USA Network Reportedly Feels the Format of “Tough Enough” Has Led to Poor Ratings

According to the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, USA Network reportedly feels the format of “Tough Enough” has led to poor ratings. As previously reported, the latest season of WWE “Tough Enough” began airing on USA on June 23.

After a couple of weeks on the network, the numbers for WWE’s reality-contest program have not been strong. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter writes the following on USA’s take on the ratings,

“This is the USA Network’s take right now on the disappointing numbers for Tough Enough and wrestling overall. One problem they state is the format of the show, the combination of taped and live isn’t working as it doesn’t give the judges enough time to make fair decisions and the fans are only given a few minutes instead of a day or a week to vote, which turns off the audience and leads to a poor word of mouth.

While I agree that the format with the studio audience doesn’t seem to work, the fact is that the ratings started out bad when nobody had any idea what the show would be. It’s not like they opened strong and nosedived. Most heavily promoted reality shows drop in the second week. Reason No. 2 is that Austin was a dynamic presence whose charisma carried the 2011 show. Jericho is positioned more like a game shot host. Nobody is blaming Jericho, but they are blaming the format because it feels more like a game show than a reality show. I think the same thing.

They also say that the last two winners of Tough Enough were released and never amounted to anything. In fact, of all the historical Tough Enough winners, with the exception of John Hennigan (who had a nice career as John Morrison), who was never pushed as a former winner, all the winners either were around and didn’t do much (Maven, Nidia, Jackie Gayda, Linda Miles) or never made it to the main roster (Matt Cappotelli, Daniel Puder, Andy Leavine).

The idea of the show is that the winner gets a contract and people expected the winners to become stars. Now people know that winning the show means nothing so they don’t care. USA also believes that wrestling’s popularity is cycling downward, as evidenced by the declining ratings.”

Editor’s Note:

I mean…it’s an odd format. Honestly, the format of the last season, with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin as the host, was the best edition of the series they’ve produced. This season seems really cheesy and ADD.