The 5 Tough Enough contestants who made it big in the main roster

The Big Guy has certainly earned his keep in the WWE

Ryback

The Big Guy has been over with the fans recently but after grafting in and around the WWE landscape for the last ten years, his success has not come easy.

Ryback, whose real name is Ryan Reeves, first appeared on TV in the fourth season of (otherwise known as the $1,000,000 season)Tough Enough. Despite finishing third, the WWE was understandably impressed with his physique and signed him on to developmental.

After debuting as part of the Nexus, he later evolved into a singles performer and has taken on the “big guy” mantle that’s metaphorically always been part and parcel of the WWE landscape. Though Ryback is no in-ring wizard, and was even accused of working stiff by CM Punk, the perseverance that he has displayed in creating a career for himself evokes acceptance and respect from the fans.

Joey Mercury ( when he had hair), Melina (the infamous) and Johnny Nitro – when MNM were Tag Team champions

John Morrison

Undoubtedly, the most successful winner of Tough Enough, John Morrison, initially christened Johnny Nitro, was introduced into WWE TV programming as part of the team MNM, comprising of Melina and Joey Mercury (Yes, of J&J Security fame).

He’s since been on a fixture on every brand the WWE has produced, and is a former ECW Champion, 3-time Intercontinental Champion, and 5-time Tag Team Champion. On what turned out to be Morrison’s last WWE appearance on a late 2011 episode of RAW, he faced his former tag team partner and Tough Enough graduate, The Miz in a Falls Count Anywhere match.

There is a sense of what could have been when one remembers John Morrison for he possessed in-ring ability, the look and the charisma to have established himself as a mainstay in the WWE. He plies his trade in Lucha Underground as Johnny Mundo currently.

Probably the wrestler with the most number of secret fans in the WWE

The Miz

He headlined Wrestlemania, held the WWE Title once, the IC Title 4 times, the US Title twice and the Tag Team Titles 6 times, squared off against The Rock and John Cena(collectively and separately) and also starred in a sequel of The Marine.He’s The Miz and he’s awesome. Nothing against his lack of in-ring excellence, but The Miz has established himself pretty firmly as a upper-mid card heel in the WWE nonetheless through sheer annoyance and self-glorification.

Then again, the job of a heel is to engender heat from the audience so you can’t really knock The Miz for doing what he does. He is arguably the greatest success story in the WWE to emerge from the Tough Enough series, and pretty much proves that winning the competition is overrated despite how much they try to market it by associating big names with it.

Here’s to the upcoming new season then, that reportedly is set to be presented in a new format and hopefully with a more relevant and functional method of elimination that does not make the WWE look bad in hindsight.