YMMV / WWE Diva Search

• Broken Base: While a significant portion of smarks and male wrestling fans consider the Diva Search a huge mistake and part of WWE's Audience-Alienating Era of the mid-2000s, Diva fans have come forward in the 2010s and 2020s to list good points about the contest - that the intent was to bring in women with acting experience who could serve as managers and on-screen characters to help the storylines, WWE releasing a good portion of their wrestlers was hardly the women's fault, and several of the Diva Search contestants remain popular for their contributions to the company. And of course some of the contestants would leave their mark on the business.
• Common Knowledge: Due to coming up around the same time as the likes of the Bella Twins, Layla and Maryse, Kelly Kelly is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a Diva Search contestant. She was actually signed after her picture was seen in a swimsuit catalogue, along with Alicia Fox, and she was put in developmental before getting called up to ECW for her 'Kelly's Exposé' segment. Adding to the confusion is her being placed in Extreme Exposé with Layla (who won the 2006 season) and Brooke Adams, who tried out for the same one but didn't make the finals.
• Critical Dissonance: Ask any wrestling fan or critic on the internet what their opinion of the Diva Search was and chances are they'll say it's a complete embarrassment that killed women's wrestling for the next several years. According to Maria Kanellis, they were some of the highest rated segments on Raw. The 2004 contest was, which was the reason WWE was willing to try four more times (five if you count "Million Dollar Tough Enough") despite diminishing returns from the television audience while the live attendees began to boo the segments.
• Elimination Houdini: 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 Alpha Bitch attitude which made her 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 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 Moment of Awesome. Even after that, her rivalry with Christy would continue on TV for a few months, Carmella finally got sacked near the end of the year.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Christy Hemme was easily the favorite to win her season, as she was by far the one with the most personality. Joy later said she knew Christy would likely win from the beginning, and even Carmella had nothing but good things to say about her.
  • Joy Giovanni of the first season is still remembered. Even though she placed third, she got a lot of screen time on SmackDown as Big Show's on-screen girlfriend and winning the only Rookie of the Year contest at No Way Out. She's also remembered for her catchy theme song and appearance in the Smackdown vs Raw 2006 video game.
  • Amy Weber of the same season as the two abovementioned is also still remembered to this day. Despite being placed fourth, she enjoyed a lot of screen time on SmackDown as part of JBL's entourage, The Cabinet, and feuding with fellow contestant Joy Giovanni. She has plenty of fans who wished she'd stuck around longer^note She reportedly quit after suffering some bullying from Randy Orton and Edge on a Japanese tour.
  • Likewise with Ashley Massaro, as she expressed a desire to wrestle.
  • Layla proved to be a big favourite among Diva fans after she won the 2006 season. Diva Dirt were begging for her to get more screen time when the website was in its infancy.
• Fetish Retardant: One of, if not the biggest complaints about the Diva Search was that it was meant to be pure titillation but instead came off as incredibly trashy, with the contestants behaving like middle school brats rather than would-be professional entertainers, which was a huge boner-killer.
• First Installment Wins: In terms of memorability, the 2004 Diva Search is the one most casual fans are likely to think of - with segments such as attempting to seduce Kamala, the Diss the Diva contest, a dodgeball game at SummerSlam and anything to do with Carmella DeCesare. It's also the one where most finalists ended up in the company. The 2006 one however is the season that produced the most actual wrestlers.
• Funny Moments:
  • In the 2004 season, when Maria is eliminated, she gives hugs to the other girls...and then gives Carmella the double finger.
  • The Diss the Diva segment is also magnificent if one rewatches the live recording, where the Cluster F-Bomb from every contestant happens so fast that the wrong words get bleeped out.
  • For the 2005 season's talent round, Elisabeth performs a dance...and leaves Jonathan Coachman handcuffed to the ropes.
• Franchise Original Sin: The 2003 contest was barely a footnote in the pro wrestling history books. Even with the more controversial 2004 contest, Gail Kim and Ivory didn't get that much attention when they warned people they weren't going to like what was about to happen to WWE's women's division. Even though Christy Hemme's work was below what was previously expected of women's title matches in WWE, only a few of her matches were bad enough to get her booed. If the contest had stopped at 2004 it would just be an odd hiccup rather than padding that damaged the show in the long run.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Ashley doing a wrestling move in her talent round. Years after she left WWE, she revealed that she had never been trained properly - only on a 'per-match' basis - and this resulted in frequent injuries for her.
  • The 'Team Dream' beating 'Team Diva' in the dodge ball game at Summerslam became oddly prophetic when most of Team Diva would be gone from the company within a year.
  • Carmella saying Joy should be eliminated because she had children she should be at home with. Years later, Joy revealed that Carmella specifically said that to try and sabotage her standing in the industry. In the 2000s, performers who had children had to keep the fact hidden in case casting would use that to discriminate, and Carmella's behaviour actually led to her being dropped by one of her agents.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In the Divas Dodgeball game, Michelle scored the most eliminations for her team, which proved rather prophetic of how she would eventually become a top heel a few years later.
