Candice Michelle, 75 matches, 2004-2009.
Her tenure wasn’t long, but she made a good showing for herself. Hired in 2004 as another Diva Search contestant, Candice didn’t really find any footing in terms of development for over a year. She was doing “Lingerie Fashion Shows”, limbo and was Torrie Wilson’s Smackdown second fiddle. In 2005, she turned heel and joined Vince’s Devils as their mouthpiece, and while she wasn’t all that good, she wasn’t terrible by any means. 2006 was when we first saw hints that Candice could have potential, first with her match with Mickie James and then a match with Lita. She looked plucky with Mickie and debuted her spinning heel kick on Lita, however it was 2007 where she shone. In the November-January space, Victoria had begun destroying Divas, starting with Candice, and broke her nose. When Candice came back in January 2007, it was obvious she had been working hard. She had a string of good matches with Victoria, Melina, and Beth Phoenix, in which she gained and the Women’s Title (The first Diva Search contestant to do so), she showed great promise until another badly timed injury. She did come back in 2008 and she did have good matches in almost all her appearances, but her time was limited, as she was seen as injury prone and said in the news at the time “Not naturally thin”, and no longer looking like a Diva, and let go.
