Jun 20 2009
Candice Michelle Released
Candice Michelle has been released from her WWE contract. She will not get a farewell match, the chance to say goodbye on television, or anything like that. By my definition, she is the first true WWE diva to actually be released, not retire or give WWE notice that she plans to quit for the sake of her family, this year. I spent a lot of time saying how likely it would be for the WWE to release Candice based on her history of injuries and backsliding in wrestling talent, but I still was shocked to hear the news.
Candice Michelle had been with the WWE for about five years. She was the first product of the Diva Search to win the Women’s Championship. The WWE has not given that title to a woman lacking talent or on the serious path of improvement since 2000. That makes it a little bit clearer that Candice definitely had shown the heart to want to improve and did to a great degree. She was a model. She did Playboy. She was gorgeous and glamorous. If I was writing diva blogs in 2007, I would have been saying that the WWE planned to make her into the next Trish Stratus. She really could have been that big. She had the support, which is possibly the greatest indicator of whether a wrestler will make it or not, not necessarily actual wrestling talent. The WWE fans would have, as the plan goes, grown attached to her as they first latch on to her hotness then watch her improve further in the ring, defeat some of the top divas, work with main-event men to get a bit of a rub from them, and so on. She was part of a Champions tag match on Raw, teaming with Cena in the main event. The two times she came back from injury in 2008, she was immediately pushed back into the main diva spotlight of Raw. The WWE were seriously counting on her. I even recall Jim Ross supposedly noting that many backstage thought that Candice Michelle was the favorite to win the costume contest at Cyber Sunday 2008. They actually felt she had the majority of the fan support. People can disagree, but I will still argue that this all meant that she was to be groomed to take Trish’s spot. In the end, maybe it would be better to say that Candice Michelle was out to blaze her own path. That path was to lead to the top.
What went wrong? Injury. The first major injury that spoiled her rise happened in 2007. She was getting a rematch for the title against Beth Phoenix in a 2 out of 3 falls match. A gimmick match for the title on Raw. It was saved for just before the main event. Whether to give it more prestige or give the fans a late “bathroom break”, your call. This match was obviously meant to have time and be good, hence the stipulation, so I believe they wanted both women to look good. Candice took a nasty fall off the ropes. As Wrestlemania approached, the WWE eagerly planned to have her involved in a heavily-hyped tag match at the event, Bunnymania. This would also ignite her feud with Beth Phoenix again. She got injured in her first official match back on Raw. She won that match, however. The WWE was once again in a tough spot, but Ashley took Candice’s spot. More months went by. Beth Phoenix regains the Women’s title, which coincides with the WWE bringing Candice back to feud with her. She came back as the “surprise” partner for the face divas in a tag match on a taped Raw. The WWE had to edit out a portion of this match. Candice was very sloppy. She had a singles match against Jillian Hall before her title match, but was once again sloppy. Candice did not win the title. She never even got a second televised shot. She got injured again in 2009, after doing nothing interesting for the time I am skipping over. She missed out on another Wrestlemania match. Her ankle was injured this time. Reports first stated that she should be fine to compete by the event, but that did not happen. She wanted to be drafted to Smackdown. She got that. It was not until recently that Candice was cleared to wrestle again. Roughly three months out. Reports of her at parties and social events have been noted for a while. Did she care enough to full heal first for the sake of her injury? I would hope that she knew what she was doing. At any rate, the WWE had lost tremendous faith in her. Recent issues with Mr. Kennedy must not have helped matters. Did she just lose fire? Is she really happy that she is free to grow now? There is something I feel is missing there.
She is gone. Will she ever come back? That is a discussion in itself, but I doubt it. There are younger women in the WWE now. These models are on a path of improvement, just like Trish Stratus and Candice Michelle experienced. Will Candice end up on TNA? They just picked up Victoria (Tara). They have countless other women there who I have not heard much from in a long time, yet these same women were vital to the division months ago. I do not think TNA will have the space for Candice, especially if they may want Mr. Kennedy, Umaga, Sim Snuka, who also just got released, and others. There just is not much space. Candice is known in the world. She does not need wrestling. If she chooses to stick with it, I hope she stays healthy and safe. If she falls back on some other field, she can still do something she enjoys doing and never forget her fans. As it stands now, Candice is no longer in the WWE.
