Maryse Ouellet

Maryse Ouellet (born January 21, 1983) is a French Canadian glamour model and professional wrestler currently working for World Wrestling Entertainment on its Raw brand. Ouellet began her career as a beauty pageant contestant, winning Miss Hawaiian Tropic Canada 2003 and finishing second at the International Finals of Miss Hawaiian Tropic 2004. After that she made several appearances in various newspapers, magazines and television programs in Canada, as well as appearing on the cover and the inside pages of a special edition of Playboy Magazine in the summer of 2006. In the summer of 2006, Maryse tried out for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'s Diva Search. She made the final cut and was one of the top eight featured on WWE, but on the July 24 episode of WWE Raw she became the second person to be eliminated from the search. Despite her elimination, she was invited to observe workouts and the training facility between August 13–17, 2006 at WWE's developmental facility, Ohio Valley Wrestling. Although she understood that there was no guarantee that this will lead to full time employment with WWE, she was grateful to have been given another opportunity to live out her dream. Stating in a WWE.com interview "I can just cry, my feeling right now," Ouellet said. "I’m very excited. It was very, very good news. Ouellet was officially signed to a World Wrestling Entertainment developmental contract on August 24, 2006 and was assigned to Ohio Valley Wrestling for training. Her first jobs there were to sit in the front row during television tapings, take part in bikini contests and appear in backstage segments. After a while she began managing fellow French Canadian René Duprée at house shows. Her in ring debut came at a December 16, 2006 house show in Greensburg, Kentucky where she teamed with Katie Lea, Kelly Kelly, She Nay Nay, and Victoria Crawford to defeat ODB, Milena Roucka, Josie, Beth Phoenix, and Melody. In March 2007, she became a part-time backstage interviewer for OVW TV, as well as a wrestler in dark matches prior to the OVW tapings. In the spring of 2007, Maryse participated in the 2007 "Miss OVW" competition which was won by ODB. Later in the summer, she participated in the 2007 "OVW Divalympics". Around that time she started managing Sylvain Grenier both in OVW and at the Raw/Smackdown/ECW house shows. When Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) opened in the summer of 2007, Maryse was transferred to the developmental facility for training. After only managing Sylvain Grenier for weeks the idea for them to re-debut on SmackDown were scrapped. On September 25, Maryse made her FCW debut as the valet of Ryan O'Reilly along with Lacey Von Erich. After Ryan left the WWE on October 10, 2007, Maryse then started competing in singles and tag team competitions. On December 18, Maryse was in the corner of Ted DiBiase, Jr. when he captured the FCW Southern Heavyweight Championship. On the September 22, 2006 edition of SmackDown!, Ouellet, known as simply Maryse, was shown on the TitanTron welcoming the Montreal viewers (in French) to the season premiere of SmackDown! on the new CW Network. In January 2007, Maryse returned to SmackDown! in more pre-taped vignettes welcoming viewers back to the show in both English and French. Maryse made her first actual TV appearance with her entrance theme on the May 21, 2007 edition of Raw to present Timbaland's new video "Throw It on Me" in which she had appeared. In October 2007, Maryse participated in the WWE European Tour with the SmackDown! brand, where she teamed with Michelle McCool in a series of tag team matches defeating Victoria and Katie Lea. By the time she began appearing regularly on SmackDown!, she adopted a snobby attitude, thus becoming a villain. On the March 7, 2008 episode of SmackDown, Maryse competed in a swimsuit contest, against Victoria, Michelle McCool, Cherry, and Eve Torres. In the end, Maryse and Eve got into a fight. On March 14, Maryse was the first eliminated from the swimsuit competition. On March 28, Maryse competed in a "Wet and Wild" match where she teamed with Victoria against Cherry and McCool in a losing effort. On a "SmackDown after the bell video" on WWE.com Deuce 'n Domino dumped Cherry (who had been their valet) and replaced her with Maryse. Maryse then insulted Cherry, only for Cherry to slap her. On the May 16, 2008 edition of SmackDown, she made her television in-ring debut in a losing effort to Cherry, though defeated her in a rematch with a roundhouse kick weeks later. For weeks, Maryse teamed with Victoria and Natalya against Cherry, Michelle McCool and Maria. Maryse then suffered a minor broken nose after receiving a bulldog from Maria. Maryse lost in her first title match for the WWE Divas Championship against Michelle McCool at Unforgiven, resulting in a feud between the two Divas. She then came up short once again in title rematch on SmackDown!. On the September 23 episode of ECW, Maryse defeated McCool in a non-title match. After being off television for a month, Maryse returned at Survivor Series to participate in the five-on-five SmackDown vs. Raw Divas Elimination match. Maryse was the sole survivor of the SmackDown team, but ultimately was eliminated by Beth Phoenix. On December 19 Maryse pinned Maria to become the number one contender for Michelle McCool's Divas Championship. The next week on SmackDown!, Maryse beat McCool to become the new Divas Champion in a match with Maria as the special guest referee. On December 28, 2008 at a house show in Raleigh, North Carolina, Maryse dislocated her knee in a tag team match against The Bella Twins, when one of the twins initiated a dropkick that landed on her kneecap, it was later announced that the injury was not too serious and that she would be able to return in a few weeks. On the January 23 episode of SmackDown!, Maryse returned in a non-wrestling role and sat at ringside commentating, during a Divas' tag team match. Maryse returned to wrestling on February 20, 2009 in a tag team match with Michelle McCool and defeating Maria and Eve Torres. On April 5, Maryse competed in a Divas battle royal at WrestleMania XXV, but the match was won by Santina Marella. On the April 13 2009 episode of Raw, Maryse was drafted to the Raw brand as part of the 2009 WWE Draft, in the process making the Divas Championship exclusive to the Raw brand. She made her Raw in-ring debut on April 27, teaming with Beth Phoenix, Rosa Mendes, and Jillian Hall in a loss to Mickie James, Santina Marella, Brie Bella and Kelly Kelly. At the Night of Champions pay-per-view on July 26, Maryse lost the Divas Championship to Mickie James. In April 2007, Maryse filmed Timbaland's music video "Throw It On Me" featuring The Hives. She also appeared in the 2007 WWE Divas Magazine (Divas in Los Angeles) under the section of "Divas in Training" along with The Bella Twins, Beth Phoenix and Milena Roucka. She also made a special appearance on Redemption Song which is hosted by fellow WWE wrestler Chris Jericho along with Candice Michelle, Mickie James, and Eve Torres, which was originally aired on November 12, 2008. Ouellet has a degree in Business Administration and holds a black belt in martial arts. English is Ouellet's second language (French being her first); it took a total of two years for her to become fluent. She has also been involved in the Foundation of Children General Hospital of Montreal, Quebec, since 2006.