Naman Shrestha
WWE has seen many divas come and go over the years, but only a few have left a remarkable imprint on the industry. One such personality is that of the brunette Milwaukee native — Candice Michelle — who took WWE by storm, not just due to her beauty but also because of her ability to mix it up in the ring against her opponents. Despite the huge impact she made, her tenure was quite short as she was released abruptly, as some would say. Thus, many of you might want to find out the reasons for her release from WWE and her current whereabouts. Well, we have gathered all the information regarding the same; let’s delve right into it!
Why Did Candice Michelle Leave WWE?
Born on September 30, 1978, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Candice Michelle Beckman grew up playing basketball and having an interest in a variety of sports. It was at the age of 16 when she won a modeling competition at her local skating rink that made her move to Los Angeles to pursue acting and modeling. After bagging the opportunity to appear on a few TV programs like ‘Party of Five,’ ‘7th Heaven,’ and ‘Hotel Erotica,’ she decided to audition for World Wrestling Entertainment’s Raw Diva Search in July 2004. Even though Candice didn’t make it to the top 10, it changed her life forever as she got hired under the gimmick of a makeup artist.
Over the years, Candice slowly and steadily moved up the ranks, becoming involved in several storylines, including the one with Torrie Wilson and Melina. Starting from the spring of 2007, she received more air-time and higher profile matches, giving her a chance to prove herself as a fighting machine. Soon, at the pay-per-view event Vengeance in 2007, she hit the peak of her WWE career by defeating Melina for the Women’s Championship and becoming the first Diva Search contestant to win the title. She held on to the championship for about four months before losing it to Beth Phoenix at No Mercy in October 2007.
The highs in Candice’s WWE career ran out by late 2007, as on October 22, she legitimately injured her clavicle during the rematch against Beth, forcing her to be out of the ring for 14 straight weeks. Unfortunately, her return to the ring was short-lived and even more fatal as she injured her left shoulder and tore the scar tissue over her previously broken left clavicle, breaking her clavicle in four separate places. Although she underwent a successful surgery and returned to the ring again, Candice was clearly out of touch.
Candice’s injury woes continued as in late February 2009, she injured her ankle, which kept her out of action for a significant period of time again. Upon returning, she was supposed to start afresh on SmackDown! after the 2009 Supplemental Draft, but she was released from her contract on June 19, 2009. While Candice was caught off-guard when she got the news of her release, it is believed that some people in WWE were upset that she had been working on other projects instead of tending to her injuries and taking the company seriously. However, a decade into her release from WWE, in July 2019, Candice reappeared in WWE during the Raw Reunion episode and soon pinned Kelly Kelly to become the new WWE 24/7 Champion.
Candice Michelle is Focusing on Her Health Now
After leaving WWE, Candice Michelle and her chiropractor husband, Ken Gee Ehrlich, reportedly moved to Texas along with their three daughters. A year and a half since 2021, things didn’t go as planned for the former WWE Diva as she was in a vicious cycle wherein she would have panic attacks on the regular. But after focusing on her health, mental as well as physical, she started doing pretty well and got her life back on track. In a March 2023 interview with WrestlingNewsCo, Candice opened up about her life in detail.
Candice said, “For me personally, I think that I’ve really taken such a step back in my personal life. I have three kids, I haven’t been present on social media like a lot of the other former wrestlers. I’ve really dived into my personal life and raising these children, and now just going into where my career’s going next, and that hasn’t really been live on social media so much. So I think maybe just missing that connection of them, ‘Who are you now? What are you doing now? What do you look like now?’.”
Candice added, “It’s just me kind of getting back into that present world. I’ve gone through many transitions recently and had some health issues lately. So it’s actually good that it’s not my time right now, but I’m coming out of that, so maybe next year is the time when it happens.”At present, Candice is a family woman as she is focused on taking care of her family, including her husband and their kids and dog, while keeping a healthy lifestyle by working out frequently.
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