WWE Tough Enough 2015: Recap, Reaction and Elimination from August 11

We are in the final stretch of Tough Enough's current season, which means the remaining contestants are being held to the a higher standard than they were when they first showed up.

Most of the competitors have made big improvements, but some are skating by on their likeability, and that might not be enough to win the whole thing.

Some of the men and women who won't make it to the finale will be signed anyway, but winning the competition will give someone a leg up when they report to NXT.

Week 8's Challenge

Chris Jericho joined the remaining contestants for the first challenge of the week. Instead of just running through some drills, they were given an opportunity to put on a match from start to finish.

Since there's only three men and three women left, Tanner and Giorgia were selected to work together, while ZZ worked with Josh and Amanda was partnered with Sara.

The big surprise was they would be performing their routines in front of the NXT roster. You could tell a few top names were absent, but plenty of favorites, including Bayley and Carmella, were visible in the crowd.

ZZ and Josh put on a decent show for their captive audience. Amanda was also given plenty of props, but Sara was criticized for smiling throughout the whole match. Tanner and Gigi were mostly praised for their performance, but they didn't escape without a few pointers.

When the winners were named, Josh was the men's winner, and Amanda was selected as the women's pick. There was only one challenge this week. It was good for pacing, but it gave us less information to base votes on. Then again, it seems like the voters have already decided on their favorites.

In the Studio and Back at the Barracks

Jericho was waiting for the contestants after last week's show with pizza in their kitchen. It seemed like he was there to offer some sound advice, but it quickly turned into an argument between some of the remaining competitors.

After things cooled down, Y2J turned it into a party and challenged everyone to outdrink him. Nobody looked like they were in good shape the following morning when Jericho arrived to wake them up.

It was nice to see the contestants bonding later in the show. Tanner and Josh traded friendly barbs over a game of pool, while Amanda and Giorgia read some mean tweets about themselves while laughing.

During the show's live portion, John Cena joined everyone in the studio and gave some quick words of encouragement. The key word in that last sentence was "quick." Cena was in and out in under five minutes.

Week 8 Elimination: Giorgia

As always, it eventually came time for the judges to pick the bottom-three contestants. The Miz picked Tanner for not having enough charisma, Paige chose Sara for continuing to fall short of expectations and Bryan nominated Giorgia for the second time.

Everyone gave an impassioned plea as to why they should stay on the show, but it was strange that Tanner seemed to take personal offense to some of the things the judges said to him.

This was one of the most interesting situations this season because the bottom-three people have legions of fans online.

After the votes were counted, Gigi received the least number of votes. She took the elimination with class, but she couldn't help but cry as Renee Young interviewed her.

Tough Talk

Giorgia composed herself by the time Tough Talk was underway, and she seemed genuinely grateful for the opportunity to be on the show and the experiences she had. She said that she will continue to pursue a wrestling career now that she has had a taste of it.

Each week the drama usually carries over onto Tough Talk, but there was a lot less tension over the past week, so there wasn't as much on the show.

The only time things got a little heated was when ZZ and Tanner were discussing each other's shortcomings. They kept things civil and never raised their voices in an angry way.

Bryan, Paige and The Miz all had kinds words for the contestants at different points, and judging from the looks on the competitors' faces, it was also a source of encouragement to make the most of the last two weeks of the show.

Interesting Tidbits

• You could really tell the fans from the novices when Jericho was asking everyone what their favorite match was.
• It looked like Jericho intentionally got everyone drunk so they were out of it for the challenge the next day.
• The NXT Superstars chanting "truffle shuffle" at ZZ was hilarious. If you don't know what that is, go watch The Goonies.
• It was also funny when they booed both Tanner and Giorgia, and Jericho had to tell them that she was the babyface.
• You can't tell Cena's nose was recently broken.
• It was weird to hear someone call The Miz by his real name. He just doesn't look like a Mike anymore.
• This was the second week where you could see The Miz giving Byron Saxton signals to keep Tough Talk moving along.

Final Thoughts

Whether or not you liked this week's episode will heavily depend on why you watch Tough Enough to begin with.

If you like all the drama, then this was an uneventful week. If you want to see the potential these men and women have to be wrestlers, then this was likely one of your favorite episodes of the season.

Once the bottom three were chosen, it was obvious who was going home. However, just like several eliminations up to this point, the wrong person went home.

Next week is the final show before the big finale, so the three remaining men need to make sure they do whatever they can in the next seven days to ensure they receive enough votes to remain safe.

What did you think of this week's episode of Tough Enough?

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