"Tough Enough" Winner Released

As I have said in a previous column, it is that time of the year when talents are released from their contracts for a variety of reasons, generally to make room for upcoming talents in FCW who are considered ready to get promoted to the main roster. Well, those cuts have already begun, but instead of one of the stars on the main two rosters-RAW and Smackdown! the first release is actually a WWE developmental talent.

On Monday, 4-23-12, it was announced on PWInsider.com that former Tough Enough winner and FCW talent Andy Leavine had been released from his contract.

Leavine (known in FCW as Kevin Hackman) had actually signed a contract prior to his appearance on the WWE reality show. In early 2010, Leavine had already signed a developmental deal. When it was announced that Tough Enough was returning, Leavine was actually released from his contract in order to compete on the show, as talents already contracted to WWE were not allowed to compete on the reality competition.

Leavine was the eventual winner of the show, beating out independent wrestler Luke Robinson in the final round of the competition. He appeared on RAW over the next couple weeks after that, but was immediately sent back to FCW in order to fine-tune his skills and work on his promos, an area in which Leavine was noticeably lacking. Leavine also suffered his first suspension under WWE’s wellness policy after winning the competition, which already didn’t bode well for his future with the company.

After being released this past Monday, Leavine now becomes the second Tough Enough winner to be released with making little to no impact in WWE, and the third person in WWE competition-themed shows to be released as such. The last TE winner was Daniel Puder (beating former WWE Champion The Miz in the final round) in 2004, who only made a handful of appearances on WWE TV and was eliminated from the 2005 Royal Rumble in a matter of seconds before being sent to then-developmental territory OVW (Ohio Valley Wrestling) before being released later that year.

The second man to fit into this category was independent standout Kaval, who won season two of WWE’s pseudo-reality competition NXT. Kaval won the competition in 2010, and then proceeded to lose all of his matches on television, save for a non-title bout with then Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler. His highest profile match came at Survivor Series later that month, losing to Ziggler in a title match. After just a handful more appearances, Kaval asked for his released when the creative team said there were no plans to do anything with him in the immediate future.

Considering this history, the future of Tough Enough is in serious doubt. While another season had not been confirmed, there have been numerous discussions about another season, considering it drew relatively high ratings for the USA Network. However, with the last three competition show winners already being released after barely making a whimper in WWE, it begs the question of whether or not another season of the reality show will even matter.