What's next
for WWF's Tough Enough winners?
Quite a few people have asked the question: So now that Maven and Nidia have won Tough Enough, now what? Good question.
Nidia Guenard is a 22-year old from Houston. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a whole lot of information on Nidia except what I’ve read on www.wwf.com. But we do know that she is half Puerto-Rican, and speaks Spanish. At the time Tough Enough tryouts began, she didn’t even own a television. Her sister called and suggested she try out.
Nidia has been assigned to Ohio Valley Wrestling, based out of Louisville. Our friend Dale Sherman will be keeping an eye on Nidia (if only because he will be watching the shows). For background, read the Second Quarter Recap and check out Dale’s analysis of OVW. It will give you a good idea of what Nidia might expect on a typical work day.
Jim Cornette is the head man in OWV, and he didn’t think much of Tough Enough. He watched about five minutes, saw the contestants in a hot tub complaining how hard it was, threw up, and turned the TV off. Good for Jim. Of course, having no knowledge of the subject never stopped Cornette from shooting his mouth off about it.
Cornette says that he thinks Maven and Nidia will run like mad when they see what indy wrestling is really like. I don’t think so; from everything I’ve heard they’ve been trained rather well to know what to expect. He also wonders what they will think when they have to put their first ring together. I don’t know, maybe he should have watched, or at least read the Episode 10 recap. If he had, he’d know that they’ve already done it.
And truly, I shouldn’t be too hard on ol’ Jim. He’s something of a blowhard, but he truly cut his teeth in wrestling, starting out at the very bottom doing…whatever he was asked, basically, and working his way up.
Maven Huffman is 24 years old and is originally from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Both his parents were tragically killed in a car accident when he was only 2. His Aunt adopted him, and he refers to her as his Mom. She is, of course, the one he visited in the hospital.
He was recruited to play baseball at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, VA. (For the record, not all students at EMU are Mennonites and neither is Maven.) He played outfield, where he made the All-Conference Team twice. Maven was recently inducted in EMU’s “Hall of Honor” for baseball.
Rob Roeschley, Head Baseball Coach at EMU, recently spoke with me about Maven: “I once told someone that Maven is one of those persons who can do anything he wants. I, of course, thought he would choose to play baseball and had this in mind when I said this, but of course he has now found his calling, I believe, and I think he will serve the WWF well.”
Rob also said that Maven’s true colors came through during the “Bread Incident” with Darryl. He claims he’s a jokester through and through, and relates a story of a particularly successful prank Maven pulled during his time at EMU.
“He makes a sign that read "Free Coffee -- Any Blend" and puts it up in the Snack Shop while another coach and I are eating a late lunch there, and then he joins us at our table. It took only a matter of minutes before a woman came in and saw the sign, and then she turned to us to ask if the coffee really was free. The other coach and I didn't know what was going on, but there sat Maven convincing her that it really was free. Soon, there were people coming in from all over campus for the free coffee, and since the Snack Shop was being run by work-study students, there was no manager to verify that the sign was legitimate. So, for an afternoon, everyone on campus that heard about the "deal" received free coffee from the Snack Shop.”
Tom Baker is EMU’s Head Basketball Coach and office-mate of Rob’s. He had Maven in a class as well as knowing him when Maven would visit Rob’s office. I’m also guessing that he’s the other coach in the above story, but that’s speculation on my part. Anyway, Tom also spoke with me about Maven.
He also describes Maven as a “good, likeable guy” and agrees that he was truly a unique character. Maven used to date a model while he was in college, and would invite Tom and Rob to the cafeteria to eat with them when she would visit. They would enjoy walking in and watching all the male heads turn and jaws drop. Maven has apparently been a wrestling fan for a while; Maven used to exchange the Diamond Cutter sign with one of Tom’s players during the introductions.
One of Maven’s classmates (who asked not to be identified) contacted me recently. Again, he confirms what a great guy Maven is. It seems that what we saw on the show was, at least with Maven, pretty accurate.
What his classmate remembers most is his what he saw in the weight room. Maven would regularly do sets of 10 on the bench press with 235 as well as squatting over 400 pounds. His daily pushup and situp routine was somewhat legendary. He claims Maven is also very bright, and once again characterizes him as a prankster.
But I thought the most interesting bit from his college acquaintance was that Maven used to wear that old gray TEAM shirt in college, too.
In 1999, Maven moved to Portland, Oregon, to play baseball for the Aloha Knights semi-pro team. He only had 32 at-bats in 1999, but came away with a .344 average. The Knights General Manager, Dan Segel, mainly agreed with the others that Maven was a great kid, and always played the game hard.
Maven eventually found his calling as a sixth-grade teacher at Twelty Middle School in Orgeon, where he had to abruptly quit his job upon getting the call to be on Tough Enough. Obviously, that was the right decision!
Maven’s WWF career started off with a bang, at Raw Monday, October 1. He was being interviewed by Tazz, who informed Maven that he was scheduled for a match Thursday on Smackdown (taped Tuesday). Tazz told Maven that his opponent was over there…and attacked Maven from behind with the Tazzmission (see left). So for those interested in Maven’s first ever WWF wrestling match, be sure to watch Smackdown on UPN, Thursday.
Heartland Wrestling Association, located in Cincinnati, Ohio, is where Maven will report for duty shortly. Les Thatcher, the leader of that promotion, has said in various interviews that Maven will get the same shot as anyone else in the promotion. That’s a good sign, along with the fact that Les has, you know, watched an episode or two of the show.
I’ve also received a number of questions about the contracts given to the winners. Basically, both winners get a guaranteed one-year contract with an option to renew for the second year, for more money. Yes, there are provisions for the other contestants to be signed to contracts, but the money is considerably less. I have no idea how this compares to the typical WWF developmental contract, but what it DOES do is get Maven and Nidia’s foot in the door. Often, the first step is the longest.