Female Wrestling - The History of the WWE Divas 5

Here is my fifth history of the WWE Divas Hub.
This one covers the WWE Divas from 2005 to 2007.

As I mentioned in the last Hub, Ashley Massaro won the 2005 WWE Diva Search.
This was the first Diva Search where the WWE was rumored to have emphasized that the contestants didn't need any wrestling experience, or even really a desire to wrestle.
But the lady that won it actually wanted to wrestle.
Ashley Massaro came from a family with an amateur wrestling background and she really did want to get in the ring.

Another lady that placed in the top ten was Kristal Marshall who came in at fourth place.
Kristal went on to work for the WWE from 2005 to 2007, and eventually leave there to work for TNA.
She is the real-life significant other of pro wrestler and MMA fighter Bobby Lashley, and they have a son together.

The second place winner that year was Leyla Milani, who went on to do some work for the WWE, Deal or No Deal and several other shows.
She will be the hostess on the "upcoming" GLOW update Wrestlicious, if it ever actually airs.

Another lady that was in the search but didn't place was Elisabeth Rouffaer, and she was signed to the WWE for a short time.

And finally from the 2005 Diva Search, was Trenesha Biggers.
Trenesha signed a developmental contract with the WWE and was sent to Deep South Wrestling (DSW) for training.
She stayed there for about a year, then left to work in Japan, then worked for some independent wrestling promotions before finally winding up in TNA as Rhaka Khan.
Then she left TNA and is now on Lucha Libre USA: Masked Warriors as Tigresa Caliente.

Trish Stratus was the WWE Women's Champion for all of 2005, having taken the belt from Lita in December of 2004.

Mickie James started with the WWE in 2005 as Trish Stratus' biggest fan.
If you know anything about Mickie, you know that before that, she had a pretty successful career in the Independent wrestling promotions and with ECW and TNA before she showed up in the WWE.
The Mickie Trish storyline owed a lot to the Sable/Tori angle years before.
Mickie went psycho at one point (I still think that owed a lot to the early Victoria appearances) and going crazy and feuding with the WWE's "fan favorite" Trish seemed to actually increase her popularity. At one point, Mickie was even getting a bigger "pop" than Trish when they were introduced.
Mickie has gone on to hold the WWE Women's Championship four times, and the WWE Divas Championship once.

On the April 14, 2005, edition of SmackDown! the tag-team of MNM made their debut.
And of course with them came Melina.
Melina had worked extensively in the Indy circuit, and was even a participant in the WWE's Tough Enough III.
She went on to hold the WWE Women's Championship three times and the WWE Divas Championship once.

Jillian Hall made her debut on the July 28, 2005 episode of SmackDown! as "fixer" for MNM.
Jillian was and has been under-used by the WWE since her debut, considering she was trained by Dave Finlay at his wrestling school, and debuted on the Indy circuit in 1998.
She wrestled as Macaela Mercedes and won eleven wrestling championships before coming to the WWE.
Her only title so far in the WWE was the WWE Divas Championship that she held for about five minutes.

2006 was a rough year for the women's division.
First, Stacy Keibler asked for time off to appear on Dancing with the Stars, then she left altogether.

Then on September 17, 2006 at Unforgiven, Trish Stratus retired from wrestling after winning her seventh WWE Women's Championship.
She defeated Lita for the belt at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario.

Adding to the women's division woes, was Lita retiring at Survivor Series in 2006, but the WWE was keeping up with the losses by using more talent.

On the May 8, 2006 episode of WWE Monday Night Raw, Beth Phoenix showed up.
I have sung Beth's praises on various Hubs and blogs, so let me just say that if the WWE has a female version of Kurt Angle, Beth is it.
Beth had to leave the WWE for two months though as Victoria legitimately broke her jaw in a match.
Despite having surgery and nine screws placed in her jaw, Beth was only out for two months, and came back as a heel in 2007.
She went on to win the WWE Women's Championship belt twice.

On a side note here, Sharmell Sullivan-Huffman joined the WWE back in 2005, but even though I suppose she could be considered a "Diva" she never actually had a singles storyline of her own.
She was usually considered the valet for her husband Booker T even though when she was in the WCW, she actually did some ring work there.

In 2006, the WWE Women's Championship belt was passed around between Lita, Trish and Mickie James. But that would all change in 2007...