After a small hiatus to deal with a few things (that may come up again so please be patient!) I am back with another Throwback Thursday focusing on Tough Enough, this time on Season 2’s winners and the runners-up.
With the official announcement of Tough Enough returning to the USA Network on June 23, 2015 I think I need to get back on track and give a run down of the success (and lack thereof) of Tough Enough contestants of the years gone by.
Season 2 Winners:
Jackie Gayda
Linda Miles
(Miles, left, Al Snow, center, and Jackie Gayda, right)
Tough Season 2 was met with a good cast of WWE hopefuls but it would be an important season due to the controversy when the two winners chosen were both female. The male contestants were upset with this due to the fact that the contracts signed stated a male and female contestant would win. Still, the decision stood and both women went on to the WWE main shows.
Jackie Gayda
(Rico and Miss Jackie)
Jackie Gayda entered the WWE world briefly to wrestle against her co-winner Linda Miles before going back to developmental for more training. She would return as Miss Jackie and as Rico’s manager. The pair dressed flamboyantly and were quite sneaky in their early days as a team but would later turn face and would be joined by Charlie Haas who would eventually become Jackie Gayda’s husband.
Jackie feuded with many divas during her time in WWE until her release in 2005. Gayda wrestled on the independent circuit and in TNA since her release. She and Haas married in June of 2005 and later had four children together.
Haas and Gayda opened “Custom Muscle Nutrition and Smoothie Shop”, a nutritional store in Frisco, Texas on October 1, 2008.
Linda Miles
(Linda Miles)
Miles debuted on June 8th, 2002 and had a brief feud with her co-winner Jackie Gayda before the pair went back to developmental for further training. When she returned once more she returned as Shaniqua, the dominatrix manager of the Basham Brothers.
(Miles, as Shaniqua, with the Basham Brothers)
As Shaniqua, Miles interfered in many matches and began to bully the weaker divas. Miles and the Basham brothers feuded with Scotty 2 Hotty and Rikishi over the Tag Team Championship belts for some time and she even was given the Stink Face by Rikishi at a house show.
However, her involvement in WWE was short-lived and she was released in 2004.
She is now a substitute teacher in Cincinnati, Ohio.
These two women each had a good, albeit short, career in WWE but were successful nonetheless.