The WWE, in search of its “RAW Diva,” has combed the nation with tryouts in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, filtering nearly 7,000 applicants.
Some of the applicants at this week’s tryout in the Los Angeles area at Marina Del Rey’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel were adult models.
Carmella DeCesare, Playboy.com's February 2003 Cyber Girl of the Month and 2004 Playmate of the year, was one.
So was former Playboy bunny Tiffany Holliday, a Pamela Anderson look-alike, who says she was urged by a fan in Texas to try out.
Karen McDougal, 1998 Playmate of the Year, was another.
For the next two months, 10 finalists of WWE’s diva contest will be winnowed down to one on “RAW,” which reaches 7 million viewers weekly. The contest will yield $250,000 to the winner.
Through telephone and Internet voting, viewers will dump one contestant each week until three are left. The winner will be chosen on the Sept. 13 installment of "RAW" on Spike TV.
Kevin Dunn, WWE executive vice president of television production, says the future of the diva has yet to be defined.
"We want someone we can put on a pedestal here and who can represent the WWE in a classy — I wouldn't say sophisticated — but a classy, nice manner," Dunn told XBiz.
Dunn says the diva could wrestle if she wanted to, or become an announcer, or a character in the WWE family.
WWE’s contest is moving forward while another league involving sexy women gears up for its September debut on the Internet.
Carmen Electra's Naked Women's Wrestling League is shaping its September debut.
Toronto-based NWWL Productions Inc., owner of the branded league, will feature exclusive content, behind-the-scenes footage and dozens of video feeds of naked wrestling.
The website also will include a members-only VIP area with unique pay-per-minute live video feeds, pay-per-view extreme footage and branded merchandise.
Electra, the former vixen of “Baywatch” and MTV and Playboy fame will be the “temptress” and commissioner of the online pay-per-view program that combines full nudity with WWE-style wrestling.
The league includes 17 naked female wrestlers, each with a particular storyline.
Each pay-per-view episode, performed in front of a live audience, will include seven matches that are five- to six-minutes long. The feed will be priced at about $25 per pay-per-view.