The winner of WWE's Tough Enough is expected to face significant resentment from the WWE locker room. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that the winner will be on far more money than the top NXT stars like Sasha Banks, Finn Balor and Hideo Itami. The prize for winning Tough Enough is $250,000. If a woman was to win the show, she'd be making large multiples of what all the women in NXT earn. When you consider how hard the NXT divas have worked, it seems a little unfair that an unproven rookie will instantly be making more money than them. As for Itami and Balor, they were top international stars. They are in a strange position, having to earn less than someone who will just be breaking into the business. All of this is going to contribute to a rough start in WWE for the eventual Tough Enough winner. The resentment in the locker room will undoubtedly be a challenge. There'll also be significant pressure from WWE, who will want the winner to be developed quickly in order to deliver a return on the financial investment. Whoever wins is going to have to work very hard. Unfortunately, the show has a terrible track record for producing stars. Being crowned the winner could be a curse, with many of the past runner ups actually doing better than the winners in the long run with WWE.
