Linda Miles
Encyclopedia
Linda M. Miles is an American former professional wrestler
and manager
. She worked under the ring name Shaniqua for World Wrestling Entertainment
's SmackDown! brand between 2002 and 2004. Miles was one of two female winners from WWE Tough Enough
season two.
women's basketball
team. She graduated from Rutgers in 2001. In May 2001, she tried out for a roster spot with the Seattle Storm
of the WNBA
, but was released during the team's training camp. Miles and her Rutgers teammates were featured in a 2004 documentary film
of the team's 2000–2001 season entitled This Is A Game, Ladies.
. She and co-winner Jackie Gayda
were awarded developmental contracts with the professional wrestling promotion
World Wrestling Entertainment
. Miles appeared on the June 8, 2002 episode of WWE Velocity
and faced her trainer, Ivory
, with Gayda in her corner. Miles lost to Ivory after Gayda quickly established herself as a villain
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 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
. Due to Gayda's highly botched mixed tag match on the July 8 edition of Raw, Miles and Gayda were sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling
for further training and development.
Miles began a relationship with Shelton Benjamin and began to manage him. It did not last long, however, as Benjamin formed Team Angle with Kurt Angle
and Charlie Haas
. Miles then disappeared from WWE television.
Miles returned to WWE television under the name Shaniqua in June 2003 as the dominatrix
manager of the Basham Brothers
. She often interfered in matches, including a match where she surprisingly had to interfere to insure the Bashams' victory over two jobbers. In the late summer of 2003, Shaniqua began to establish her dominance over the weaker divas. Shaniqua interfered in several bikini contests, attacking all of the divas except for Sable
. She briefly feuded with fellow SmackDown! divas Torrie Wilson
, Dawn Marie
(even though she remained a heel), and Nidia
. Shaniqua defeated Wilson and Nidia in a handicap match. The following week, Dawn Marie challenged Shaniqua to a singles match in which Shaniqua won by disqualification after interferences from Wilson and Nidia.
In early 2004, Shaniqua and The Basham Brothers sparked a feud with the then WWE Tag Team Champions Scotty 2 Hotty and Rikishi
. 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. After that she was released from her WWE contract.
She also was a study hall teacher in 2007 at Colerain High School.
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
and manager
Manager (professional wrestling)
In professional wrestling, a manager is a secondary character paired with a wrestler for a variety of reasons. The manager is often either a non-wrestler, an occasional wrestler, an older wrestler who has retired or is nearing retirement or, in some cases, a new wrestler who is breaking into the...
. She worked under the ring name Shaniqua for World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
's SmackDown! brand between 2002 and 2004. Miles was one of two female winners from WWE Tough Enough
WWE Tough Enough
WWE Tough Enough is a professional wrestling reality television program produced by WWE wherein participants undergo professional wrestling training and compete for a contract with WWE. There were two winners per season for the first three seasons, all of which aired on MTV...
season two.
Basketball
Miles was a member of the Rutgers UniversityRutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
women's basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
team. She graduated from Rutgers in 2001. In May 2001, she tried out for a roster spot with the Seattle Storm
Seattle Storm
The Seattle Storm is a professional basketball team based in Seattle, Washington, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association . The team was founded before the 2000 season began...
of the WNBA
Women's National Basketball Association
The Women's National Basketball Association is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. It currently is composed of twelve teams. The league was founded on April 24, 1996 as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association...
, but was released during the team's training camp. Miles and her Rutgers teammates were featured in a 2004 documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
of the team's 2000–2001 season entitled This Is A Game, Ladies.
World Wrestling Entertainment (2002–2004)
In 2002, Miles entered and won the second series of WWE Tough EnoughWWE Tough Enough
WWE Tough Enough is a professional wrestling reality television program produced by WWE wherein participants undergo professional wrestling training and compete for a contract with WWE. There were two winners per season for the first three seasons, all of which aired on MTV...
. She and co-winner Jackie Gayda
Jackie Gayda
Jacquelyn Gayda-Haas is an American semi-retired professional wrestler and valet, best known for her work on World Wrestling Entertainment 's Raw and SmackDown! brands and in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as a TNA Knockout...
were awarded developmental contracts with the professional wrestling promotion
Professional wrestling promotion
A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling. Promotion also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event...
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
. Miles appeared on the June 8, 2002 episode of WWE Velocity
WWE Velocity
WWE Velocity was a professional wrestling television program produced by World Wrestling Entertainment . It replaced two syndicated WWE shows, Jakked/Metal. Once a weekly Saturday night show on Spike TV and on Sky Sports 2 in the UK on Sunday mornings, Velocity became a webcast from 2005 to 2006...
and faced her trainer, Ivory
Lisa Moretti
Lisa Moretti is a retired American professional wrestler. She is best known for her appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment between 1999 and 2005 under the ring name Ivory...
