Diva Search
WWE Diva SearchFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaThe WWE Diva Search (formerly $250,000 RAW Diva Search) is a talent competition held by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The aim of the contest is to find the newest female performer (or "Diva") for the WWE roster.
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HistoryIn the past, there have been various talent searches by major wrestling promotions to find new female talent. The most extensive one was WWE's $250,000 Diva Search contest in 2004 which was held on RAW. Despite reported claims by the company that the contest would be handled in a classy manner, the contest involved prospective divas performing such suggestive acts on live TV as eating pies and "seducing" a male wrestler. Fans were allowed to vote for the winners, but the outcomes of the voting process were questioned by media outlets. The eventual winner of the competition was Christy Hemme, who went on to pose in Playboy magazine and then compete at WrestleMania 21. Despite only one winner being crowned in the competition each year, WWE has hired a large number of the contestants from past contests and immediately placed them in on-camera, non-wrestling roles. WWE announced another Diva Search contest for 2005. WWE reportedly emphasized the fact that potential contestants did not have to have any wrestling experience or even a desire to wrestle. Ashley Massaro was declared the winner on August 15, 2005 in Montréal, Québec, Canada. From the 2004 Diva Search, Michelle McCool, Amy Weber, Candice Michelle, Maria Kanellis and Joy Giovanni all received contracts after losing the contest. Amy and Joy are no longer with the company and Michelle trained in DSW but re-debuted on SmackDown! on the June 2, 2006 while Maria is a backstage interviewer on RAW and is down in OVW weekly. The winner, Christy Hemme was released in December 2005, shortly after being traded from RAW to SmackDown! but now is working with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. From the 2005 Diva Search, Ashley Massaro of New York City, New York won the competition. Kristal Marshall is currently a backstage interviewer on SmackDown! and Elisabeth Rouffaer was in OVW training to wrestle, but decided to leave the wrestling business as it wasn't for her. Leyla Milani was rumored to have received a contract, but confirmed that she and WWE are not going to be working together any time soon. The first eliminated contestant, Leilene Ondrade, is on good terms with TNA and is making appearances as a ring girl. [edit]
The Playboy ConnectionPlayboy Playmates and models have been participating in the Diva search from the very beginning. Starting with two Playmates participated in the inaugural 2004 Diva Search. 2004 Playmate of the Year, Carmella DeCesare advanced to become the runner-up. The other Playmate, 1998 Playmate of the Year, Karen McDougal was eliminated at the end of the live TV special on Spike TV in July, where 10 finalists eligible for online voting were chosen. 2005 Search winner Ashley Massaro (under the name Ryan McKenzie) and 2004 contestant Candice Michelle both posed for Playboy Cyber Club prior to entering the search. 2004 contestant Amy Weber was a Playboy Special Editions model prior to participating in the search. In 2006, Jennifer Walcott, having been a Playmate in 2001 and appeared in multiple special editions of Playboy as well as commercials for Wild Party Girls became one of the 8 finalists. Although Walcott would eventually drop out of the contest for personal reasons, the presence of Playboy Playmates and models in all Diva searches since inception helped to cement the business relationship between WWE and Playboy. [edit]
Contestants[edit]
2004
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2005
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2006
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CriticismDespite offering WWE fans sexy women in revealing outfits week after week (as sex has been a chief selling point of WWE programming since the Attitude Era of the late 90s), each year the Diva Search is overwhelmingly unpopular with the Internet Wrestling Community due to the fact that the lengthy weekly segments rarely have anything to do with wrestling and advancing storylines. WWE higher-ups, however, see the contest as a way to attract casual fans while increasing mainstream media exposure, revenue, and ratings, hence the decision to continue the Diva Search as an annual happening on WWE television. The segments appear to be mostly ad-libbed and forced, many times leading to "train-wreck" style television. Due to the apparent lack of preparation, the women (and sometimes the emcees as well) come off looking quite foolish and stereotypically "dumb."
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Trivia
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