In the summer of 2004, WWE decided to do away with the pretence and went ahead with presenting a vaccuous skin show called the 'Diva Search'. The concept was simple (and genius, according to Kevin Dunn): pit ten models/wannabe divas against each other for a chance to win a WWE contract. Kind of like Tough Enough, but without any of the hard work. No, the divas didn't have to take bumps or run up mountains for their reward. Essentially, they had to stand around and look pretty. Oh, and bare a midriff or show some leg. Viewers would determine who was voted off after whatever unentertaining 'competition' had transpired on that week's show. Despite WWE insisting it would be handled in a classy manner, the Diva Search featured lingerie pillow fights, the hopefuls trying to seduce the male wrestlers and everything else you'd expect from the company that presented HLA just two years earlier. It was the pits. The worst moment of the entire thing, however, had to be the 'Diss the Diva' segment from the August 30th Raw. The final four women were given a live mic and instructed to taunt their competition. It was an unmitigated disaster, with Christy Hemme branding the loathesome Carmella DeCesare a 'c**-guzzling gutters***' while Amy Weber told her that 'having a c**k in your mouth has nothing to do with wrestling'. Well then. There were many bleeps throughout the segment. The Diva Search was a massive mistake that took up way, way too much television time and didn't succeed in creating a major star (winner Hemme was gone just over a year later). Worse still, Hemme's $250,000 per year salary was significantly more than most WWE divas were making at the time, leading to some serious backstage resentment.
