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| Such a lovely image of former Women's Champion, Candice Michelle. |
Last week's featured female wrestler contacted me with her admiration for my article that I'm finally motivated to continue doing this feature for this blog for the long haul. I'm not sure if I'm going to hear from this week's featured femme fatale.
Career History -- Credit: Wikipedia
Candice Michelle Beckman-Ehrlich (born September 30, 1978) better known as Candice (Michelle) is an American model, actress, and retired professional wrestler best known for her time with World Wrestling Entertainment.
In July 2004, Beckman auditioned to be a contestant for World Wrestling Entertainment's Raw Diva Search. Despite not being chosen to be in the final ten, she was hired by the company under the gimmick of a makeup artist. She competed on Raw in several Diva contests, including lingerie fashion shows and limbo contests, until the end of the year.
On June 30, 2005, Candice was moved to SmackDown! where she became involved in a storyline between Torrie Wilson and Melina. On July 24, Candice made her pay-per-view debut at The Great American Bash where she served as the Special Guest Referee for the Bra and Panties match between Wilson and Melina. She was then moved back to Raw in a trade along with Wilson. In her next storyline, Candice and Torrie became villains by taunting 2005 Diva Search winner Ashley Massaro, and they joined forces with fellow Raw Diva Victoria to form an alliance known as Ladies in Pink (later Vince's Devils). On the September 5 episode of Raw, Wilson defeated Massaro after the interference from Victoria and Candice. They continued feuding with Massaro until Trish Stratus returned from a legitimate injury to help Massaro "retaliate" against Vince's Devils. On the October 17 episode of Raw, where she, Torrie and Victoria faced off against the team of Stratus, Massaro, and their new ally Mickie James in a winning effort after Wilson pinned James. On November 28 episode of Raw, Candice teamed up with Victoria and Torrie Wilson in losing effort to Trish, Ashley and Mickie. In November, Candice signed on to pose for the April 2006 issue of Playboy. She had her first shot at the WWE Women's Championship in a Fulfill Your Fantasy Battle Royal at Taboo Tuesday but was eliminated from the match by Massaro. At the Tribute to The Troops on December 19, Michelle teamed up with Maria Kanellis in a winning effort defeating then Women's Champion Trish Stratus and Ashley Massaro in a divas-tag-team match after Candice pinned Ashley.
On the July 17 episode of Raw, Candice was the Special Guest Referee during a tag team match of Stratus and Wilson against Victoria and Mickie James. James entered the match without being tagged in, so Candice threw her out of the ring. Afterwards, Victoria tried to clothesline Candice, but she ducked out of the way, allowing Stratus to perform a Stratusfaction for the victory. As a result of her participation in the match, Candice became a fan favorite. On the Raw following Unforgiven, Candice won a match against Lita. The next week, in her second match against Lita, Candice was pinned after she was speared by guest referee Edge, in the first round of the WWE Women's Championship tournament. On the November 27 episode of Raw, during the Diva battle royal, Candice suffered a legitimate broken nose when Victoria kicked her in the face. She had surgery on November 30 to repair her deviated septum.
Candice returned at New Year's Revolution on January 7, when she went to the ring with Maria to fight off Melina as she tried to interfere in the Women's Championship match between then-champion Mickie James and Victoria. Candice made her in-ring return on January 22 when she and Mickie James defeated Victoria and Melina in a tag team match with Candice scoring the pinfall. Candice then resumed her feud with Melina, who claimed in her blogs that no Playboy cover model was capable of defeating her in the ring. Candice took offense to this, which led to a Bra and Panties match between the two, which she lost. During this time, Candice began training on her off-days to improve her in-ring abilities. Weeks later, Candice was beginning to receive more air-time and higher profile matches, and she won tag matches that pitted her with Mickie James against Victoria and Melina. She also picked up several wins against the latter two in singles matches, which culminated at One Night Stand, where Candice defeated Melina in the first ever match held in a swimming pool full of pudding. Candice defeated Melina to capture her first WWE Women's Championship at Vengeance, becoming the first ever WWE Diva Search contestant to win the Women's Title. Candice retained her title against Melina in a rematch at The Great American Bash as well as debuting a new finisher called the Candywrapper.
