Parting Shot: A Second Glance at Candice Michelle

In the chew-you-up-and-spit-you-out, meat grinder business that is the offstage world of Professional Wrestling, it takes more than a little X Factor for someone to lose a contest geared toward amateurs with little to no background in "the business," only to turn around and beat the odds by making a name for themselves in said industry.

Such is the tale of one Candice Michelle.

Here's a quick glance of some of her ups and downs during her time in WWE.

It all began when she lost the 2004 Diva Search Contest to Christy Hemme. In 2005, she earned her more-commonly used moniker, the GoDaddy girl, by appearing in television commercials for the Web site of the same name.

In November 2005, the WWE announced that Candice had agreed to pose in the April 2006 edition of Playboy Magazine. That same year, she defeated Mickie James on Nov. 21, in her debut singles match.

At Vengeance 2007, Candice Michelle became the first Diva Search contestant to win the Women's Championship by defeating Melina for the title. She went on to retain the title in a successful defense against Melina at The Great American Bash in 2007.

At Unforgiven 2007, Candice Michelle defended the title successfully again, this time against Beth Phoenix.

Unfortunately, these accomplishments were later undercut by a small string of injuries.  First, there was a cracked Clavicle on Oct. 22, 2007, and a later shoulder injury that also aggravated the prior fracture.

After having been drafted to the Smackdown roster on Apr. 15, 2009, Michelle was poised to make her return to the WWE spotlight after her recovery, only for her fans to be met with a "Future Endeavors" announcement.

After coming to terms with her release from her WWE contract, the former Diva Search contestant-turned-Women's Champion had this to say in a blog that was removed from the WWE Universe site:

Dear WWE Universe:

Today is the first day of my next journey! I am filled with excitement and gratitude that I wanna express! First and foremost I wanna say thank you to the McMahon family! Thank you Vince, Linda, and Stephanie! I have had an amazing five years wrestling for you guys! You have taught me and given me so many incredible memories! My time in the WWE was so heartfelt and an incredible journey that I will never forget. I wanna thank the people who helped me there to be successful! Thank you Johnny Laurentis, Mark Corrono, and the rest of talent relations! You guys are awesome at what you do and I appreciate everything you have done for me! Thanks to the amazing agents Arn, Dean, Ricky, Mike, Fit, Barry, Steve, and Billy. You guys are incredible at what you do and it was so exciting for me to get the opportunity to learn from the BEST! Speaking of the best, John Cena was a champ in every sense of the word, inside and outside of the ring! Thank you John for our great friendship, conversations, and encouragement in the business! I have so many fun filled memories on the road that I will never forget thanks to Victoria, Torrie(vote for her, shes amazing), Carlito, Tommy (what a Dream), and Mickie ( one half of the nasty girls)!  You guys will be my buddies for life and I will never forget you! Thank you to the other amazing superstars and Divas! You guys are simply the best at what you do! You have contributed so much in me becoming a wrestler, thanks to HHH, Big Show, Melina, Mickie, John Cena, Tommy Dreamer, Shawn Michaels, and everyone else who helped me in the ring(in no particular order)! Thanks to the awesome crew and people behind the scenes, without them the show wouldn't even begin, they are all so incredible and full of talent!  My time in WWE was a true blessing!

I am excited that I was the FIRST WWE Diva Search contestant to become the WWE Womans Champion! I know I have paved a way for the woman like me and am so proud of them now! Go get em ladies, your all so talented and beautiful!

A special dedication to all the amazing and wonderful fans who have supported me, made sites for me, were always positive, and mostly just showed your love! I really appreciate you! I hope to see you in my next journey! I feel it coming fast! You can see my new website in less than 1.5 months at candicemichelle.com and catch up with my updates, also on twitter!

I have loved that journey and am ready to grow into this next chapter! Stay tuned...much more to come!

Yours truly,

Candice Michelle

"Defining Beauty"...in every sense of the word!

Obviously, the pure vitriol and ire directed at her former employers and fans left the folks at WWE no choice but to remove the offensive material in the above blog from the Universe blogosphere.

In other news, rumor has it that Mr. Kennedy merchandise is on clearance at the online WWE store...

Note: Candice Michelle's quoted blog entry above is unedited.  All spelling and grammatical errors are the sole responsibility of Candice Michelle, and not the author.