Mar 26 2009
Nidia: Ever To Be In The Hall Of Fame?
Since I already looked at whether the first Diva Search winner ever deserves to be in the WWE Hall of Fame, it would only be fair to look at the first female winner of the show that was meant to bring in real wrestling talent. Tough Enough’s first female winner was Nidia.
Tough Enough is what brought Nidia into the WWE, but what did she accomplish after that? She will probably be remembered as the trashy valet for Jamie Noble on Smackdown. This was back in around 2002, when the WWE actually cared about pushing Jamie Noble well. The guy is a former Cruiserweight Champion. The two were a great couple with a gimmick. I am sure many fans enjoyed watching their sloppy make-out sessions. The two had a feud storyline against Billy Gunn and Torrie Wilson. It certainly led to an interesting encounter in the bedroom. I will say no more. Like all good relationships, Noble and Nidia parted ways. That is putting it mildly, since Noble defeated his former girlfriend in a match. Nidia would then move on to Raw, where she would be allowed to work more in the ring and less as a valet. She had a few encounters with top divas, like Trish Stratus, but was eventually released.
The outline of her WWE career certainly makes her seem like an interesting character somewhat worthy of being in the Hall of Fame one day, but I have to fill in some of the gaps. Nidia got to be part of one of the top couples of Smackdown at the time, but she was never really propelled much further as the WWE could have allowed. Jamie Noble and Billy Gunn were top guys, but Noble and his girl could have really been pushed to stardom in the upper-midcard. She never really got to shine in the ring on Smackdown. On Raw, as I mentioned before, she did get a little more serious a push in the ring, but it was still sad. I will never forget her winning the right to face Trish Stratus for the title, but jobbing to Trish right after gaining that shot. That is not something to be remembered for. She never really accomplished much else on Raw.
I am able to see shades of Nidia in some recent divas and their gimmicks. She was definitely a diva with a great start. If Jamie Noble had gone on to greater heights in his own career, whether Nidia had been released or not, I believe that still would have made her contribution to his early WWE career worth more, and so make her a legendary figure in that sense. That is not how history has gone. As it stands, Nidia and Noble’s romance angle was not taken to greater heights for either, so it can hardly be used to get Nidia into the Hall of Fame on that alone. Her wrestling ability was not extravagantly amazing, and she never got a great push either, so that hurts her too. In the end, I do not believe the first woman to win Tough Enough got to do enough in the WWE to be in the Hall of Fame.
