Women’s wrestling in the United States has moved beyond the regressive methods that were dealt with from the 1980s to the early 2010s, leaving some aspects from the past away. Among them was the annual WWE Diva Search Contest. Diva Search, a staple of WWE programming in the mid-2000s, has in some ways become a glorious spotlight that many felt was a problem with how WWE treated women’s wrestling during that time. This is because diva searches primarily focus on competitors who compete outside of wrestling, such as obstacle courses and attempts to seduce male wrestlers. This may be a big reason why the version of Divas Search that was rebooted in 2019 was deprecated. At that point, such competition was outdated, in contrast to the seriousness of WWE now approaching women’s wrestling.
If one positive thing could be taken away from the Divas Search Competition, that would have led to the introduction of some notable female wrestling figures. For example, the 2004 DIVAS Search Competition produced successful camera winner Christy Hemme with TNA. Candez Michelle, a former diva champion. Former AEW/RING OF HONOR/TNA/WWE star Maria Kannellis; Michelle McCool is a WWE Hall of Fame. A few years later, we will see contestants in the Diva search include Ashley Masalo, Leila Elle, Mary Elle, Eve Torres, Tallinn Terrell, Eva Marie, Alexa Bliss and Lana. However, the competitors who didn’t make it completely successful in wrestling were the winners of the first diva search.
That may sound strange as most people believe Hemme is the first winner. In fact, she was second.
Jamie Keppe, the winner of his first diva search, did not compete in a WWE match
After all, the 2004 Diva Search was the first time it was on television, but not the first time a competition was attempted. The first diva search was actually done a year ago in 2003, and given how it happened, it could be permissible to forget that it actually happened. There is actually little information about the initial diva search, as the competition took place online, mainly through fan voting. Only the last four contestants appearing on the cameras of Summer Slam will appear. The final was eventually aired on WWE’s online program “Byte This,” and the first winner was revealed to be Jai Mekoppe, a fitness model and dancer from British Columbia, Canada.
Most fans may respond by saying, “Jaime Keppe? I’ve never heard of her.” And despite winning the competition, Koeppe has never wrestled a match in WWE or anywhere else, making sense. Unlike the upcoming incarnations of Divas Search, where the winner wins a contract and several other contestants receive the contract as well, the winner in the 2003 edition was not offered a victory contract. It seems strange considering all the troubles WWE went through all the troubles to organize and execute the competition, but that’s true, and as such, Koeppe was not actually under the WWE umbrella. Eventually, Koeppe used victory to promote the career of fitness models and appeared in several video games and film roles. She eventually retired in 2006 and reportedly focused on her personal life.
