10 Shocking Wrestling Plans You Won't Believe ACTUALLY Happened
3. The Diva Search
Aside from offering some legendarily gruesome moments that sent entire episodes of Monday Night Raw spiralling off a cliff, The Diva Search was a deeply disheartening turning point for how WWE wished to portray women on their broadcasts, despite a noted shift towards workrate-centric encounters thanks to the hard work of Trish Stratus, Molly Holly, Jazz, Victoria et al, as well as their head trainer Fit Finlay.
Rooted in Attitude Era sleaze with a flimsy veneer of respectability based on WWE's utterly laughable 'Sexy, Smart, Powerful' Divas tagline, women were hired almost entirely for their sex appeal to a diminishing adolescent audience. Commenting on his experiences at the time, former talent doyen Jim Ross recalls being tasked only with finding 'athletic tens', whilst John Laurinaitis allegedly moved the company's chief developmental league to Tampa to allow for endless beach parties alongside many of the models he'd ushered into the organisation.
The Diva Search validated the tonal shift, giving $250,000 downside guarantees and eventual WrestleMania matches to 2004 and 2005 winners Christy Hemme and Ashley Massaro. Forcing untrained and largely untalented performers into spots they weren't equipped to handle, the women's division became little more than a home for pillow fights and theme parties. It became a outright detriment to the product when the roster became flooded with runner-ups.
Considering the decade-long sinkhole caused by the contest, it's a testament to their determination that young onlookers Sasha Banks, Bayley and others even pursued their dreams of in-ring stardom.