During WWE's era of Ruthless Aggression, many of the stars were willing to do whatever it took to put themselves on the map. Unfortunately, that means that there was a decent amount of talent that started to fall through the cracks and become forgettable.
This era of WWE was before the Women's Revolution movement, which meant that they were treated as being far from equal to men. Often the women were put in shorter matches or sexualized, not giving them the chance to spotlight their skills. If the women wrestlers did not do whatever they could to get noticed, it'd become easy for them to be forgotten by wrestling fans.
10 Jackie Gayda
As one of the winners of Tough Enough season two, it was believed that Jackie Gayda had everything needed to be a top female star. Gayda worked for the company from 2002 to 2005. She had a rough start to her WWE career and the company felt she needed to spend a bit more time in developmental.
After returning to the main roster, she was given the name of Miss Jackie. She would eventually be paired with Charlie Haas, who then become her real-life husband. After she was released from the company, she worked with a variety of promotions, including TNA before seemingly retiring from professional wrestling.
9 Linda Miles - Shaniqua
Gayda's Tough Enough season two co-winner Linda Miles had a similar path as she only worked with WWE for two years. During her 2002 to 2004 run with the company, she did not make the impact she was expected to. She started out with Gayda but ended up back in developmental as well.
Miles would then go on to build a relationship with Shelton Benjamin; managing him before she was repacked. She was then going by the name of Shaniqua who was the dominatrix manager for The Basham Brothers. After a few months of being aligned with them, she was released from the company.
8 Kristal Marshall
Kristal Marshall was a former model who signed with WWE from 2005 to 2007. She was a contestant in the 2005 Raw Diva Search competition and came in fourth place. During her time with the company, she started out on SmackDown as a backstage correspondent before becoming a full-time competitor.
She would have feuds with stars like Ashley Massaro and Jillian Hall, but she was most known for her storyline with SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long. Marshall played the love interest to Long and the two were set to have an on-screen wedding before Long suffered a storyline-related heart attack. She was released from the company soon after and signed with TNA to work with her then-boyfriend Bobby Lashley.
7 Nidia
Nidia joined former WWE star Maven in winning the very first season of Tough Enough. After competing on the show, she went right to developmental before making her main roster debut in 2002. She was instantly paired with current WWE producer Jamie Noble, and they were given a "trailer trash" gimmick.
After being with Noble for about a year, she would then end her relationship with him during a story they were working with Rey Mysterio. She eventually would be drafted to Raw as a singles competitor where she would fall through the cracks. This would lead to her release from the company in 2004.
6 Ariel
As a former model, Ariel decided to go down the path of professional wrestling and joined the independent scene. She was a competitor for multiple promotions before signing with WWE in 2005. When she made her debut, she was attached to Paul Burchill for a while before disappearing for a bit.
She would reemerge as one of the stars of WWE's revival of ECW in 2006. Her character was a tarot card reader who managed ECW's vampire Kevin Thorn. She would work under this gimmick until she was released from the company in 2007. Ariel would go on to work under her real name in TNA for a year.
5 Katie Lea Burchill
Katie Lea Burchill had strong ties to independent wrestling from all around the world before signing with WWE in 2006. She worked in their developmental system from then until she made her main roster debut in 2008. Burchill appeared as the on-screen sister of former pirate Paul Burchill.
The two worked a creepy type of incest gimmick for a bit before WWE would change their television rating. They were drafted to ECW where their gimmick switched to a more traditional wrestling role. The pair were eventually released in 2010, allowing her to work for other wrestling promotions to this day. Following her WWE run, she spent two years with TNA, where she became a two-time Knockouts Champion and one-time Knockouts Tag Team Champion with the "Winter" ring name.
4 Joy Giovanni
As a losing competitor of the 2004 Raw Divas Search, not many knew what to expect from Joy Giovanni. She was signed just days after the initial elimination and would go on to appear on SmackDown as a massage therapist. She would go on to be a part of a program between The Big Show, Kurt Angle, and John "Bradshaw" Layfield.
Joy worked a few matches during her short WWE career, but she still participated in various backstage segments and female gimmick matches like a bikini contest. She was let go by WWE in 2005 and has since retired from wrestling.
3 Cherry
Known for her 1950s persona, Cherry was signed with WWE from 2005 to 2007. She made her wrestling debut in 1999, primarily working on the independent before she signed with WWE. Once she was signed she instantly went to their developmental system.
On the main roster, she was booked with greaser tag team Deuce and Domino. Cherry worked with them for a while before they dropped her in a story with Maryse. She then worked on her own until she was released.
2 Dawn Marie
As one of the original female stars in ECW, Dawn Marie's extreme attitude made her someone to watch. Once ECW went under she worked on the Indies before WWE signed her in 2002. She appeared as Vince McMahon's legal assistant and her character developed from there.
Her main program with the company revolved around her relationship with Torrie Wilson's father Al Wilson. They took the story as far as having an on-screen wedding with Al and then killing Al off of WWE TV. She would then join the new ECW before her release and her eventual return to the Indies. She officially retired from the wrestling business in 2010.
1 Candice Michelle
In WWE's search for Divas with sex appeal, Candice Michelle would be a star that would top that list. Michelle appeared in some of the Ruthless Aggression Era's more erotic storylines, but she'd be rewarded at the latter part of the era with a WWE Women's Championship win. She worked programs with stars like Ashley Massaro and Beth Phoenix, among others.
She is one of the few WWE women who appeared in Playboy magazine, and it turned out to be a major part of her career. She was also one of the women featured in Go Daddy's Superbowl commercials. When she left WWE, Candice continued a career in film while making occasional wrestling appearances.