WWE Diva Search winners: Where are they now?
The WWE Diva Search was one of the company’s earliest attempts to cash in on the reality TV craze that dominated television in the late 90s and early 2000s. In an attempt to make their product more relatable and acceptable to a wider audience, WWE created two ‘talent programs’ – Tough Enough and the Diva Search – as a means of finding their next big stars.
They went about looking for stars this way instead of, you know, finding proper wrestlers the old fashioned way, which worked more often than not.
Though Tough Enough received quite a bit of backlash from those within WWE for exposing and weakening the pro wrestling business, the negative reaction to the Diva Search was far stronger. At least the participants in Tough Enough had some strengths and assets needed to be wrestlers. Those participating in the Diva Search were – more often than not – more interested in the non-wrestling elements of the show and being eye candy than being proper grapplers.
Since its inception, there have been four televised Diva Searches and two that were unaired. The first Diva Search, which took place in 2003, led to a photo shoot and not a contract. The second of these unaired Diva Searches was in 2013 and led to the signing of Eva Marie.
As for the remaining four that were aired, none of their respective winners are still with the company, even though runners-up still are.
Here, we’ll look at where the four Diva Search winners have ended up after winning this ‘distinct’ award.
2004 Winner – Christy Hemme
Christy Hemme was the first woman to get a major push as the winner of the Diva Search. She received a huge initial push, being placed in feuds with the likes of Trish Stratus, Victoria and Melina. She even faced then-Women’s Champion Trish Stratus in a match at WrestleMania 21, after having received some basic training from Stratus’ archrival Lita.
After this, her significance on the RAW brand reduced dramatically, before being released shortly after being sent to OVW for further training. After this, Hemme spent many years in TNA both as a competitor and as an interviewer/announcer. By April 2014, Hemme started working for TNA’s creative team, which she did until her departure in 2016.
Since then, Hemme has been looking at other endeavours and has done very little related to wrestling.