  • Layla in the 2006 talent round danced to a song called "Nasty Girl", which would end up becoming her theme after she turned heel on the main roster. She in fact requested for that to be her theme, remembering it from her time in the contest.
• Les Yay: In the 2004 contest, Joy at one point squeezes Amy's breasts and gives Christy a light spanking. Both girls don't seem to mind.
• Never Live It Down
  • What cemented the women of the diva search as social climbers simply using WWE as a stepping stone, as opposed to people who might have some interest in the pro wrestling business, was when one of the 2004 contests called on them to seduce Kamala and none of them seemed to know who he was. What hardcore wrestling fans sometimes fail to realize is that in the US, WWE had basically become pro wrestling to the casual observer. Dedicated fans kept seeing him in The NWA, WCW and the independent circuit but someone who had only watched WWE from 1994 to 2004 wouldn't have much reason to know who Kamala was.
  • What killed the competition itself, before its long term consequences started kicking in, before the fans in attendance turned on it, was when The Rock returned to host a pie eating contest. Rather than a race where everyone tries to eat the most with extra points for cleanliness or something else actively pitting contestants against each other, it was yet another "personality showcase" where each woman was "judged" individually while eating for so many seconds. Try as he might, The Rock couldn't make any contestant anymore interesting and ended up getting more mileage out of Yoshihiro Tajiri, who was off in the corner, daydreaming about something more interesting. Also, Christy Hemme decided to put her thong wearing ass in her pie while declaring that "her butt was hungry". While not all of the following contests were quite so padded or uneventful, the diva search's reputation as an embarrassingly amateurish trashy time waster was cemented. Every other complaint just stacked on this foundation.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • Many of the less respected contestants would later go on to become competent wrestlers such as Michelle McCool, Layla (she was one of the better liked of her season, but also part of the most heavily booed season), Eve Torres and to a lesser extent Christy Hemme and Candice Michelle. The Bella Twins were rescued too, though long after their season had aired.
  • Maria Kanellis is a curious example. She proved quite popular when featured on TV from about 2007-2009 - even getting voted the 2009 Diva of the Year. She did however have detractors (particularly on Diva Dirt). She was not rescued fully until after her WWE release, when she continued to show her love of wrestling on the indies.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • From 2004: Michelle McCool and Maria Kanellis. There's also Candice Michelle, who entered the contest but missed the final cut.
  • From 2006: Layla, Maryse, The Bella Twins (who like Candice above, entered but missed out on being a finalist), Rosa Mendes, Brooke Adams.
  • From 2007: Eve Torres and Taryn Terrell. Angela Fong was in the contest too but didn't make it to the finals.
• The Scrappy:
  • Based on the main page alone, you could probably guess that Carmella DcCesare wasn't well-liked. Especially in light of how she was facing assault charges for attacking a woman in a nightclub while the contest was happening, and Joy Giovanni and Maria Kanellis admitting how Carmella would attempt to sabotage them. She didn't earn any respect from Diva fans either by her only match against Christy ending with a pin where her shoulders weren't even down.
  • Ashley Massaro was well-liked at first but eventually became one. She'd regain some of her fanbase once she started making it to her indie dates, though the stink of her disappointing WWE career will probably never leave entirely. Upon her tragic passing, there is now a lot more appreciation for her contributions.
  • The latter three diva searches aren't as well remembered as the 2004 contest, so the contestants were not as badly affected by the stigma of entering pro wrestling through it. Trenesha Biggers, Rosa Mendes, Maryse Ouellet, The Bellas and Eva Marie still managed to find their way onto the scrappy heap though. Seasons one and five seem to be only ones that did not produce a scrappy.
• Sequel Displacement: The 2004 Diva Search is often falsely believed to have been the first Diva Search when it was actually the second. Since the 2003 version wasn't televised and its winner wasn't signed to a contract (instead only participating in a magazine shoot) it's understandable why the first Diva Search has been largely forgotten.
• Sequelitis: The 2006 and 2008 seasons are seen as largely forgettable, and it was when the contest was moved to Smackdown to edit out the booing from the live crowd, and it was also remembered for The Miz repeatedly flubbing his lines as the host.
• Signature Scene: Diss the Diva from the 2004 contest is easily the most remembered segment.
• Take That, Scrappy!: Carmella getting several new assholes ripped courtesy of the "Diss-the-Diva" segment and Trish Stratus' final speech to her before Christy was declared the winner.
  Joy: You talk a lot of shit, but you got a gab a mile wide, baby.
  Amy: Having a cock in your mouth has nothing to do with wrestling, bitch!
  Cristy: Carmella, you're a cum-burping gutter slut!
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The Diva Search had good ideas - and Molly Holly pointed out that if the company could find a new star that could make them lots of money - then that would benefit everyone. Unfortunately they emphasised T&A and the contest was seen as a joke. Contestants such as Amy Weber, Joy Giovanni and Maria Kanellis were then incorporated into character roles on the main roster in what the intent of the contest was, making it curious why WWE didn't just do that in the first place The 2013 revival was seen as more successful - as it was essentially a tryout camp rather than a beauty contest.

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