YMMV / Candice Michelle

• Awesome Music: Her theme "What Love Is" is a nice sensual R&B song that's pleasant to listen to.
• Base-Breaking Character: Either she's an underrated performer who vastly improved or useless eye candy who had no business in a wrestling ring. To emphasize this point, Online World of Wrestling's 2007 Hall of Shame inducted her Women's Championship win. But it was the only entry to have a disclaimer - from two users protesting against it. The only time in the history of the website such a thing had happened.
• Best Known for the Fanservice: She was promoted as the Go-Daddy Girl and thus the sexy one of the Divas. She seemed as if she were trying to avoid this around her Women's Championship push - adopting slightly more modest ring attire.
• Broken Base: In her 2008 return, there was constant debate over whether her lackluster performances were due to injuries ruining her abilities or simply being put back in the spotlight before she was ready. Diva Dirt writers felt the former, while many fans felt the latter. It is however almost universally agreed that she was returned too soon. WWE seemed to realise themselves - as when Melina returned not long after Candice, she was given much different treatment.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: As noted above, she was one of many Diva Search contestants hired and put on TV. However she proved quite popular even against every other Ms. Fanservice - and was able to be promoted as a top babyface.
• Harsher in Hindsight: It was noted that her final appearance with WWE bore a lot of resemblance to that of Mickie James - who was released a year after her. Both were shocking releases - as they had been top of the division and both had just been swapped out for another top Diva (Candice in favor of Melina, and Mickie in favor of Beth Phoenix). Both had recently been drafted to Smackdown and were released right before a PPV. Both lost their last matches and got thrown out of the ring by the top heel's minion (Candice by Rosa Mendes and Mickie by Layla).
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • Her Women's Championship win. She bursts into Tears of Joy and can barely walk up the ramp. It goes to show that even the Diva Search girls could desire to be more than just Ms. Fanservice. And rather than when Sable, Debra or The Kat were made Women's Champion, she wasn't just being recognized for her beauty; but for her efforts to improve in the ring.
  • In Beth Phoenix's Hall of Fame induction, she took the time to thank Candice for putting her over in the feud that got Beth her first Women's Championship win. She even says that it was thanks to Candice that the Glamazon came about at all. Candice was in the audience and could be seen crying Tears of Joy.
  • Several in her TED Talk:
    • At her first WWE live event (when it was still WWF), she recalls one of the Bushwhackers high fiving her on the way to the ring.
  "Do you realize what just happened? In professional wrestling, when someone high fives you, they tag you in."

  • After she won the Women's Championship, she says that she got to "walk down that entrance way, and tag people into their dreams."
  • Towards the end of the talk, she says people have asked her why she'd take the "top rope risk" that ended up putting a stop to her career. Cut to a picture of Candice surrounded by her three daughters (she then says that despite being champion, the greatest title she's ever held is 'Mother').
  "You see, professional wrestlers don't know when to quit. If I didn't go to that top rope, I never would have known how big the win is on the other side."

  • The talk ends with her advising her audience to live their dreams as well.
  "My friends. My champions. Now it's your turn. And I tag you in."
• Hollywood Pudgy: Diva Dirt mocked Candice for being "out of shape" upon her return from injury. She was only a few pounds heavier and quickly lost them.
• Les Yay: She and Victoria engaged in some pretty heavy flirting as part of the Pink Ladies/Vince's Devils faction.
• Not Badass Enough for Fans: Diva Dirt often mocked Candice for crying so much, even though she was only crying in her return match against Beth Phoenix.
• Once Original, Now Common: Addressed in this article. Similar to Trish Stratus, WWE had buried its women's division and released most of its actual wrestlers. They brought in various models to be characters on TV and there were very few active wrestlers left. Candice was one such model that put in the work to improve her wrestling. Critics and fans were heaping praise on her for it. Watching her matches back now makes her come across as rather average in the ring but back in 2007, fans were shocked that a Diva Search contestant could evolve into a competent wrestler. This became old hat one year on as the article points out - Michelle McCool, Layla, Kelly Kelly, Maryse (and eventually Eve Torres who came along a little later) had also progressed in the ring and were outperforming Candice greatly.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Candice's return from her injury could have made for a great program against Beth Phoenix - with her really out for revenge. Instead WWE half-assed the booking, handing Candice a title match before she was ready and dropping the feud after only a month.
  • Reports of house shows before her release described her working against Melina and turning heel by faking an injury. One report said she "played heel to perfection", and indeed this was a rumored storyline when Candice and Melina were both drafted to Smackdown. The majority of fans preferred Candice as a heel valet, and it would have made for an interesting dynamic to see her and her former rival face off with the heel/face roles reversed. But Candice was released before she could even appear on Smackdown.