Female WWE star who posed for Playboy was taken off air for being 'too hot'
A former WWE superstar was swiftly taken off one of the sports entertainment giant's most popular shows because she was considered to be "too hot".
A former model and actress, Candice Michelle made the jump to WWE back in 2004 after participating in the WWE Diva Search to scout out new female talent.
Although she did not make the final in the competition, Michelle received a contract from WWE and competed in 'Diva' included lingerie and limbo contests.
Michelle, who posed for Playboy, had a gimmick whereby she was a makeup artist on the Raw brand.
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At the time, the females of WWE were largely treated as eye candy and not the equal athletes in today's business, with bra and panties matches a regular occurrence.
Michelle, who featured in suggestive GoDaddy Super Bowl commercials, switched over to the Smackdown and was special guest for referee for a bra and panties match between Torrie Wilson and Melina at the Great American Bash event.
However, her stint on the brand was short-lived. While Raw had an R rating, Smackdown was PG and so Michelle, with her character, was traded back to the original brand just weeks later.
The decision was linked to one of the viral Super Bowl commercials Michelle starred in which saw her play a character called 'Nikki Cappelli' and spoof Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction the previous year.
"They decided to draft me to Smackdown," Michelle said on Insight with Chris van Vliet.
"I didn't tell them about the commercial apparently - I didn't know I needed to. And obviously I didn't know it was going to be what it was going to be what it was.
"I had a different kind of contract with WWE as a model from LA versus an up and coming wrestler. I had a little bit of loopholes to do other things.
"They had just drafted me in the draft to Smackdown before the commercial launched. At the time, Raw was Rated R and Smackdown was rated PG.
"My character was not really PG so I was too hot for Smackdown and then I got shipped back to Raw."
Michelle was involved in a whole host of bizarre WWE moments, including participating in a Playboy Pillow Fight and a Wet and Wild match, as well as being Vince McMahon's on-screen 'sex slave' for a period.
She trained hard and improved her in-ring work, to the point that she won the WWE women's championship in 2007.
Michelle had a short second stint on Smackdown before her WWE release and has made a handful of appearances back in the company over the years.
In March, she signed with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) as a producer helping talent backstage.
Josh Lawless