Tough Love: Tough Enough 4's Chris Nawrocki Shoots From the Hip in His Debut Column

(JG Note: In an effort to give you guys varied outlooks on the wrestling industry, World Wrestling Insanity is pleased to welcome Tough Enough 4's Chris Nawrocki as our newest guest columnist. Chris holds nothing back and speaks his mind here in his debut. Feel free to stop by the Insanity Message Boards and speak out on this and other articles.)

Weren�t you on that Tough Enough show? You look so familiar have I seen you on T.V.? Didn�t I see you have your ribs broken by Kurt Angle? These are only some of the questions I�ve had to field in the past year since what may have been one of the best experiences in my young life of 23 years. Although I am happy that I got the chance to be a part of the WWE for two months in 2004 as part of the $1,000,000 Tough Enough I am bitter in the fact that the WWE really dropped the ball on their planning, programming, and promoting of this contest.

It all started on a Saturday night when I was ready to go out for a night of debauchery in Manhattan and I was sitting down eating dinner and watching Velocity. Right before I was about to go out and do what I do best, a promo came on for the $1,000,000 Tough Enough contest. That night I told a few of my friends about it and many of them were so gung ho about the idea that they pretty much dragged me out of bed the next day to film my promo video!

A week later I got the call! At first I just thought it was one of my buddies prank calling me because they know that I have been a fan of wrestling for some time now and that this was a dream of mine, but I soon found out that this in fact was the real deal and that I would be sent out to Venice Beach California in October along with 49 other contestants to compete for one of the eight slots in the Tough Enough contest. Being that I had just come out of college with a major in throwing a killer frat party I was not in the greatest shape of my life.

I had two weeks to prepare and about 200 kegs to burn off before heading to Venice Beach a.k.a. the skeeviest beach in America. I found everything from bums, to needles, to used condoms within feet of where we were trying out for the show. Luckily Al Snow confirmed with me he ran through the beach with a fine comb to ensure our safety moments after I lost my shorts going through the obstacle course only to do pushups with my manhood out for all to see. It was quite furious. After 2 days of sprints, bench presses, obstacle courses, and microphone skill testing I was chosen to be among the 8 competitors for the ultimate prize, a $1,000,000 contract spanning 4 years with the WWE.

When I arrived at the WWE headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut that first day I was in awe at what was about to happen. Over the next two months I would get the opportunity to train with two of the best wrestlers in the business (who combined have over 40 years of experience to share) and the 7 other exceptional athletes who were selected. I must say if there are two teachers I will ever miss learning from in my lifetime it would be Al Snow and Bill Demott. The chemistry that they had in and out of the ring was truly remarkable. When one was the good cop the other was the bad cop and vice versa. I still to this day can�t figure out which one was actually the bad cop.

Training was tough for many of us. We trained for about 8-9 hours a day for 4 days of the week. For someone like myself who had never taken a bump in their life this was the beginning to some of the worst nights of sleep I could remember. The most polished of the group was by far The Miz because he had previous experience with UPW out in California. As weeks went on we all progressed tremendously and you could tell that it only be a matter of time before we learned how to work a match. Unfortunately nobody in the viewing/voting audience ever got the opportunity to watch us train or see how we actually were outside of the Smackdown ring for the 10 minutes we were allotted on a weekly basis.

If the WWE actually had a clue how to market new talent they�d realize that they had a decent framework for Tough Enough going already that has produced the likes of Maven, Chris Novinski and one of the current tag team champions Johnny Nitro. If it ain�t broke don�t fix it! If our Tough Enough had been modeled after the previous versions of the show, but they added the fan voting aspect I think we would�ve seen a different winner. I don�t want to personally attack the winner Dan Puder, but if the fans got to know Dan in the way the contestants got to know him, they�d realize he never watched wrestling in his life, kisses more ass than a toilet seat and has the personality of a robot. People like Dan Rodimer and Nick Mitchell didn�t get the proper exposure that they deserved. They were both two of the funniest people I had ever met before and on top of that had incredible athletic talent. I could see either walking down the ramp on a Monday Night RAW for a match against a Rob Conway but once again due to the new format of the show neither got a fair chance at the prize. Coincidentally Nick who has been training down at Deep South Wrestling got the chance to appear on Raw last week as a cheerleader for Jonathan Coachman. I think he�s better than that. Another one of my competitors was Ryan �Silverback� Reeves. He is currently down at Deep South Wrestling as well. He has the potential to become one of the biggest stars the WWE has seen rise up the ranks since John Cena did. Between his personalities, in ring skills and physique there should be nothing stopping him. We shall see how the WWE handles that situation. Lastly I want to mention my pal Justice Smith. He was one of the stars of the UPN show Battledome, had a glowing personality and was a giant. He could�ve feuded with the likes of Snitsky, Kane, and Undertaker if they gave him the proper training in one of their developmental territories. I think the main problem was that the WWE wasn�t willing to shell out enough money to seal the deal on one of their next superstars. The same went for Dan Rodimer. If you�re going to invest money in the penny stocks, you�re only going to hit that diamond in the rough every so often. If you invest wisely in a stocks that have incredible potential you have yourself a portfolio that�s just gonna keep growing. I can�t say for certain that the WWE has invested poorly in its new talent, but for most of the people I grew up watching wrestling with they�ve told me the last few months have been so dismal that there�s been nothing to keep them home on a Monday night. I don�t blame them. I haven�t lost my faith in the brand, but I sure as hell agree that the new blood is not nearly as entertaining as it should be.

So as for me, I went back to my old job on Wall Street, I�m pursuing a career in acting, and I�m missing the wrestling ring more than ever. I have an independent horror film coming out this spring that I acted in called �Freak Show�. This was a fantastic experience and I hope that it only sparks more opportunity for me in this line of work. You can check out the trailer at http://www.freakshowmovie.com. In addition to missing the ring as much as I do, the main thing that kills me is the fact that I am in ten times better shape than I was during the contest and I don�t have the opportunity to get back into what I love. Call me thickheaded but I am not interested in pursuing the independents to get paid little to no money so I can beat up my body for a gym filled with twenty people. Tell me I don�t have the love for the sport, c�mon do it I�ve heard it before its nothing new. The fact of the matter is once you�ve had a taste of the finest wine in the cabinet, why go to the local grocery store to buy the boxed wine. At this stage in my career it doesn�t make sense. In all honesty I have much respect for the men who do the independent circuit and I definitely idolize them for what they are doing. It�s just not for me. I continue to watch wrestling as much as I can whether it�s the latest WWE or TNA event or my collection of archived matches dating back to the early 80s and beyond. I hope that through this column I can share my views on certain areas of wrestling that can spark controversy and, more importantly, conversation among the readers.

What�s the fun in wasting 5 minutes of your life reading a bland article that doesn�t create a reaction? I�d sure as hell like to know.