World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)

WWE is currently the largest professional wrestling promotion in the world, and holds an extensive library of videos representing a significant portion of the visual history of professional wrestling. The promotion previously existed as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, which promoted under the banner of the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), and later the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). WWE promotes under three brands; RAW, SmackDown! and ECW. WWE is also home to three of the eight internationally recognized world heavyweight titles.

WWE Divas

The WWE Diva Search is a talent competition held by WWE. The aim of the contest is to find the newest female performer (or "Diva") for the WWE roster. The 2006 edition of the Diva Search played on the USA Network in the United States and FOX8 in Australia.

Thie winner of this first Diva contest was Christy Hemme, who went on to pose in Playboy magazine and then competed at WrestleMania 21.

From the 2004 Diva Search, Michelle McCool, Amy Weber, Candice Michelle, Maria Kanellis and Joy Giovanni all received contracts after losing the contest.

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. Carmella, who was the runner up, didn't receive a contract, but made several appearances on RAW and even had a match against Diva Search winner Christy Hemme at Taboo Tuesday 2004, in which Christy won. Candice Michelle is currently a Raw Diva. Joy was released along with 20+ others on July 2005, but recently, it has been reported that WWE was looking to hire back Giovanni. This was officially confirmed by Joy herself on her Myspace on October 2006.

WWE announced another Diva Search contest for 2005. WWE reportedly emphasized the fact that potential contestants did not need 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. However, Massaro wanted to train to wrestle, due to her athletic background, and her family's involvement in wrestling.

From the 2005 Diva Search, Ashley Massaro of New York City, New York won the competition. Krystal 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 wasn't for her. Leyla Milani was rumored to have received a contract, but confirmed that she and WWE were not going to be working together any time soon. She opted to be one of the girls on the hit TV program, Deal or No Deal on NBC. The first eliminated contestant, Leilene Ondrade, subsequently made appearances as a ring girl for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

The 2006 Diva Search winner was Layla El and the WWE has already hired one of the eliminated diva hopefuls, Rebecca DiPietro (also a Hawaiian Tropics Girl). Maryse Ouellet and Milena Roucka signed WWE developmental contracts and reported to OVW in September.

WWE Diva Pictures and Posters