Shaniqua

In 2002, Shaniqua, under her real name **Linda Miles**, entered and won the second season of *WWE Tough Enough*. She and co-winner Jackie Gayda were awarded contracts with World Wrestling Entertainment. Miles made her in-ring debut on the June 8, 2002 episode of *WWE Velocity* and faced off against her villainous trainer, Ivory, with Gayda in her corner. Miles lost to Ivory after Gayda turned heel by pushing her off the top turnbuckle, costing her the match. On the June 13 episode of *SmackDown!*, Miles teamed with WWE Women's Champion Trish Stratus to defeat the team of Gayda and Ivory. The two divas were then placed on the *Raw* brand. On the June 24 edition of *Raw*, Miles teamed with Trish Stratus to defeat Gayda and Molly Holly.

Miles returned to WWE television in June 2003 as a villain under the name **Shaniqua**, the dominatrix manager of The Basham Brothers. She often interfered in matches, including a match where she surprisingly had to interfere to ensure the Bashams' victory over two jobbers. In the late summer of 2003, Shaniqua began to establish her dominance over the weaker divas. She interfered in the Bourbon Street Bikini Contest on the September 4 episode of *SmackDown!*, attacking all of the Divas except for Sable, who had escaped. After attacking Dawn Marie and Torrie Wilson, she press slammed Nidia over the top rope. She then began a brief feud with fellow *SmackDown!* divas Torrie Wilson, Dawn Marie and Nidia. One week after the Bourbon Street Bikini Contest, Dawn Marie challenged Shaniqua to a singles match in which Shaniqua won by disqualification after interference from Nidia and Wilson, who struck Shaniqua with a steel chair. The following week, Shaniqua defeated Wilson and Nidia in a handicap match. After said handicap match, the villainous Shaniqua attacked Dawn Marie, who had accompanied Nidia and Wilson to ringside, by delivering a big boot to her chest and then ramming her head into the ring post. The feud then ended abruptly and Shaniqua was not seen on television again until the October 2 episode of *SmackDown!*, where she interfered in a match between The APA (Bradshaw and Faarooq) and The Basham Brothers, allowing the latter to achieve victory. For her troubles, she was nailed with a "Clothesline from Hell' via Bradshaw and was put out of action for several weeks. She made her return during the No Mercy pay-per-view and gained a measure of retribution on Bradshaw by clubbing him in the back with a night stick during his tag team match against The Bashams. Upon Shaniqua's return, she had new breast implants which were explained via storyline by permanent swelling as a result of the 'Clothesline from Hell' weeks earlier. Shaniqua then spent the next few weeks in The Bashams corner during their feud with Los Guerreros, regularly interfering in matches.

By late 2003 and early 2004, Shaniqua and The Basham Brothers sparked a feud with the then-WWE Tag Team Champions Scotty 2 Hotty and Rikishi, with Shaniqua almost being given the *Stink Face* by Rikishi during house shows weekly between November 2003 and February 2004, but she was never given the actual move. Shaniqua joined her team in a handicap WWE Tag Team championship match against Rikishi and Scotty Too Hotty at No Way Out. Shaniqua's team lost when she was pinned following a Banzai Drop from Rikishi. This marked her last televised appearance with the WWE and she was released from her contract shortly after.