Daniel Puder

[7.0] "Daniel Puder is actually a really nice guy, and I got the chance to talk to him a few years back, and he couldn't have been lovelier. I think he gets a bad wrap because the only narrative out there is from WWE and Kurt Angle and Daniel was just trying to do what he had to do to get noticed. He was never lazy in OVW or badly behaved, Cornette didnt like him being on his laptop all the time but Daniel was working and trying to promote himself. Paul Heyman saw the most in him and if you watch the OVW tv episodes where Paul is writing, within a few weeks, Puder was made to look like a killer and was locking the key lock in on everybody. It went to show if you book somebody correctly, it ACTUALLY works out! Funny that!"

[1.0] "Little douche went into business for himself and tried to break Kurt Angles arm. For that and all the money he got from winning tough enough, him getting hazed out of the company at the 2005 Rumble was justified. Just disappeared off the radar after that."

[3.0] "Back in the day I assumed WWE screwed him over for his shoot with Kurt Angle. Years later, when he couldn't make it work in ROH or Japan either for those same attitude problems, we have to accept he was the problem and not WWE"

[2.0] "With his look, size and MMA legitimacy, Puder had a chance to be something in wrestling. But his infamous Tough Enough incident where he put Kurt Angle in a shoot keylock - whether due to a misunderstanding of expectations or just going into business for himself - seemed to seal his fate in WWE. Last seen on the main roster being embarrassed in the 2005 Royal Rumble, where Chris Benoit, Hardcore Holly and Eddie Guerrero seemed out to pay him back for the Angle incident, he was then sent to OVW where he washed out quickly with further allegations of attitude problems following him. A couple of years later he resurfaced for an even shorter run in ROH, and a few years after that had a run in Japan where he had a match in the Inoki Genome Federation and then a run in NJPW where he teamed with Shinsuke Nakamura in the G1 Tag League in 2010, which may have been the overall pinnacle of his in-ring career. His wrestling career largely ended with that NJPW tournament run, other than popping up seemingly at random in 2019 for a match at a show for Gangrel's school."

[1.0] "This guy kind of dug his own grave when he tried to break Angle's arm. I remember as a kid wanting either him or Miz to win Tough Enough 3, and I was happy to see them as the final two. I think it is safe to say now which of the two have had the better career, and it wasn't the aforementioned winner of the competition. After his Tough Enough win, Puder's WWE career began, peaked and concluded with a blood-red chest provided to us by a torturous Royal Rumble appearance. Basically Puder came to the ring and Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit and Hardcore Holly passed him around, chopped the shit out of him, tossed him out of the ring and essentially out of the company for good. I haven't seen his post-E work, but I am not exactly tripping over myself to change that."

[2.0] "I? m currently touring the bottom of the barrel looking for some gems, and puder was down there. He could have been something but I think he was there for the money and had no passion for the business. From what I? ve heard about the tuff enough instance it wasn? t puders fault, they were told to go full blast and it was actually kurts fault along with the people who ran the tuff enough completions because the match wasn? t even supposed to happen, Kurt was only supposed to face the first guy. Either way talent or no talent the guy flamed out for known or unknown reasons."

[2.0] "Puder is a really weird case study in the pro wrestling history books. Tough Enough has been revamped time & time again but it has remained extremely flawed in the way it tries to mix wrestling with legit competition. Puder dominated during the season he was on. I'm a huge Angle fan, but I'm not sure you can blame Puder for what happened during their infamous shoot match. It was unclear what was expected from him & a complete mess. Maybe he shouldn't have been there from the get go if he didn't respect the business, but it seemed that the made talent were doing everything they could to see that he was not welcome. He obviously ultimately never became anything in the WWE & should be rated as such, but I don't put all blame on Puder. A product of a broken system."

[2.0] "No respect for the wrestling business. Nearly broke Kurt Angle's shoulder with an infamous MMA move. Treated like a laughing stock at the 2005 Royal Rumble and would go on to do absolutely nothing else of note for the WWE. Good riddance."

[6.0] "Underrated and never really got the chance to show what he could do. Legit fighter who nearly tapped out a surprised Kurt Angle before the ref stepped in and faked a 3 count. Wouldn't have likely found big success, but still deserved more than he got."

[0.0] "Daniel Puder did the million dollar Tough Enough, he won Tough Enough, got the money, but where did that get him in the end? Nowhere! I think Puder basically did Tough Enough for the money because I don't see how he has passion for wrestling when he kept falling asleep during wrestling speeches from veterans during his time in OVW training. To top it all off, when he was wrestling Kurt Angle on Smackdown during his Tough Enough days, he pinned himself because he legitimately didn't know that he pinned himself on his back while he had Kurt Angle in a keylock submission. Puder should really just stick to the MMA world cause this guy has no place in wrestling honestly. I'm glad he was made to look like a joke in the Royal Rumble match in 2005 because that's what he is."

[1.0] "Looked a lot like Tito. Was probably better than Tito could've ever been in terms of promos and in-ring ability, but that's not to say he wasn't a complete flop."