As noted earlier, in a case of history repeating itself, WWE has released Tough Enough season 6 female winner Sara Lee from her contract in Friday, which was first reported by Ryan Satin at ProWrestlingSheet.com. Being that the Tough Enough season finale took place on August 25, 2015, Lee lasted just a month past the term of her initial one year, $250,000 contract. Male winner Josh Bredl (NXT’s Bronson Matthews) is still under contract for the time being, as well as female runner up Amanda Saccomanno (NXT’s Mandy Rose) and overall #11 Daria Berenato (NXT’s Daria).
While Lee had consistently done well in the viewer voting, Rose appeared to be the coaches’ pick, and if NXT bookings are any indication, Lee was not progressing as quickly as her peers. According to WrestlingData, Lee only had eight matches in NXT, all on Florida house shows, while Mandy Rose and Daria have had individual months where they had that many matches. Bredl/Matthews has had even less matches (five), but there are also more spots for the men.
The winner of Tough Enough’s fourth season (the one on SmackDown), MMA fighter Daniel Puder, was similarly cut after one year of being paid $250,000. He was progressing well and getting pushed on OVW (developmental TV) by then-booker Paul Heyman, but that apparently wasn’t taken into account. Puder is best known for catching Angle in a double wristlock/Kimura during an actual shoot match on SmackDown. Referee Jimmy Korderas was the only one to realize what was happening and counted a pinfall victory for Angle even though Puder had a shoulder up. Angle complained to Puder afterwards that it was supposed to be an amateur wrestling match, even though it had three count pins and he won his previous match with a neck crank, which is illegal in amateur wrestling.
