, Wright would get a developmental deal with WWE and show up on the main roster within two years, cast as The Boogeyman.

The Boogeyman never really came into his own as an in-ring act, but his gyrations and habit of spewing worms over fallen foes made him something of an early-PG-era icon. Moreover, he picked up some alarmingly high profile victories over the likes of JBL (not far removed from his world title run) and Booker T (on the cusp of a Heavyweight Championship reign of his own). The character even got some callbacks years later including an online video of him spooking WWE employees at corporate headquarters, and a surprise appearance in the 2015 Royal Rumble.

#6. Maven

When Maven won the initial season of Tough Enough, he faced some uncharted waters. After the WWF fans had seen him grow and progress before their eyes in a reality TV setting, the guy had a built-in following. Just the same, in having exposed the guy’s human side and then introduced him to the main roster without a gimmick to hide behind, the WWF couldn’t justify selling him as anything more than a common-man rookie, and thus it was difficult to give him a meaningful push in the early going.

Maven’s most memorable moment post-Tough Enough was probably eliminating The Undertaker from the 2002 Royal Rumble—a shocking moment followed by a brutal beatdown at the hands of The Dead Man. He would go on to become a fixture on the Hardcore division, then become a background player in a face uprising against Evolution building to Survivor Series 2004. Maven would wind up his almost four-year run in the WWF mid-card with a brief heel run that saw him unsuccessfully challenge Shelton Benjamin for the Intercontinental Championship.

#5. Chris Nowinski

It’s an unlikely reality that the concussions that cut shot Chris Nowinski’s career also set him up to be highest achieving Tough Enough alum outside of a wrestling ring.

Let’s take a step back, though, to Nowinski’s days on Tough Enough. Nowinski’s proved to be the show’s first natural heel, a pretentious Harvard boy who bullied his way through season one, consistently acting like a jerk, and particularly picking on littler Josh Matthews. Thus, it wasn’t altogether surprising that when he made it to the main roster, he was an instant bad guy. Over the course of the two years to follow, Nowinski would feud with Tommy Dreamer and Al Snow, in addition to wandering in and out of tag teams with William Regal, D-Lo Brown, and Rodney Mack, mostly frequently challenging The Dudley Boyz.

Nowinski ended up retiring early on account of a concussion and post-concussion symptoms. Rather than quietly fading, though, Nowinski put his education to use and began an aggressive campaign to research and report on the long-term impact of concussions via his Sports Legacy Institute. He published Head Games, a book on concussions in the pro football world, and added an important, learned voice to the discussion of the Chris Benoit tragedy. This work garnered Nowinski attention from media outlets including CNN, ESPN, The New York Times, and plenty of other outlets.

Thus, Nowinski is not a particular stand out on this countdown when it comes to in-ring accomplishments, but his work post-retirement locks up a top five spot.

#4. Matt Morgan

Based on his time in WWE, Matt Morgan is a tough sell for the a top five spot in this countdown, but he is one of only two guys on this list to really shore up his legacy wrestling elsewhere.

Morgan left Tough Enough early on account of injury. When he did debut with WWE, he was largely backup muscle for bigger stars—teaming with Brock Lesnar, The Big Show, A-Train, and Nathan Jones for a supersized team at Survivor Series 2003, and continuing to act as part of teams against the likes of Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, and John Cena in the months to follow. Morgan got moved down to developmental and resurfaced with a stuttering gimmick that, predictably, never helped him past the mid-card. He was gone from WWE inside of a year.

From there, Morgan honed his craft abroad in Japan and various European locales before debuting with TNA. As part of the TNA roster, Morgan came into his own as an upper mid-card act who more than once threatened to puncture the glass ceiling into main event standing, including a very good rivalry and Bound For Glory match with Kurt Angle, plus stints challenging for the world title opposite Jeff Hardy and Mr. Anderson.

Though he never arrived as a bona fide mega star, Morgan did achieve reasonable success as a player in TNA and even crossed over from the wrestling world to serve as a gladiator on the 2008 American Gladiators reboot.

#3. Ryan Reeves

When he appeared on Tough Enough in 2004, Ryan Reeves had a prototypical WWE look—tall and musclebound. Sure enough, though he didn’t win his season of Tough Enough, he did get signed to a developmental contract and looked like he would be a lock for the main roster inside a couple years.

