WWE News: Former Diva Launches Jewelry Business

As Diva-Dirt.com notes, former Diva Maryse Ouellet has embarked on her first major post-WWE project: jewelry store House of Maryse.

Life-long fashion fanatic Maryse, who parted ways with WWE last October, explains the mentality behind the move in a statement on the project's official site, noting House of Maryse came about mainly from contacts she made during her time in America's No. 1 wrestling promotion:

"

During my six years with the WWE, I met a lot of people, but one in particular with who I developed a close friendship, Leslie Homan, an accomplished jewelry designer, who's line Femme Matale "Sterling Jewelry That Rocks"™ is sold worldwide. Leslie and I would talk for hours about all things style related and decided to join forces. My vision wasn't just a dream anymore. Everything started from there, just like that...House Of Maryse was born!

"

While it may ostensibly sound strange to go from the rough, hard-hitting world of pro wrestling into something like jewelry design, Maryse is hardly the first Diva to go into a drastically different career direction after leaving WWE.

In 2010, Maria Kanellis launched her own line of perfume and also released a rock album. She later served as hostess on a horror movie DVD collection for film company Code Red. 

Amy "Lita" Dumas also got into the music industry after she left the company, forming a punk band called "The Luchagors" and hosting a weekly punk-rock show in her home city of Atlanta.

Following her retirement in 2006, iconic WWE star Trish Stratus became a Yoga fanatic, opening her own studio in Toronto, Ontario and later releasing a DVD. She also dipped her toe into acting, starring in the recently released Canadian B movie, Bail Enforcers.

Of course, all of these projects have had varying degrees of success. Bail Enforcers is an awful, badly made movie, even by low-budget indie standards. And for all her enthusiasm for rock music, Lita can't really sing, a minor problem considering she's The Luchagors' front woman.

Alas, being a former WWE Diva doesn't appear to mean terribly much in the mainstream entertainment world, but here's hoping Maryse can find some success outside of WWE with her latest venture.