During the 3/19/26 episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet, former WWE Women’s Champion and now TNA Wrestling backstage agent Candice Michelle talks on TNA, the Diva Search and her injuries during her time in WWE.
On landing the backstage role in TNA Wrestling and when it actually started:
“Yeah, Tommy Dreamer called me and he offered me a spot as an agent…It started in January, which was my first show, and he was so funny. He’s like, come and shadow me the first weekend, and the next weekend you’ll be an agent. All I can think about is that it’s wrestling, you know, we’re gonna see if you’re going to survive or not, and if you can do it or not and throw them to the wolves. I was like, Okay, let’s go.”
On if the new backstage role in TNA could lead to an appearance on TV:
“I think that this initial call was my hope spot, and I think it’s going to lead into my comeback.”
On the WWE Diva Search:
“It was funny. My agent called me, and it’s a modeling agent, so he’s booking me for covers and modeling. He’s like, ‘I’ve had this really weird audition…’ I’m thinking, Oh, geez. And he’s like, ‘I don’t know if you’ll like it, but it will pay you $100,000.’ I am a starving model actress, right? He’s like, ‘WWE is going to have this Diva Search contest, and you’ll win that money and you’ll get a one-year contract.’ All he was excited about was 10% of the $100,000, but I grew up watching wrestling, and so I’m thinking, this is my dream gig. This is it. I just thought all those days, like every Monday night, I watched Raw with my stepdad, Ken, I remember climbing up on the couch and sitting next to him, and we’re screaming and shouting, and my mom’s in the other room, ‘Turn that stuff off. It’s fake!’ We’re like, What are you talking about?! So getting that audition, I was really excited.”
On not winning the search, but still getting offered a WWE contract:
It’s fair to say that the Diva Search changed your life. You didn’t win it, but you still end up getting a contract.
“That was really hard. In LA, as you know, when you’re auditioning all the time, you get over it pretty fast, or you need to get over it fast. That one, I think I cried for like a month, and I was like, That was perfect for me. I was athletic, I was into boxing and Krav Maga. I was like, I should have got that. I also know there’s a side of the business where I also knew Christie Hemme was perfect role for that spot. I just didn’t know that they would call me back when that contest ended and offer me three years…I think it was just obvious. I just have a different character. I have a different appeal. I need to warm up to an audience. Christy just had that fun, vibrant, bubbly personality. People love her instantly, and I think that’s what the WWE needed at that time.”
On getting injured:
“Well, we were overseas, and we were putting together this match, and this is when Arn Anderson and Ricky Steamboat started to really train me. So you see how really towards the end of my wrestling career is when I really felt like I was getting the knowledge. It was the first time I understood that there’s a philosophy to the match. I literally had no idea. I was never taught it or anything. There was something in me and Beth that resonated with Ricky and Arn Anderson, and they really stepped up to the plate, and they said, This is how you got to start working this. The fans were really getting behind us, and overseas, we’re having these great matches, and we had this move where it was supposed to be, you know how you open your legs on the top rope and fall in. I guess I’m not that flexible. I think about it to this day. I just saw somebody on TNA do this move, and I was like, yeah, that’s not for me. So I was like, I’ll do my knees instead. That’s a little less flexible. And overseas, I did it one time, and I came back, and all the boys were worried because I landed on my neck. I didn’t feel it. It didn’t phase me. I was not injured. I wasn’t hurt, and so I didn’t really think much of it. But we’re on like a 7 to 10 day tour over there, no, not much sleep. We fly back to Nebraska. We’re going to kind of do this match again, and my boot catches that rope, and I wasn’t allocated that little extra space, and I landed on my head. I was knocked out. I don’t remember it. The first thing I remember is being on the stretcher, and Stephanie McMahon was leaning over me, and they’re going into Gorilla, and she goes, ‘Don’t worry, we’re flying your husband out.’ I was like, they don’t fly your husband out [unless it’s serious]. So instantly, I was worried. I had a concussion and I broke my collarbone. It came at a time where we weren’t really educated with that kind of injury, and so being dragged to the center of the ring after that happened, if that was my neck, it would have paralysed me.”
On coming from injury, then shattering her collarbone during her return match:
“I think it was about four or five months, and with my husband being a chiropractor, we have an X-ray machine. So I’m like, I’m fine, I’m ready. And he x-rayed me and he’s like, ‘No, actually, it’s still broken.’ He’s like, see? And I’m like, ‘No, not really, looks like a shadow.’ So WWE flies me back out. The doctor looks at the X-rays, and he can even see that it’s a little broken. I’m like, I’m fine, look, and I’m moving my arms like I’m totally fine, Doc. Somehow, I convinced him I was totally fine, and then I went back for my first match, and that’s when I shatter it. So in the very beginning of the match, I think I do two clotheslines and a drop kick. The drop kick, I land on it and shatter it.”
All quotes are courtesy of Insight with Chris Van Vliet.
Candice also talks about winning the WWE Women’s Championship, moving to LA, the magic wand and more!
You can watch the full interview below: