Sources: Wrestling Observer Newsletter, PWInsider.com

As announced this past Friday evening on WWE.com, World Wrestling Entertainment released former Women's Champion Candice Michelle (Candice Michelle Beckman-Ehrlich), 30, from her contract. Her sudden release from WWE wasn't seen as a surprise internally.

It is believed that Michelle's less than stellar appearance at the television tapings in Los Angeles a few weeks ago ultimately sealed her fate with company officials. She had not been seen since WrestleMania, but when she arrived at the shows in Los Angeles, she didn't look "Diva like," and there were those who felt she was ready to leave the company and move on. As it turns out, WWE beat her to the punch by releasing her a few weeks later.

She told officials she was just about ready to return from her latest injury, but they gave very little leeway because she is a woman and there is a weight issue. The impression on her was always that she wasn't someone with a naturally thin body, and that she had to work very hard to look the way she did, and when you get older, fighting those genetics gets much harder. In a company where the women are primarily there for their looks, some felt she didn't have that look anymore, so they decided to let her go.

At sixteen, Candice Beckman, as she was then known, won a modeling competition at her local skating rink. In 1999, she moved to Los Angeles to become a professional model and actress. In the meantime, she studied Theater Arts at Santa Monica College and had on-camera acting and Meisner technique training at The Piero Dusa Acting Studio. It was during this time that Beckman adopted her middle name Michelle as her working last name. She appeared in numerous bodybuilding and car magazines such as FLEX and Lowrider Magazine, as well as being named "Cyber Girl of the Week" in the June 2002 issue of Playboy. Michelle also worked as a foot fetish and bondage model under the pseudonym Mackenzie Montgomery. During this time, Candice made minor appearances on television programs such as Party of Five and 7th Heaven, as well as appearing in such films as Tomcats, Anger Management, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and A Man Apart. She also appeared in the softcore porn television show Hotel Erotica, which was broadcast on Cinemax.

In July 2004, Candice auditioned to be a contestant for WWE's Raw Diva Search. Despite not being chosen to be in the final ten, she was hired by the company a few months later and would debut under the gimmick of a makeup artist in November 2004.