History Wrestling / WWEDivaSearch

* '''2004''': The second Diva Search took place from July 15 – September 20, 2004. Like the previous incarnation, the contestants were models and actresses with no wrestling experience, but this time the contest aired as weekly segments on ''Wrestling/WWERaw'' and the winner would recieve a $250,000 WWE contract, which Wrestling/ChristyHemme would go on to win. The 2004 version is by far the most well-remembered ''Diva Search'' as it produced the most successful contestants with Wrestling/MichelleMcCool, Wrestling/MariaKanellis and Wrestling/CandiceMichelle[[note]]who entered the contest, but missed the final cut[[/note]] going on to become huge names in later years. It is also infamous for its CrossingTheLineTwice style of presentation, with its contests consisting of selling ice cream, seducing Wrestling/{{Kamala}}, competing in [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]]'s pie eating contest, and the amazingly crass "[[{{Insult Comedy}} Diss-the-Diva]]" segment.

* BareYourMidriff: In addition to other forms of fanservice.

* JiggleShow: Well it certainly wasn't about wrestling.

** Christy Hemme won the 2004 contest and got put on TV almost immediately. She then got pushed into a [=WrestleMania=] program with Trish Stratus (as a replacement for the injured Lita) that she was nowhere near ready for, and was bad enough she went around apologizing for her poor performance afterwards. She then wound up having to be the focus of the entire WWE Divas division (injuries, firings and departures left WWE with few veteran female wrestlers in 2005) before being released by WWE in December of that year. Meanwhile, Wrestling/MichelleMcCool (who placed seventh) bided her time in some bad gimmicks before winning the WWE Women's Championship three times and being the first WWE Divas Champion as well as being 1/2 of the most hated female duos ever, Team Lay-Cool (with 2006 DS winner Wrestling/{{Layla}}). Wrestling/MariaKanellis, while not the best wrestler, became a major EnsembleDarkhorse and was employed for six years before being released in 2010, then went on to become a bigger cult favorite by managing her boyfriend (later husband) Mike Bennett on the indies, before returning with Mike in 2017. Christy went on to continue wrestling for TNA, but her career was cut short following a string of injuries. She stayed on as a backstage interviewer and announcer until 2016, though.

** Michelle [=McCool=] notably caught onto wrestling very quickly in developmental, and became the first Divas' Champion and a three-time Women's Champion. In her career she did compete in a hardcore match and a tables match, as well as doing lots of high risk spots (giving Melina a DDT on the security wall comes to mind).

%% GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2020. If you're reading this in the future, please check the trope description to make sure your example matches the current criteria.

%% GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2020. If you're reading this in the future, please check the trope description to make sure your example matches the current criteria.

* '''2004''': The second Diva Search took place from July 15 – September 20, 2004. Like the previous incarnation, the contestants were models and actresses with no wrestling experience, but this time the contest aired as weekly segments on ''Wrestling/WWERaw'' and the winner would recieve a $250,000 WWE contract, which Wrestling/ChristyHemme would go on to win. The 2004 version is by far the most well-remembered ''Diva Search'' as it produced the most successful contestants with Wrestling/MichelleMcCool, Wrestling/MariaKanellis and Wrestling/CandiceMichelle[[note]]who entered the contest, but missed the final cut[[/note]] going on to become huge names in later years. It is also infamous for its CrossingTheLineTwice style of presentation, with its contests consisting of selling ice cream, seducing Wrestling/{{Kamala}}, competing in [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]]'s pie eating contest, and it's "Diss-the-Diva" segment that didn't [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar get crap past the radar]] so much as obliterate the radar with a nuclear missile.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The "Diss-the-Diva" segment of the 2004 version. Each remaining competitor was given a live mic to trash talk their opponents, which resulted in them using language so crass that even the Wrestling/AttitudeEra would cover its ears, such as Christy Hemme calling Carmella a "cum-burping gutter slut" and Amy Weber telling her that having a cock in her mouth had nothing to do with wrestling.