It took longer, though. Between rehabbing injuries, developmental, and indy work it would be six years before Reeves made national television in the character of Skip Sheffield on the first season of NXT. The character didn’t particularly stand out then, but showed signs of coming into his own upon the launch of The Nexus, and particularly at SummerSlam 2010 when he proved himself as the musicle of his team in an elimination tag team main event, picking up pinfalls over John Morrison and R-Truth. He would go down to injury shortly after, which may have been the best thing given the ways in which The Nexus angle deteriorated from there. The man returned to the spotlight in the aftermath of WrestleMania 28, rebranded as Ryback and went on to a monster face push, dominating a cast of jobbers and mid-card heels, and entering the fast lane to a world title program with CM Punk.

Excluding a brief spell tagging with Curtis Axel, Ryback has been an upper mid-card mainstay ever since—an imposing physical presence and the sort of talent that WWE can slot into high profile upper card programs as needed. He may never become a world champion, but regardless, The Big Guy has come a long way since his Tough Enough beginnings, and arrived as one of the show’s highest achieving alumni.

#2. John Hennigan

Not unlike Ryan Reeves, John Hennigan took a long and winding road to wrestling stardom. After winning the third season Tough Enough he wandered the lower card on the main roster before settling in as Eric Biscoff’s assistant, Johnny Nitro. The character really started to come into his own a year later, though, teamed with Joey Mercury and manager Melina to form MNM—a oft-overlooked tag team that was among the very best of the mid-00s. Nitro and Melina ended up breaking out on their own, heading to Raw where Nitro had a memorable program over the Intercontinental Championship opposite Jeff Hardy, and flirted with a program against John Cena, seconding celebrity visitor Kevin Federline when he challenged Cena.

The next step in John Hennigan’s evolution would occur when he got an impromptu brand, name, and trajectory shift. When the Chris Benoit tragedy went down, WWE scrambled to fill in the blanks for Benoit’s intended run atop the ECW brand and ended up sending Hennigan to that brand to feud with CM Punk over the ECW Championship. This storyline eventually gave way to the then-John Morrison indirectly feuding with and then teaming with The Miz for a wildly overachieving tag team. When that pairing split off, Morrison went out on his own as a face, and an upper mid-card fixture—known for his parkour style and innovative aerial maneuvers. Morrison even went so far as to get a couple shots at the WWE Championship opposite The Miz and Cena in the years to follow.

Morrison earns this spot for his steady and marked evolution over a period of years. Moreover, he opted to leave WWE on his own terms—not released, but rather choosing not to re-sign. In the aftermath of his WWE career, he is gone on to success on the indy circuit, and most recently as a shining star for Lucha Underground under the moniker Johnny Mundo.

#1. Mike Mizanin

Love him or hate him, there is no denying that The Miz came a very long way.

After a memorable run as a wrestling crazed jerk on The Real World, Mike Mizanin trained and worked the indies for a year before taking his aspirations back to a national stage on season four of Tough Enough, for which he made it all the way to the final two.

The Miz worked in developmental before WWE elected to take advantage of his showmanship by giving him informal roles hosting non-wrestling segments on Smackdown, before transitioning him to a lower-card in-ring heel spot, first on Smackdown, then on ECW. As referenced earlier, he crossed paths with John Morrison in a vitally important turn for each man’s career, as they got to show their personalities hosting The Dirt Sheet web series and developed into a very good tag team.

It would be in the aftermath of that team that Miz would really see his star rise, though—kick starting an off-beat rivalry with John Cena, then picking up a US Championship, then teaming up with The Big Show for a tag title run that afforded him his first match on the main card of WrestleMania. Things would only get better via a Money in the Bank victory, a hot little program opposite Daniel Bryan, and finally a WWE Championship reign through which Miz most memorably beat Cena in the main event of WrestleMania 27. Miz remained in the upper card for the months to follow, teaming with R-Truth to challenge Cena and The Rock, and eventually turning face and espousing thefigure four leglock as a new finisher.

The Miz may never (and probably shouldn’t) win a world title again, but he firmly established himself as a legitimate superstar—a guy who garners heat like few of his contemporaries, is one of the best talkers of his day. While he may not be a technical wizard, has arrived as a perfectly respectable in-ring performer.

He’s the lone Tough Enough alum to win a WWE Championship, and he’s been a consistent presence on the WWE main roster for over a decade now. He’s number one on this countdown of Tough Enough alumni. He’s The Miz. And he’s awesome.

How would you rank the Tough Enough alumni? My top runers up were Jackie Gayda, Nidia, and Josh Matthews Let us know what you think in the comments section.

Read more from Mike Chin at his website and follow him on Twitter @miketchin.