The Tough Enough Girls
By: Brian Solomon
They started out, quite literally, as the girls next door. Today, they are among the gorgeous collection of ring beauties known as the WWE Divas.
Written: October 2003
Publication: Raw Magazine
Nidia, Linda Miles and Jackie Gayda sent their tapes in along with thousands of other fans, regular people hoping that they would be selected for a spot on WWE Tough Enough. But there was something special about them that saw them elected to the elite 13 who got that chance-Nidia for the first season, Linda and Jackie for the second. More importantly, there was something special enough about them to be selected as winners of the grand prize: an honest-to-goodness WWE contract.
"It was another great life challenge for me personally," says Linda. "Like I've said in the past, each day of your life is an opportunity to grow. It showed me that Linda Miles can learn from herself and from others around her, being thrown into that new environment. It's really another extension of college to me. I had just graduated from Rutgers in New Jersey, so I was going from one team to another. This is a more individual effort, though, because you're competing and challenging yourself mental and physically for a contract to continue on in another sorority or university type of environment."
No one said it would be easy to achieve their dreams, and these three girls were put through heel, courtesy of Tough Enough trainers like Ivory, Jacqueline and competition headmaster Al Snow. Being a Diva is more than being just another pretty face or amazing body, Just as with the guys, there's skill involved. Even if they're not destined for a full-time in-ring role, athletic ability is a must. Beyond that, there's presence, interview ability, and the all-important charisma.
"It was completely overwhelming," says Jackie Gayda of her experience. "It was my first glimpse of the world of sports-entertainment. It was very Hollywood as far as the cameras and everything go, but the intensity of it was definitely there. It was definitely a stepping stone.
"We were kind of thrown into it all at once," she added. "It was a lot to learn in a small amount of time. But now, when I look back on things, as I'm learning things one step at a time, I realize it had to be done that way. We had a limited amount of time. It was a lot thrown at you, so you have to take a couple of steps back, take it apart piece by piece and learn in that kind of process. That's what a lot of us are going through now."
The journey from reality TV to the reality of being a WWE performer was one of transformation. For fans of Tough Enough, it probably was quite starting to see these three young women take on personas so drastically different from the people they originally got to know, but it's all part of being a WWE Superstar.
Nidia was the first of the three to appear on WWE TV, hooking up with Jamie Noble to become the trailer-trash queen currently seen each week on Smackdown! More recently, Linda Miles transformed herself into the mysterious Shaniqua, dominatrix/valet for the Basham Brothers tag team on Smackdown! And Raw acquired the services of Jackie Gayda (a.k.a. Miss Jackie), who can be seen prancing down to the ringside with her man, the ravishing Rico.
To prepare for these roles, the Divas in-training underwent a "post-graduate" crash course in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), WWE's Louisville-based development program.
"It was different," says Nidia. "Whenever you watch wrestling, you're always criticizing, 'Why did this guy do that? I would've done this.' And of course, once you get over here, it's a much bigger picture, and you realize that these guys are professionals, and they do know what they're doing. Once I got through Tough Enough, I remember the second day [OVW] I said, 'Oh my God, what did I get myself into?' Because it was so difficult. Luckily, I made it through. Back then, I thought I'd go straight to TV, and then I realized there was so much more involved. You can't go in after two months. It's like jumping into speeding traffic while you're going zero. So it's a good thing that they sent us out to Louisville to speed up."
With their TV debuts has come the inevitable life changes associated with being a high-profile entertainer. No longer are they aspiring fans, watching the Divas on the tube and wondering what it might be like to be one of them. Now they are a part of that world, and surely there are other young women around the world who are now watching them the same way.
"You're never prepared for fame," says Linda "Shaniqua" Miles. "It's a matter of how you handle it. You never can be prepared to go out and perform in front of 15,000 to 20,000 people. It's a matter of how you deal with that opportunity when it comes. As far as being in the house when we did Tough Enough, you didn't have those fans cheering or booing you. There were just a lot of cameras around you, and it was more of a mental challenge for yourself. When you go out in front of a crowd, it's your turn to perform, or get lost within the mist. So far it's been enjoyable to me."
"One thing that helped me in dealing with it to some degree is that I have played basketball at one of the highest levels that you can play it in," she adds. "So the crowd really excites you, and gets you that much more pumped. Of course, you have butterflies, that's just part of the excitement. It's two different worlds. On Tough Enough we were just a part of our own world, but now you go out in front of huge crowds-that's a world where you better be ready to perform."
"It's weird having people go out of their way to meet you," adds Nidia. "It's kind of funky. Sometimes you get people saying, 'I love you!' I don't think I've changed that much, so I feel kind of awkward to have people come up and admire me. You're like 'How do I react?'"
Judging by their abilities and performance thus far, there is just the beginning for Nidia, Linda and Jackie. They may have started out as the Tough Enough Divas, but they have more than established their own identity apart from the show that gave them their start. They're young, they're beautiful, and they're here to stay.