* AlphaBitch: Carmella [=DeCesare=], who was so obnoxious that all of the other contestants, fans and WWE personnel hated her guts.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first ''Diva Search'' was WWE.com exclusive, and its winner was not given a WWE contract, instead appearing in a magazine photoshoot.

** Wrestling/AshleyMassaro is an odd aversion. She and Kristal Marshall were the only two participants in the 2005 season to see any measure of success in WWE, and she did do better than Kristal in the long run. Despite being a fan favorite at first, she was never trained to wrestle properly despite being one of the few contestants who actually wanted to wrestle. As a result, she was an injury-prone botch-monkey whose career went absolutely nowhere, finally requesting to be released in 2008 to care for her sick daughter.

** Christy Hemme won the 2004 contest and got put on TV almost immediately. She then got pushed into a WrestleMania program with Trish Stratus (as a replacement for the injured Lita) that she was nowhere near ready for, and was bad enough she went around apologizing for her poor performance afterwards. She then wound up having to be the focus of the entire WWE Divas division (injuries, firings and departures left WWE with few veteran female wrestlers in 2005) before being released by WWE in December of that year. Meanwhile, Wrestling/MichelleMcCool (who placed seventh) bided her time in some bad gimmicks before winning the WWE Women's Championship three times and being the first WWE Divas Champion as well as being 1/2 of the most hated female duos ever, Team Lay-Cool (with 2006 DS winner Wrestling/{{Layla}}). Wrestling/MariaKanellis, while not the best wrestler, became a major EnsembleDarkhorse and was employed for six years before being released in 2010, then went on to become a bigger cult favorite by managing her boyfriend (later husband) Mike Bennett on the indies, before returning with Mike in 2017. Christy went on to continue wrestling for TNA, but her career was cut short following a string of injuries. She stayed on as a backstage interviewer and announcer until 2016, though.

* '''2004''': The second Diva Search took place from July 15 – September 20, 2004. Like the previous incarnation, the contestants were models and actresses with no wrestling experience, but this time the contest aired as weekly segments on ''Wrestling/WWERaw'' and the winner would recieve a $250,000 WWE contract, which Wrestling/ChristyHemme would go on to win. The 2004 version is by far the most well-remembered ''Diva Search'' as it produced the most successful contestants with Wrestling/MichelleMcCool, Wrestling/MariaKanellis and Wrestling/CandiceMichelle[[note]]who entered the contest, but missed the final cut[[/note]] going on to become huge names in later years. It is also infamous for it's CrossingTheLineTwice style of presentation, with its contests consisting of selling ice cream, seducing Wrestling/{{Kamala}}, competing in [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock's]] pie eating contest, and it's "Diss-the-Diva" segment that didn't [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar get crap past the radar]] so much as hit the radar with a nuclear missile.

* '''2006''': The fourth and final televised Diva Search took place from July 10 – August 16, 2006. It was hosted by Wrestling/TheMiz. This version was slightly different from the 2004 and 2005 versions in that the segments were held on both ''Raw'' and ''[=SmackDown=]''. The winner was [[Wrestling/{{Layla}} Layla El]]. Runner-ups Milena Roucka (aka. Wrestling/RosaMendes), [[Wrestling/{{Maryse}} Maryse Ouellet]], Rebecca [=DiPietro=] and Amy Zidian were signed on, as were missed-the-final-cut contestants [[Wrestling/BellaTwins Brianna and Nicole Garcia]].

!!Tropes Associated with the WWE Diva Search

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The "Diss-the-Diva" segment of the 2004 version. Each remaining competitor was given a live mic to trash talk their opponents, which resulted in them using language so crass that even the AttitudeEra would cover its ears, such as Christy Hemme calling Carmella a "cum-burping gutter slut" and Amy Weber telling her that having a cock in her mouth had nothing to do with wrestling.

