Former TNA Star Compares Gut Check To Tough Enough

Former TNA wrestler Samuel Shaw recently spoke with Marc Madison of The News Hub about various topics. Down below is an excerpt from the interview in which he talks about his time on TNA’s version of Tough Enough, “Gut Check.”

 


 

I really feel like in the long run, I feel like the Gut Check challenge and Tough Enough are really good ways to take a talent that might have not had an opportunity otherwise. Especially with Gut Check, I felt like they were bringing in some talent that somebody might have seen somewhere and said, ‘hey, let’s give this guy an opportunity’ and I don’t know if it’s always for the right reasons. For me, it’s just my personal opinion but I felt like I was brought in to the Gut Check because they were going to say no. I feel like they had already said yes to a number of talent for whatever reasons whether they performed well or not. Alex Silva was going to be a no but then Ric Flair changed his mind on the spot. I think there were 3 yes’ and they were looking for a no because they were trying to make this like an American Idol thing. We need some drama, we need some guys to not pass the test and make this good TV.

I think the decision was already made, like I said just my opinion. I feel like I performed well and I had showed a lot of heart and passion and I really wanted it and I was told yes and even Eric Bischoff came up to me afterwards and he mentioned to me, ‘I pretty much knew it was going to be a no but then you went out there and did really well. How can we say no to that’? Do I think I would have gotten those opportunities in TNA to get a contract there? Yes. But, everything in this business is right place, right time. I was given that opportunity and I was always told to go out there and shine. With whatever opportunity they give you. It was crazy because there were some really bad Gut Check performances and I almost don’t want to name names but I remember one particular guy that Gunner had to wrestle and honestly it made for really good TV. You saw this talent given an opportunity to come and he basically wasn’t ready for that environment. It just showed up in his work and he had blown up and Gunner was just like ‘oh, man’. And you can tell it was just bad. For the casual fan and the diehard fan you could see how real this could actually get, really quickly.

You can read the entire interview here.

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