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| Candice performing the Candywrapper to Jillian Hall. |
Candice made her on-screen return on the February 18, 2008 episode of Raw, distracting Beth Phoenix during a match with Maria. She returned to in-ring action on March 17, teaming up with Maria to defeat Jillian Hall and Victoria. During the match, Candice injured her left shoulder by tearing the scar tissue over her previously broken left clavicle. Unlike her previous injury, Candice broke her clavicle in four separate places, in essence, shattering it. As a result, Candice was replaced by Ashley for her scheduled match at WrestleMania XXIV. On March 23, Candice underwent successful surgery on her re-broken clavicle.
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| Candice performing the Candy Kick on Beth Phoenix |
On the September 1 episode of Raw, Candice made her in-ring return match teaming up with Kelly Kelly and Mickie James to defeat Jillian Hall, Katie Lea Burchill and Beth Phoenix, with Candice pinning Phoenix. Candice received a push upon her return as she was named the number one contender for the Women's Championship, but lost to Beth Phoenix at No Mercy. On the February 2 episode of RAW, Candice unsuccessfully challenged Beth Phoenix for the Women's Championship after the interference by Mendes and Marella. On the February 16 episode of RAW, Candice, James and Kelly stopped Marella and Mendes from interfering in the Women's Championship match between Melina and Phoenix, which was won by Melina.
On April 15, 2009, Candice was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft. She, however, never reappeared on the brand and was released from her WWE contract on June 19, 2009.
My Thoughts:
Candice Michelle is a woman that represents part of most present day WWE Diva fans refer to as the "Diva Search" era of WWE Divas. I personally find that it's absolutely disrespectful that these women in this generation of women's wrestlers in WWE get so much negativity and disrespect from Diva fans that it's outright disgusting to me. It was already hard enough to coexist in a company in the wake of Trish Stratus and Lita's departure, but someone had to take the ball and run with it. Let's face it - the developmental system wasn't as ripe with female talent as it is today back then, so WWE had to start somewhere. That's why I can't fault Candice, nor any of the women who came up this way, to becoming WWE Divas. As her career mirrored Trish Stratus' own, she had the drive and determination to acquire the skill and experience to leave her own mark and legacy in the Women's Division. I believe without a shadow of a doubt that if her injuries didn't sideline and derail her, she would have been a multi-time WWE Divas Champion as well - a damn good one at that.
Candice Michelle was among a generation of women of WWE Divas that get overlooked often only because of the Diva Search or former model associations. Why can today's fans give her the respect that she deserves for her career? She found success in a position where many doubted that she would thrive in. Not many women could step into that ring and hope to continue on in the wake of the absence of Trish Stratus and Lita. Over time, Candice made her own mark and lasting impression. She was beautiful, she was fierce, and she was a fighter. Whatever was thrown into her way she overcame it and continued to fight on. Candice Michelle may have started out her WWE career as mere eye candy but by the end of it, she was definitely a jawbreaker - in more ways than one.
One thing that I have always admired the most about Candice Michelle was that she owned and accepted every aspect of her career as an entertainer. She didn't hide that she was model and posed for Playboy. She didn't allow her past dictate how fans and her peers see her as. She worked hard to gain fans' respect as an in-ring talent. She improved more and more and in time, she became the one to watch as she sat at the top of the Women's Division at that time. I truly miss seeing Candice Michelle in WWE, not just for her beauty and in-ring talents, but as an individual who wasn't afraid to be herself. Today's landscape and generation of both WWE Divas and Diva fans are conditioned to frown upon the former models turned wrestlers and most of those women aren't even given a fair chance to shine without the fans hating them out of spite for their past. I wish more fans would look back at women like Candice Michelle and remember that every woman in WWE won't always have the same rise to stardom like their beloved favorites. Some may pay their dues by working the independent scene and traveling the world before landing that big break in NXT, but there's others, like Candice Michelle, who could merely be signed as eye candy (at first) and discover a passion for the in-ring aspect of this sport that nothing or anyone will be able to stop them for making their dreams of being the best athlete physically possible by devoting themselves 200% to their training.
As a fan, my heart broke when she suffered her two collar bone injuries. No one never knows what could go wrong in these matches because that's the risks the wrestlers take to entertain us - something that a lot of fans tend to overlook and take for granted nowadays. These men and women don't owe us anything, they sacrifice everything to entertain the fans. For your contribution, Candice, I thank you.
Candice, if you're reading this, I know your journey wasn't the best - it had it's ups and downs, but when you rose to the top of the Women's Division after overcoming every roadblock in your way, I was there with you, applauding you for all of your hard work. You're definitely one women's wrestler who I highly regret not having a chance to see wrestle live in the prime of your career.
If I may add, you had some of my most favorite ring gear for a women's wrestler for a LONG time.
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