Rumors were circulating of a revival of the ''Diva Search'' to air on the WWE Network in 2015/2016, but WWE put the kibosh on those plans due to the term "Diva" being retired and the focus on actual women's wrestling increasing, instead choosing to launch the SpiritualSuccessor, the Mae Young Classic, in the summer of 2017, which would focus on women's wrestling, similarly to the Wrestling/WWECruiserweightClassic.

* '''2006''': The fourth and final televised Diva Search took place from July 10 – August 16, 2006. It was hosted by Wrestling/TheMiz. This version was slightly different from the 2004 and 2005 versions in that the segments were held on both ''Raw'' and ''SmackDown''. The winner was [[Wrestling/{{Layla}} Layla El]]. Runner-ups Milena Roucka (aka. Wrestling/RosaMendes), [[Wrestling/{{Maryse}} Maryse Ouellet]], Rebecca [=DiPietro=] and Amy Zidian were signed on, as were missed-the-final-cut contestants [[Wrestling/BellaTwins Brianna and Nicole Garcia]].

* DistaffCounterpart: The 2004 season served as this to that year's season of ''Wrestling/WWEToughEnough'', which was airing its segments on ''[=SmackDown=]'' at the same time the ''Diva Search'' was airing on ''Raw''

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The "Diss-the-Diva" segment of the 2004 version. Each remaining competitor was given a live mic to trash talk their opponents, which resulted in them using language so crass that even the AttitudeEra would cover its ears, such as Christy Hemme calling Carmella a "cum-burping gutter slut" Amy Weber telling her to take the cock out of her mouth.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The "Diss-the-Diva" segment of the 2004 version. Each remaining competitor was given a live mic to trash talk their opponents, which resulted in them using language so crass that even the AttitudeEra would cover its ears, such as Christy Hemme calling Carmella a "cum-burping gutter slut" and Joy Giovanni telling her to take the cock out of her mouth.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The "Diss-the-Diva" segment of the 2004 version. Each remaining competitor was given a live mic to trash talk their opponents, which resulted in them using language so crass that even the AttitudeEra would cover its ears, such as Christy Hemme calling Carmella a "cum-burping gutter slut".

** Christy Hemme won the 2004 contest and got put on TV almost immediately. She then got pushed into a WrestleMania program with Trish Stratus (as a replacement for the injured Lita) that she was nowhere near ready for, and was bad enough she went around apologizing for her poor performance afterwards. She then wound up having to be the focus of the entire WWE Divas division (injuries, firings and departures left WWE with few veteran female wrestlers in 2005) before being released by WWE in December of that year. Meanwhile, Wrestling/MichelleMcCool (who placed seventh) bided her time in some bad gimmicks before winning the WWE Women's Championship three times and being the first WWE Divas Champion as well as being 1/2 of the most hated female duos ever, Team Lay-Cool (with 2006 DS winner Wrestling/{{Layla}}). Wrestling/MariaKanellis, though not the best wrestler, became a major EnsembleDarkhorse and was employed for six years before being released in 2010, then went on to become a bigger cult favorite by managing her boyfriend (later husband) Mike Bennett on the indies, before returning with Mike in 2017. Although Christy went on to continue wrestling for TNA, he career was cut short following a string of injuries, but she stayed on as a backstage interviewer and announcer.

* '''2005''': The third Diva Search took place from June 27 – August 15, 2005. It continued the trend of its predecessor by airing on ''Monday Night Raw'' and awarding the winner a quarter-million dollar contract. Wrestling/AshleyMassaro was the winner this time around, and arguably the least successful woman to win a Diva Search despite being the one most serious about becoming a wrestler. Other signees were Kristal Marshall, who would have modest success before being released two years later, Trenesha Biggers and Elisabeth Rouffaer.

