TV PG L (no V? this episode could've used the warning) open

Previously: Justin was cut. Ribbing - particularly the shaving cream bombs. 

Trax. Down to the "Final Five". Ivory: "The ultimate thing a trainer has to remember is, if we threw that person down the ramp and in the ring in front of 20,000 people, could they get through five minutes in the ring?" Match work montage. Bill says they decide if they've tough enough. Matt beats Eric with a rolled through cross body.

Big says they've got a treat today - they'll hear from some "special friends" of his. Big introduces Tough Enough 1 trainer MIss Jackie and Tough Enough 2 trainers Chavo Guerrero and Bob Holly. Let's note that Bob's wearing an Unforgiven T-Shirt, which has "The Next Big Thing has arrived" on the back. We watch Bob and Matt shake hands. Matt reminds us that Bob was the tough guy trainer from last season, so he knew to sit up a little straighter. Bob says he want to see what they got today. Jonah figures they're there to see how far they've progressed.

Jonah explains that Big said they were going to have a match today. But not with the trainers. With the people from behind the curtain - Nidia, Jackie Gayda, Linda Miles, Maven and Chris Nowinksi. Highlight montage - what are you saying, there's no Jackie and Linda highlights? You may have something there. They have to dig out the "Coming Up Later" pose from that one Velocity match Linda did. Jonah says it was unbelievable, because they look up to the past winners. The girls walk right by this years contestants, Maven being the first one to stop and shake hands with them before going onto the trainers. After a look at Jonah talking about how much of a honor it was to meet them, we do see them all meeting and talking. Al introduces Jamie to Maven and reminds Jamie (who's completely flustered) that she might have something to say to him. "I like you." Everyone laughs. Jamie says she had a crush on Maven - she's just happy she didn't say "Maven, I love you."

Chris gives a speech - they have more in common with him than they do with the winners, because 3 of them aren't going to win. "It's gonna probably be the hardest day of your life - it's gonna crush you, it's gonna crush you." Maven, in his speech, says he came into this for a chance, and while he won and Chris didn't, they both got that chance and now they're colleagues. Work hard, and stick with it even if it doesn't work out this time. John talks about it being great being with kids who were where they are and all the stuff Jonah just said. Apparently, the girls didn't have anything worthwhile to say because that's the end of the speeches.

Ten person tag! TEI + II have the experience edge (ha ha ha) but TEIII has less girls and the home ring advantage. This is gonna be quite the match that we'll see all of twenty seconds from. TEI+II does a team cheer. Chris has to hold Nidia back - "WOOHOO! TOUGH ENOUGH ONE AND TWO RULE!" There's the bell. We see Nidia and Matt, Nidia and John, Chris and John, Maven ("YOU GUYS SUCK!") and Jonah, Jackie taunting the face corner, Jamie and Chris, where Jamie runs right into a nice punch. Perhaps to nice - Jamie: "I lost my brain, I had no ... I was like 'What's wrestling? Where am I?'" Maven loads up Jamie for a superplex but Jamie pushes him off cross body one two three, Chris being late to make the save. We watch TE1+II beat down the youngins in fast forward past the match, and then everyone shakes hands. You could make a note that we didn't see Linda and Jackie actually wrestle, but then we didn't see Eric either.

Next, Big has an eight man tag in mind - Jonah, Eric, Bob, Bill vs Matt, John, Chavo, Al. Eric says they were all pretty nervous. Here's another hard to follow montage. Jamie says the match was going so well and everyone was hyped - then Jonah tagged out to Bob. Matt is in for the other side. Referee Ivory: "Oooooooooh." As narrated by John, the first thing Bob did was to kick Matt in the ribs. Hard. We get the bad angle of it (looking at Matt's back), but you can just see Ivory's reaction to know how hard that hit. Bob with a forearm to the upper back - the word 'fierce' doesn't adequately describe the impact. Another. Another. Matt's thrown in the corner by his hair, John says there's chops but we miss 'em, hard kicks in the corner to the chest and then to the face. One gets Matt on the side of the jaw, and you can see his whole body wince at the shock. John has no idea why he's doing this. Eric: "It was like serious [bleep]! It was brutal." Jamie says Matt starts bleeding - we see him in a chinlock (but those are Bill's arms, so this must be some point later) and then unable to make a tag. Break.

Let's watch what Bob did again, this time without John doing a voice over. Matt: "Bob Holly basically beat me down, from head to toe, from the minute I stepped in the ring, and was pretty relentless with everything." We look at Eric, who looks a little freaked out, and he talks about that show to the jaw, and the following shot that goes right to the eye socket. You can hear Bill telling Matt to relax, and at some point he must've tagged in. Jonah says they were unsure what to do, seeing their friend get pummel like that. Bob is in the corner, Matt charges in, and Matt gets a stiff double boot to the chin.

Bob: "I'm being rough for a reason. Not because I want to be, not because I can. I'm trying to teach that professional wrestling is not an easy game." Matt: "It really took me off guard, I didn't quite know what to think, I was real confused while I was in there, but I knew in the back of my head that I've got to get through it. I may be in a situation someday in front of 30,000 people, and I'm gonna have finish." Al yells to Bob: "Leave him alive." There's the hard chop. There's the tag to Bob. John says that everyone wanted Matt to run out of the ring, make a tag, something - anything. Looks like Bill gave him a mini-comeback and Matt's side urged him to make a tag - he did John, and crawled his way to the apron. Eric notes his bad shape - "everyone was kinda shocked." Al thinks Matt will not let this break him. Looks like Eric pinned Al just off camera.

