Live from the WWE Tough Enough 3 Finale - Dale Adds His Experiences
by Dale Sherman
-- 01/29/2003
Mike and Dale attended the live finale of WWE Tough Enough 3. You may thought you know everything that happened from Mike's article, but the two were not always together and Dale saw some things that Mike didn't. Read on to find out more.
I figure Mike has covered nearly everything there is to say about our trip to The World to see the Tough Enough 3 finals, but I did want to add some observations of my own that Mike did not see himself. Doing this way does make my column look like I'm channeling Larry King in USA Today, but I think it will be the easiest way to cut to the heart of things I saw at the show and afterwards.
Sometimes you get invited as a guest to an event and discover that the people in charge of taking names and assigning seats hate everyone and everything and will make the situation as miserable as possible for everyone involved. That did not happen in this case, as everyone at the World seemed very pleasant and organized. Even at one point where I had to go back to the hotel to drop off something, I came across no stern looks by security or the people in charge. On the downside, during my trip to the hotel, I ended up missing Scott when he came by our table to meet Mike. Fortunately, I was able to meet up with him later.
The dish served was pretty tasty, although all appetizers and cold by the time we had received drinks at the table. No gripe, really, as it was free food. The bar was a long wait, however, as there was just one poor guy behind the bar doing as much as humanly possible to keep everyone happy with their drink orders. Hopefully he ended up with a few tips for all of his trouble. Unfortunately, by the time I got to the bar to help my wife with drinks, I found out that she had spent time talking to a person from MTV who had done some work related to their Urban Legends show. I seemed to be missing out on everyone so far that night.
It was obvious from the crowd that they were wanting Jonah to win, as he received the largest cheers throughout the night. It was also pretty easy to spot Jonah's family, as all of the men at his table definitely looked like Jonah.
Speaking of the seating arrangement for the contestants, it was clear that they put Chris Nowinski directly opposite Jamie and nearby Jonah for a reason. Chris, of course, was the Tough Enough 1 loser who had gone on to enter the WWE through the normal ranks of the business of working small promotions, being invited into HWA (back when it was a developmental promotion for WWE) to train for WWE, and then working his way up through OVW and finally into the WWE. He was the first to console Jamie when she came back to her seat after the viewers' cut and also made a beeline to Jonah after his loss as well. A nice touch, I believe.
Besides Chris, there were the onstage appearance of TE1 winners, Maven and Nidia, and the interviewing skills of recent WWE hire, Josh from TE1. Jessie from TE2 was present as well, working behind the scenes as a production person for WWE (and kept in constant movement by them as well; I may be wrong, but it seemed at times that she was the hardest working person on the show that night). Ironically, there were no representatives from TE2 at the show besides the off-screen presence of Jessie. In fact, except for Jessie in attendance behind-the-scene, and a quick mention by Maven of Linda and Jackie, there was nothing present in the World that night to suggest TE2 ever happened.
Before the viewers' poll cut was made, a video presentation was broadcast. While viewers at home watched the video presentation, the five finalists waited on stage with Ivory and Coach. During the presentation, Ivory turned to Jamie in the group and smiled, motioning to Jamie something that seemed to suggest crying would make her makeup streak. It was an observation I noted as being a bit striking, especially as Jamie's family was not at her table during this time, while everyone else had their families sitting at their respective tables. While I don't mean to suggest that all the finalists knew ahead of time who was picked, it seems to me that perhaps Jamie was told beforehand so as to make the blow a bit easier for her. Either way, she took it very well when she was giving the cut during the program.
Seeing Jamie's parents did finally answer a question that some viewers had, which is how she came by her distinctive looks. It appears that her mother may be Polynesian, although it was hard to tell from the quick footage seen of her in the backstage area.
I still say Jamie deserves a developmental contract with the WWE. She showed a lot of talent during the program and I wish her luck.
At the party, I was finally able to talk to several people one-on-one. Unfortunately, my hearing problem was acting up, so I had to depend on my wife, Jill, to help me through some of the conversations. It was great to talk to Big, if for no other reason to let him know that I thought the winners picked were perfect and that the season had ended on a high note. I would have liked to talk to him some more, but I knew he was extremely busy even at the party and I didn't want to keep bugging him. Maybe some other time. (Heh.)
After Mike cornered Ivory and pointed her in my direction for a photo (which I admit was a highlight of the evening, even if I did threaten to kill Mike), Jill and I talked to Ivory for several minutes. I've always been a fan of Ivory, so this was a very nice moment for us. Ivory was very down-to-earth and sweet and it was great talking to her. I only wish that my hearing had been a bit better to hear everything she had to say as clearly as I would have liked. She seemed thrilled to discover that Jill and I had been married for 12 years. I came close to telling her that the secret to the longevity was due to not being able to hear my wife all the time, but I thought that joke would have been in poor taste . . . not to mention that it would have put me in poor health afterwards. Seriously, just a joke and definitely not the truth in the matter.
Glad we had a chance to talk to Ivory when we did, though, as I later saw her near the bar with a group of six men surrounding her. People may joke that Ivory talks too much, but she definitely knows how to hold men's attention, that is for sure.
Scott was very nice to meet in person and he seemed very up on the articles here on RealityNewsOnline. Glad to have gotten a chance to take a photo with him, even if he was just about to give me bunny ears behind my head during the photo.
I would have like to have stayed longer, but it was getting a bit late and Jill had already called it a night, making me realize that I probably would be best off heading out while I was wide-awake as well. I did come away from the party realizing that I'm definitely getting older and everyone is starting to look too darn young to be out that late on a school night.
Seriously, before leaving, I did get a chance to talk to Jessie for a little bit. Jessie, oddly enough, had written to me at one point near the end of Tough Enough 2 and was very complimentary about an article I had written about the show. Unfortunately, I was never able to find out for sure if it had really been Jessie that had written or not. Turns out it was and we talked for a time about TE2 and how Jackie and Linda were shaping up in OVW. It was only for a few minutes, but it was great talking to her. She seems like a sweet kid, very professional, and I wish her all the best in her future with WWE. I think she will go places there, especially with the amount of work she did during the show itself that night.
All in all, I thought it was a great night, and that was thanks to Big allowing for Mike, Jill, and I to come up and be with the group that night. It was a gesture that came out of the blue and I know both we all appreciated it.
And they released 
, as well as 
– you can also 
– one of many items in our 
!
