Season six of "Tough Enough" premiered in June 2015 after being on hiatus for four years.
Chris Jericho was the host while Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan in WWE), Saraya (Paige in WWE), The Miz, and Hulk Hogan were judges. Billy Gunn, Booker T, and Lita were coaches.
Zamariah "ZZ" Loupe was one of the standouts on the show, winning people over with his personality.
Speaking to Bryan Asbury on Developmentally Speaking, ZZ explained why he had a quick target on his back.
"When I first got to the WWE Performance Center, the day I walked in for the mini-camp before Tough Enough began, I had a target plastered on my back. Straight out of the gate.
"I didn't know who Dusty Rhodes was, but apparently, the day that I got to the WWE Performance Center for the mini-camp tryout before Tough Enough aired, Dusty Rhodes went to the hospital, and he passed away while I was in the mini-camp. So many people there thought that I was trying to gimmick infringe Dusty. Dusty was a fun-loving guy from the south and told jokes and was happy and smiled a lot. Here I come, the day Dusty Rhodes passed, smiling and happy, and I have a little bit of an accent. People didn't realize that I didn't have a clue who that was when I got there and I wasn't trying to replicate anybody. Then I learn. 'Ah, I got you.' It took a couple of months for people to realize that's just who I was and I wasn't trying to gimmick infringe on Dusty. What I learned through Dusty, even though I never got the chance to meet him, if I didn't know anybody and I was in their shoes, I probably would have thought the same thing. That was the first big hurdle I had to get over before anything else."
ZZ was the runner-up on the men's side of Tough Enough, but was signed to a contract coming out of the show.
He never wrestled on WWE television.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit and link to the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
