Product Details

• Actors: Stephanie McMahon, Lisa Moretti, Paul Levesque, Kurt Angle, Evan Karagias
• Directors: C.B. Harding, Darren Ewing, Michael E. Polakow
• Writers: Chuck Tately, Heather Cocks, Jill Boniske, Lisa Steele
• Producers: Beth Holmes
• Format: Box set, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: MTV
• DVD Release Date: March 12, 2002
• Run Time: 412 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005S6KB
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #48,571 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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• For more information about "MTV's WWF Tough Enough - The First Season" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
There are a couple of ways to look at Tough Enough, MTV and the WWF's collaborative effort to join the fantasy worlds of sports-entertainment wrestling and reality television. To cynics (and hard-core wrestling fans), this is a cheap attempt by both companies to try to capitalize on the reality-TV fad. On paper it reads like Big Brother meets Smackdown: 13 would-be wrestlers are trapped inside a house trying to pick each other off and win a guaranteed WWF contract. Meanwhile, to ensure wrestling fans will watch, a different WWF superstar (Triple H, Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Hardy Boyz) pops by each episode to offer encouragement or demean their efforts. Now, wrestling fans will complain (accurately) that in no way does this resemble the path wrestlers take to make it to the WWF. These folks have been afforded luxuries that many of the viewers at home lack (nice house, free food, a hot tub, etc.). In this respect, nothing about Tough Enough is real.

However, if you're a casual fan of wrestling and are interested in how wrestlers train or would like to peak behind the "fake" curtain and see how these performers work, the show is endlessly entertaining. After a couple of episodes, the first thing that is apparent is that though the world of wrestling is "fake" entertainment, it is by no means easy. Judges are supposed to vote contestants off after each episode, but in many cases, the poor kids quit due to injury or lack of desire. As a typical MTV-style reality soap opera, the show is less successful. The focus here is on wrestling, not love affairs and petty arguments (though there are a few here and there). But if you want a small glimpse of what it takes to be a WWF superstar, this is a good place to start. --Dave McCoy

Product Description
Thirteen people chasing a dream. The Prize: a World Wrestling Federation contract. Who will survive until the end? Who is Tough Enough? Includes MTV exclusives of the cast submission tapes, the mud fight, lunch with Stephanie McMahon, yoga with Tori, dinner with Pat Patterson, conditioning, the road trip, interviews with Vince McMahon, and exclusives of WWF Superstars Triple H, Kurt Angle, the Hardy Boyz, Mick Foley, and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Disc 1: Casting Special, Welcome to the Jungle, Jason Crumbles. Disc 2: If You Can't Stand the Heat, Dispatching Darryl, Tears Idle Tears, A No-Win-Ski Situation, Dropping Like Flies. Disc 3: The Vicious Circle, Timing Is Everything, The Rules of the Road, No Hill Too Tall nor Water Too Deep, That's Not the Story, The Beginning.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good reality-wrestling show, April 16, 2002

By	tman97219 (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews

In the current wave of reality based tv shows, this is one I can say I never missed. Good concept with a group that was in my opinion interesting to watch. I would say it's a mix of 65% wrestling and 35% MTV's Real World. Not a bad mix for fans who want to mostly see the training but don't mind seeing how they interact with each other in the same house. If your the sentimental sort you'll enjoy seeing the trainers go from feeling like there babysitting a bunch of spoiled brats who are being handed the same opportunity that they had to work their entire lives for, to being slowly won over my the hard work and pain these kids are willing to endure in order to make their dreams a reality. Even Tazz starts to respect them (in his own way). I really got a renewed respect for Al Snow, he excells as the head trainer and becomes a sort of father figure to the kids. The visits by the various superstars are definately one of the highlights of the show. The visit from HHH in the begining really puts them in there place and lets them know the seriousness of the business. Very moving.

Even though I really liked this series I gained even more appreciation for it after watching the current Tough Enough 2 series which appears to be less about wrestling and more about MTV's RealWorld. A major disapointment from my book. Plus Al Snow seems totally detached from this group.

The only thing about this set I didn't like were the special features. The "exclusive footage" is pretty boring with the exception of the extended footage of a few of the superstar's visits. The cast's submission tapes are somewhat interesting and might be worth watching. In my opinion MTV really dropped the ball on this one. It should have been packed with behind the scenes footage and unedited segments, instead you have to buy a seperate DVD to see that and it's pretty un-impressive anyways (see my review of that). All in all I thought this was a quality show with a good cast. If you like reality tv and wrestling, but don't mind scant special features then this is a show for you.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tough Enough was great, January 8, 2002

By	ChadGKG "ChadGKG" (PA, United States) - See all my reviews

I watched every episode of WWF Tough Enough and loved it. It's the only show (besides Raw & Smackdown) that I just couldn't miss. I can't wait for the DVD to come out, that's why I ordered it here (almost half the price of WWF's website).

I thought it was great how they mixed the social and work parts of their lives. It really gives you an idea of how the simplest things hurt the average man and how talented these guys are too pull their moves day-in and day-out. I couldn't believe how the best built guys couldn't take the bumps of the sport. I think all 5 of the finalists have a shot of being wrestling stars someday soon (though not now), best of luck to them all.

Like Survivor and Temptation Island, I don't know if Tough Enough 2 will be as good as the first, but the first one was awesome and it should be a treat to watch all the extras (about 90 minutes) on DVD.

AFTER receiving the DVD, I noticed two things that really bothered me. Everything was censored (even the added scenes), and there was no extras (such as Maven's first WWF TV match). Otherwise, it's really only the season and the audition tapes (not to mention a little bit with each visiting superstar).

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice Set, March 14, 2002

By	Johnny Lawrence "thorhendrix" (Camp Hill, PA United States) - See all my reviews

First off, the premise of Tough Enough was to show ordinary people getting thrown into a business that they thought they knew about. In reality, half the crew were wrestling fans, with Josh being the biggest and most knowledgable, the other half weren't big fans, with Bobbie Jo being the least knowledgable and prepared.

Really this show also tried to educate the general fans about the business and how tough it truly is. In that sense it really worked. I know a few people that never liked wrestling, despite my attempts at informing them. After watching the first season of Tough Enough, though they are all HUGE fans. Two even subscribe to the Observer now. As for getting stars out of the deal, well Maven seems to be a natural in the hardest places to teach - charisma and looks. He still needs a lot of work, but he realizes this and is working his a$$ off, with no complaints in OVW and HWA. Nidia is just beginning to wrestle now and won't be WWF TV for at least a few months. Anybody that thought these two were being fully prepared for immediate action, or would be a top draw upon their debut missed the point of the show entirely. Everyone knew 9 weeks training wasn't enough to make them real stars, but it provided them with a solid base to start from, which is why Maven is given zero offense and fluke wins.

As for the quality of the set, the picture is much better than the WWF's more recent releases (this is an MTV release after all) and the sound is average. The extras are nice, though. Included are 12 of the 13 finalists' submission tapes. Funny stuff, especially Jason's. I'm not sure what the hell he was doing, but it makes him look REAL stupid. Maven's was clearly the best as he cut a promo effortlessly. Josh's was pretty cool, too because it included footage of his backyard matches, including nice hurricanranas. Darryl's tape isn't included for some reason. Most episodes include extra footage, mainly of the WWF superstars when they visited. Cool stuff with Stone Cold and his stories of his early days (he also gets in a nice dig on Bischoff once again).

All in all, the only complaint I have about the set is I would've liked a commentary or documentary on Maven and Nidia's training in HWA and OVW.