After the match, we note that Matt held himself together and shake hands - we catch a handslap/shake between Bob and Matt from the far view, but it didn't look like they talked. Bill obviously said something to Matt but we cut away before any more.

House. Jamie says that when they got back to the house, Matt seemed pretty out of it. Seeing as Matt consoled her when she was scared of being cut, she wanted to do something for him but didn't know what to do. As Matt and others drive some place (to go out?), Matt talks about feeling beat up and it catching up to him. Ah, they went out to dinner with the other TE people (or at least some of them.) Jonah says everyone seemed fine. Big toasts "to scowl." Jamie says you could see it was still on his mind - it was also on everyone else's mind, as Big chats him about it being a sign of passion by Matt, and Al talks about some people in the business working rough. Bill says that's the way Bob always works - it's not that he turned it up just because he thought it was a situation he could take advantage of - which, sadly, contradicts what Bob said back there. Al says that if Matt can't learn how to deal with that situation, he doesn't belong in the business, because he's gonna run into it again and again and again. Eric and Jonah note that Matt felt beat up and just wanted to go home after dinner.

Back at the house, they're worried about being pranked. They hear noises and run out to check. They set up traps so they'll hear them if they come in and will be prepared.

Next day, everyone's checking for Matt. Jonah says he gets emotional with Matt, because he's the guy everyone leans on when things get rough on him, and he wants to be the same for Matt. Matt says he feels like crap, and he looks that way. Matt's still thinking about what happened - he feels his trust was abused. They're always taught to work together and trust the person across the ring from him, which didn't happen. Jonah calls Bill, worried about Matt and hoping someone can come by and give him a talk.

Matt looks real sad. Jonah tries to give him a pep speech - do not let him get the best of him. Matt says he was distraught and needed time to settle in for himself. Matt doesn't seem want to seem to talk. Jonah is afraid he'll leave. Matt sheds a single tear after Jonah's left. Break.

House. Bill's over - we back track to Jonah calling Bill. Jonah says not only Matt, they all wanted to know what happened. Matt explains that he was confused what happened the last day. Bill says the first words out of his mouth were respect, and that's what they were taught. Matt says Bill took down the barrier of being a trainer and spoke as a friend. Bill says Matt earned his respect that much more by shaking Bob's hand, and next time you shake Bob's hand, it's gonna be genuine. Bill says Matt did what you've been taught. Matt: "Like you said, maybe I did what was right for me in the business, but I didn't for myself." Eric says it really hurt his pride for doing something that he didn't feel was right, but in the world of wrestling, it is right. Bill: "So many motherf[bleep]ckers are going to push your buttons. Every night, on the road, people push my buttons. I want to kill them because as a man, I've swallowed more than my share. The bigger men swallow s[bleep]it that he don't want to swallow. You can choose to beat it or let it beat you, and when you heal up and feel better, I hope you realize that." Everyone's really emotional. Jonah said Bill helped put  lots of things in perspective. Bill says when Matt heals, he'll have learned the biggest lesson he'll ever learn - he finished, he shook Bob's hand. Bill: "You stay with what you believe. You're the kind of kid that draws people to you." Matt says he needed to hear it from Bill.

John explains that after this conversation, he gets an important phone call, he leaves and comes back. "I just want to give you guys something to think of. I just got a phone call form Chavo, that the guy who helped me - Rocco Rock from Public Enemy - just died in the ring of a heart attack at his show. So you remember, what you're doing, and the five people here with you. And you remember why you're doing it, because you don't know from one day to the next." Bill is in tears, and everyone's pretty broken up. Group hug. Bill says he's got to get out of there - but tell them to remember.

Next morning. Al tells them that they've got a visitor - Shawn Michaels. I bet HE won't punk out Matt. HBK's spiel to them is "wrestling is only a small part of your life - don't forget that there's more out there." Matt notes that Shawn talked about his faith a bunch. HBK: "Make sure you enjoyment." It put things in perspective for Matt. There's a quick implication here that Matt, like HBK, has strong Christian beliefs (and he said as much on MTV.com), which makes me wonder what Rebekah was talking about.

Night. House. Bill says there was no retaliation from Operation Snow Storm - but they said they'd get the trainers back, and that's enough for them. Big, Bill and Al decide to raid the house, super soakers in hand. The noise makes do work but way too late to do much. Jonah tries to hide in his bed and they soak him. Eric tries to warn John and Jamie but you know they don't get much done. Al, Big and Bill kill them for an hour. Eventually, everyone realizes Matt is nowhere to be found. Matt explains that if they showed up again, he was gonna bolt out the back door, and steal their car. Unfortunately, he only drove to the corner, so they have no problem punking him out once they track him down.  Surveying the damage. Al does a victory dance. He celebrates getting the last laugh. Somehow we segue into Matt learning something from all of this. These episodes have to have resolutions where all the non-related bits we squeezed in here to pad out the hour somehow have a important connection to the main issue, I guess. Anyway, this time it's Jamie dramatically promising revenge.

Next: Tazz arrived and promises no fun for anyone!