WWE Tough Enough 2015: Recap, Reaction and Elimination from July 28

After a lot of speculation on who would replace Hulk Hogan as a judge on WWE Tough Enough, we found out that The Miz was taking his place.

While he certainly has the experience to give good advice to the contestants, he made some bad decisions as a judge and left Tough Talk in Byron Saxton's less capable hands.

We all know that this is a reality show, but the way things went down makes it hard to look at this as a legitimate competition.

Sixth Week's Challenges

The first challenge of the week saw the contestants venture out into the woods. This week's guest, Cesaro, made a grand entrance by coming in on a zip line. He coached the contestants on finding and eliminating their weaknesses before they found out what they were doing.

It was another obstacle course, but this was much different from the one they did last week. It was made up of a series of platforms up in the trees. Between each platform was a different activity. The twist was that there was a number at each station that was part of a combination to a safe at the end.

Unlike the grueling course they went through last week, this one actually looked like a lot of fun, but adding a memory component to the challenge made it difficult, especially since Billy Gunn was trying to throw them off by making them say random numbers that had nothing to do with the combination.

Most of the competitors couldn't remember all the numbers to open the safe, but Giorgia, Tanner and Josh managed to complete the task. Tanner and Giorgia won the challenge for the men and women, respectively, and their prize was a copy of Chris Jericho's new book.

The wrestling-based challenge for the week included doing more basic moves, but this time they had crowd noise being pumped in through speakers to make things a little more stressful.

You would think a little noise wouldn't affect them that much, but it was actually throwing people off their game quite a bit. When it was all said and done, Chelsea and Josh were named the winners of the second challenge.

In the Studio and Back at the Barracks

After Patrick's elimination last week, ZZ was a little down. Despite the tension we saw on camera, it turns out they were each other's best friend in the house, so ZZ made him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as a memorial. It was sweet and weird at the same time.

Chelsea and Tanner continued to flirt with each other in the hot tub, but this time it was Chelsea who was being more forward. It seemed to throw Tanner off a little, and he shut down a bit. Maybe Paige's comments about his lack of game got to him.

There was more tension among the women in the barracks, with Chelsea and Sara on one side and Giorgia and Amanda on the other. We only get to see a fraction of the time these people spend together, but what we do see always comes off as juvenile arguments that never lead to a resolution.

Giorgia was also shown having a conversation with her father, and they both ended up crying because he thinks she will be successful, which means she might never go home again. It humanized her more than the petty arguments we have seen in other segments, and it reminded us that these are real people, not characters.

The show's studio portion featured Sasha Banks, Naomi and Tamina coming in to perform slams and splashes on the ladies. Having been slapped in the chest by Big Show during last week's show, the men had to enjoy watching Tamina throw the women around.

Paige and The Miz called out ZZ about his efforts to lose weight and get in shape. Paige even called him a liar when he said he was making an effort to work out more often.

Week 6 Elimination: Mada

When it came time for the judges to make their nominations, it was a little surprising to see who was singled out by each judge.

Daniel Bryan chose Amanda for falling short in a few challenges. The Miz picked Mada for blaming ZZ for not looking good during the wrestling challenge, and Paige chose ZZ for being lazy and saying he didn't think he could win.

During their 30-second pleas, ZZ and Amanda got a little flustered, but Mada came out of his shell and cut a great promo about why he deserves to win the whole competition. Many expressed concern via Twitter regarding Monday night's elimination as well as the show as a whole:

"

@ToughMada gone what is this world coming too!!!! @WWEToughEnough @WWE

— Alex Frekey (@ToughAlexF) July 29, 2015"

This was The Miz's first week on the panel, so he decided to spice things up a bit by choosing to use his save on Amanda. It was very clear that Paige was upset by this decision. Had he not saved her, she would have been voted off the show after receiving only 13 percent of the votes.

That meant Mada ended up going home because he had less votes than ZZ. Paige was audibly pissed off about this outcome and rightfully so.

Tough Talk

Since The Miz is now a judge, Tough Talk was hosted by Byron Saxton. Needless to say, it was a lot less fun with him at the helm. Paige and The Miz had a big argument about how he used his save and who should have gone home at the beginning of the show. The crowd definitely agreed with Paige that he used his save for the wrong reason.

Mada was upset about going home and called out ZZ, saying he personally told him that he didn't even care about being a WWE Superstar. ZZ tried to stand up for himself, but Mada had him dead to rights. It might seem like Mada was suffering from a case of sour grapes, but everything he said was right on the money.

Even sweet Sara, the person who doesn't like to say anything bad about anyone, admitted ZZ was the laziest person in the barracks. It seemed like the argument was never going to end, but Saxton did a good job shutting them down in a respectful way.

Paige has shifted her ire from Sara to Amanda, and she was not afraid of making that known to the world. The Miz tried to argue with her some more, but Paige's mind was made up. Saxton has trouble keeping the show moving in the right direction at certain points because The Miz, Paige and Amanda were monopolizing the microphones and yelling over everyone.

Things lightened up when Tanner and Chelsea's flirtations were brought up, but Bryan made it weird when he said they looked like brother and sister.

Interesting Tidbits

• Amanda thinks that if anyone dyes his or her hair blond, it's because that person wants to copy her.
• Billy Gunn enjoys messing with the contestants a little too much, but it makes for some funny moments for the viewers watching at home.
• The judges thought ZZ's shrine to Patrick was creepy.
• There was no mention of Hulk Hogan, whatsoever, which wasn't surprising.
• You have to wonder if the crowd noise being used during the second challenge is the same that was used for SmackDown and other shows that are recorded ahead of time.
• ZZ actually admitted he didn't think he could beat Mada in this competition.
• Chris Jericho saying Josh's yeti call sounded more like a wookie was pretty accurate.
• For some reason, Jericho didn't ask Josh who he thought should go home this week. It seemed weird to exclude him.
• Paige must think that because she's British, she has to be the Simon Cowell of the group.
• Sara is one of those people who laughs when she gets nervous. She must be nervous all the time.
• Saxton does a pretty good Carlton dance.

Final Thoughts

The Miz basically saved Amanda because she is good looking. For all the reasons to save a contestant, that has to be the worst. It might make for entertaining reality TV for non-wrestling fans, but to paraphrase The Authority, it was not best for business.

It totally negates the whole point of the WWE Divas revolution taking place. Those women are working their butts off to be taken seriously for their skill, not their looks.

Mada was one of the few people who has made noticeable improvements in every challenge week after week. To see him go home this way is disappointing.

At this point, the only way ZZ is going to be eliminated is if Paige and Bryan use their saves to keep the two people who are in the bottom three along with ZZ next week.

I recently wrote an article about why the fans should not be in charge of eliminations, and this episode completely validated that argument. It's going to be hard to take the show seriously after the ridiculousness of this week's show.

What are your thoughts on this week's elimination? Thanks for reading and follow me on Twitter @BR_Doctor.