When Maryse Ouellet went to the Bell Center in Montreal to watch a wrestling event for the first time in 2003, she instantly fell in love with professional wrestling.
She as in awe of
Jeff Hardy; he captivated her attention and was the reason she started to watch wrestling more often. She even began hosting parties to watch pay-per-views at her house.
"I just loved the way all those people would come out onto the stage and get in the ring," Maryse told SLAM! Wrestling. "I loved the way they performed in front a live crowd.
"I told all my friends that one day I would become a Diva."
Having applied for the WWE Diva Search in the summer of 2006, Maryse Ouellet's dream of becoming a diva was at first a rocky road, as she was not able to speak more than 10 words in English.
"I flew to L.A. for three days. I will never forget my experience. I was so nervous; they made me do four auditions before choosing me for the TV show. I remember
The Miz being one of the Diva search judges and he asked me to cut a promo on stage in front of everybody.
"He saw I couldn't speak the language, and then asked me to cut a promo in French. To this day, they say I had by far the best promo of all the 10,000 girls that tried out and that if I could have cut a promo in English the way I did in French, it would be absolutely amazing."
Maryse was eliminated in only the second round of the Diva search competition. However, WWE saw that she was very charismatic and felt she could become a big star. She was offered a contract and started training at WWE's then-developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling.
It wasn't long before Maryse debuted on the main WWE roster with a snobby heel persona and in the process became one of the fastest rising stars, claiming her first Divas Championship in December 2008.
