WWE Diva Search
View all the stunning 2004-2007 contenstants here
The 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.
History
In the past, there have been various talent searches by major wrestling
promotions to find new female talent. The most extensive one was WWEs $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 Deep South
Wrestling and 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 and part-time
wrestler on SmackDown! and Elisabeth Rouffaer was in OVW training to wrestle,
but decided to leave the wrestling business as it wasnt 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.
The Playboy Connection
Playboy 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.
Contestants
2004 - View the 2004 Diva Search page here
Finalists (click on name for bio)
* Christy Hemme - Winner
* Carmella DeCesare - Runner-up
* Joy Giovanni - Eliminated 8th
* Amy Weber - Eliminated 7th
* Maria Kanellis - Eliminated 6th
* Tracie Wright - Eliminated 5th
* Michelle McCool - Eliminated
4th
* Chandra Costello - Eliminated 3rd
* Camille Anderson - Eliminated 2nd
* Julia Costello - Eliminated 1st
2005 - View the 2005 Diva Search page here
Finalists (click on name for bio)
* Ashley Massaro - Winner
* Leyla Milani - Runner-up
* Elisabeth Rouffaer - Eliminated 6th
* Kristal Marshall - Eliminated
5th
* Summer DeLin - Eliminated 4th
* Cameron Haven - Eliminated 3rd
* Simona Fusco - Eliminated 2nd
* Alexis - Eliminated 1st
2006 - View the 2006 page here
Finalists (click on name for bio)
* Layla El - 2006 Diva Search Winner
* Jen England - Eliminated 7th/Runner Up
* JT Tinney - Eliminated 6th
* Milena Roucka - Eliminated 5th
* Erica Chevillar - Eliminated 4th
* Rebecca DiPietro - Eliminated 3rd
* Maryse Ouellet - Eliminated 2nd
* Amy Zidian - Eliminated 1st
The final three appeared on a USA Network special on Wednesday August 16, 2006 where the winner was announced. Layla El became the first foreign-born woman to win the Diva Search - she was born and raised in London, England. The final show got a 1.9 cable rating with a 3.0 share.
Jennifer Walcott was also a 2006 contestant, but would later drop out due to project conflicts and was replaced by Erica Chevillar.
2007 - View the 2007 page here.
Scheduled for a August 21, 2007. Prize is for a $100,000, 1 year contract.
Finalists (click on name for bio)
* Taryn Terrell
* Naomi Kirk
* Brooke Gilbertsen
* Lena Yada
* Eve Torres
* Jessica Hatch
* J. Kim
* Lyndy Frieson
Come back for updates and future 2007 Diva Search contestants.
Criticism
Despite 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. Despite
its criticisms, the Diva Search often boasts some of Raws highest quarter-hour
ratings for the shows it is a part of.
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.
* In 2004, finalists (including winner Christy Hemme, runner-up Carmella
DeCesare, and Joy Giovanni) took part in a segment that was censored at several
points due to foul language and obscenities from the contestants when they were
asked to taunt one another verbally, live on RAW.
* In 2005, contestant Leyla Milani unintentionally exposed herself by falling
out of her top while attempting to navigate an obstacle course on the July 4
edition of RAW, leading to a disqualification in the contest. The exact same
stunt (despite not exposing her breasts fully as her nipples were covered with
pasties) was proposed by fellow contestant Leilene Ondrade to the WWE creative
team earlier that day, who quickly squashed the idea.
* In 2006, the Diva Search had another awkward beginning on July 10 with an
introductory segment on RAW featuring new host Mike Mizanin. During the segment,
Mizanin appeared to have forgotten his lines and stammered on for several
minutes when trying to explain the voting procedures for the contest. When
introducing the contestants, Mizanin mispronounced names and looked
uncomfortable in his new role as Diva Search emcee. (The constant mistakes by
Mizanin have become the subject of numerous jokes on RAW, most notably by Jim
Ross, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels) Less than a week later on the July 14
edition of SmackDown!, during the Diva Boot Camp section, Mizanin again
mispronounced the contestants names. The contest did little to shake its awkward
beginning as most of the contestants didnt do the task correctly, including the
winner Layla who jumped over the tire hop section of the assault course, and
both her feet didnt cross the line because she did the splits at the end.
Trivia
* The contest began on the July 10, 2006 edition of RAW with eight contestants.
The final three will go on to appear in a USA Network special on Thursday August
17, 2006 where the winner will be announced.
* 2006 Contestant Jennifer Walcott was the first ever contestant to be confirmed
and later drop out of the competition before appearing on television due to the
fact that it was a conflict with other projects she was working on. She was
replaced by Erica Chevillar.
* Each Diva Search has had its own theme music which later became the theme song
of that years winner. In 2004 the theme song was Walk, Idiot, Walk by The Hives.
In 2005, Be Yourself by Audioslave was the theme, and this year the theme song
is Move Along by The All-American Rejects.
* Both winners have challenged Trish Stratus for the WWE Womens Championship.
* Both winners were moved to SmackDown! the year after winning.
* Each Diva Search contestant will be featured on FHMs online website, (www.fhmus.com)
with an exclusive interview and photo. This will continue, all the way until the
winner of the competition is declared.
* Ashley Massaro had her Diva Search theme song changed to a generic theme song
when she was traded to Smackdown.
* 2006 Contestant Layla El ripped a hole in her tights when performing the
splits at the end of the assault course.
* Prior to earlier reports Former Diva Search Contestant, Joy Giovanni, is not
getting resigned with the WWE