* '''2007''': The fifth Diva Search was held from September 10 – October 29, 2007 and returned to airing exclusively on WWE.com. Wrestling/EveTorres was the winner. Wrestling/TarynTerrell, Wrestling/AngelaFong and Lena Yada were the runner-ups that WWE chose to sign. The 2007 version wasn't very successful and WWE cancelled the contest after this.

** Wrestling/AshleyMassaro is an odd aversion. She and Kristal Marshall were the only two participants in the 2005 season to see any measure of success in WWE, and she did do better than Kristal in the long run. Despite being a fan favorite at first, she was never trained to wrestle properly despite being one of the few contestants period who actually wanted to wrestle. As a result, she was an injury-prone botch-monkey whose career went absolutely nowhere, finally requesting to be released in 2008 to care for her sick daughter.

* '''2004''': The second Diva Search took place from July 15 – September 20, 2004. Like the previous incarnation, the contestants were models and actresses with no wrestling experience, but this time the contest aired as weekly segments on ''Wrestling/WWERaw'' and the winner would recieve a $250,000 WWE contract, which Wrestling/ChristyHemme would go on to win. The 2004 version is by far the most well-remembered ''Diva Search'' as it produced the most successful contestants with Wrestling/MichelleMcCool, Wrestling/MariaKanellis and Wrestling/CandiceMichelle[[note]]who entered the contest, but missed the final cut[[/note]] going on to become huge names in later years. It is also infamous for it's CrossingTheLineTwice style of presentation, with its contests consisting of selling ice cream, seducing Wrestling/{{Kamala}}, competing in [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock's]] pie eating contest, and it's "Diss-the-Diva" segment that didn't [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar get crap past the radar]] so much as hit it with a nuclear missle.

* {{Fanservice}}: More or less the entire purpose of the contests, as it had little, if anything to do with any actual athletic prospects. Many fans found it [[FetishRetardant too trashy to be sexy]].

* '''2004''': The second Diva Search took place from July 15 – September 20, 2004. Like the previous incarnation, the contestants were models and actresses with no wrestling experience, but this time the contest aired as weekly segments on ''Wrestling/WWERaw'' and the winner would recieve a $250,000 WWE contract, which Wrestling/ChristyHemme would go on to win. The 2004 version is by far the most well-remembered ''Diva Search'' as it produced the most successful contestants with Wrestling/MichelleMcCool, Wrestling/MariaKanellis and Wrestling/CandiceMichelle[[note]]who entered the contest, but missed the final cut[[/note]] going on to become huge names in later years. It is also infamous for it's CrossingTheLineTwice style of presentation, with its contests consisting of selling ice cream, seducing Kamala, competing in [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock's]] pie eating contest, and it's "Diss-the-Diva" segment that didn't [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar get crap past the radar]] so much as hit it with a nuclear missle.

* TheRunnerUpTakesAll:

* EliminationHoudini: Carmella [=DeCesare=] from the 2004 season made it all the way to the final before losing at the very end, thus taking second place overall. She had no charisma, no desire to wrestle and a AlphaBitch attitude who managed to become so universally hated that it's seriously believed they deliberately fudged the votes and kept her on just so people would keep waiting to see her finally get eliminated (and thus hopefully keep watching.) This is the WWE, after all—totally scripted Face vs. Heel matchups is what they do. Her existence was finally justified when, just before the winner was announced, Trish Stratus took both her and Christy Hemme apart in a CrowningMomentOfAwesome. Even after that, her rivalry would continue on for a few months, with Carmella finally getting sacked near the end of the year.

* DoingItForTheArt: Michelle [=McCool=] and Maria were the only competitors on the 2004 incarnation to be actual wrestling fans. Likewise with Ashley in 2005 (though in her case, it didn't help much).

The ''WWE Diva Search'' was a series of annual contests held by ''Wrestling/{{WWE}}'', in which unknown women would compete to become the next WWE Diva.

* {{Fanservice}}: More or less the entire purpose of the contests, though many fans found it [[FetishRetardant too trashy to be sexy]].