, with Gayda in her corner. Miles lost to Ivory after Gayda quickly established herself as a villain
Heel (professional wrestling)
In professional wrestling, a heel is a villain character. In non-wrestling jargon, heels are the "bad guys" in professional wrestling; the term heel coming from the term take to you heels, which means to run away which heel champions tend to do to avoid losing their titles.storylines...
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
Trish Stratus
Patricia Anne Stratigias , better known by her ring name Trish Stratus, is a Canadian professional wrestler, actress and television personality currently signed with WWE. She is also a former fitness model....
to defeat Gayda and Ivory. The two divas were then placed on the Raw
WWE RAW
WWE Raw ) is a sports entertainment television program for WWE that currently airs on the USA Network in the United States...
brand. On the June 24 edition of Raw, Miles teamed with Trish Stratus to defeat Gayda and Molly Holly
Nora Greenwald
Nora Kristina Greenwald , better known by her ring name Molly Holly, is an inactive American professional wrestler. Greenwald is best known for her appearances with World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment .Greenwald began her professional wrestling career in WCW, where she...
. Due to Gayda's highly botched mixed tag match on the July 8 edition of Raw, Miles and Gayda were sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling
Ohio Valley Wrestling
Ohio Valley Wrestling is an American independent professional wrestling promotion based in Louisville, Kentucky. OVW is run by owner Danny Davis and was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance from 1997 until 2000...
for further training and development.
Miles began a relationship with Shelton Benjamin and began to manage him. It did not last long, however, as Benjamin formed Team Angle with Kurt Angle
Kurt Angle
Kurt Steven Angle is an American professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, and 1996 Olympic gold medalist. He is currently under contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he is recognized as a 15-time World Heavyweight Champion...
and Charlie Haas
Charlie Haas
Charles "Charlie" Doyle Haas II is an American professional wrestler and former collegiate amateur wrestler. He competes on the independent circuit, and is signed to Ring of Honor , where he is one-half of the reigning ROH World Tag Team Champions with Shelton Benjamin...
. Miles then disappeared from WWE television.
Miles returned to WWE television under the name Shaniqua in June 2003 as the dominatrix
Dominatrix
Dominatrix or mistress is a woman or women who takes the dominant role in bondage, discipline and sadomasochism, or BDSM. A common form of address for a submissive to a dominatrix is "mistress", "ma'am", "domina" or "maîtresse"...
manager of the Basham Brothers
Basham Brothers
The Basham Brothers, Doug and Danny , are a professional wrestling tag team, who formerly worked for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment .-History:...
. She often interfered in matches, including a match where she surprisingly had to interfere to insure the Bashams' victory over two jobbers. In the late summer of 2003, Shaniqua began to establish her dominance over the weaker divas. Shaniqua interfered in several bikini contests, attacking all of the divas except for Sable
Rena Mero
Rena Marlette Mero Lesnar , better known as Sable, is an American model, actress, and former professional wrestler. She is primarily known for her stints in World Wrestling Entertainment....
. She briefly feuded with fellow SmackDown! divas Torrie Wilson
Torrie Wilson
Torrie Anne Wilson is a retired American professional wrestler, fitness competitor and model. She is best known for her tenures in World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment , where she worked on both their SmackDown and Raw brands throughout her eight-year run.As a fitness...
, Dawn Marie
Dawn Marie Psaltis
Dawn Marie Psaltis is an American former professional wrestler and professional wrestling valet. She is perhaps best known for her appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling and the SmackDown! brand of World Wrestling Entertainment under her ring name Dawn Marie, where she was a WWE...
(even though she remained a heel), and Nidia
Nidia Guenard
Nidia Guenard better known simply Nidia is a former professional wrestler who worked for World Wrestling Entertainment...
. Shaniqua defeated Wilson and Nidia in a handicap match. The following week, Dawn Marie challenged Shaniqua to a singles match in which Shaniqua won by disqualification after interferences from Wilson and Nidia.
In early 2004, Shaniqua and The Basham Brothers sparked a feud with the then WWE Tag Team Champions Scotty 2 Hotty and Rikishi
Solofa Fatu
Solofa F. Fatu, Jr. is an American professional wrestler, best known under the ring name Rikishi.-The Samoan Swat Team:...
. Shaniqua joined her team in a handicap WWE Tag Team championship match against Rikishi and Scotty Too Hotty at No Way Out
No Way Out (2004)
No Way Out was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment , which took place on February 15, 2004 at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California...
. Shaniqua's team lost when she was pinned following a Banzai Drop from Rikishi. After that she was released from her WWE contract.
Post-wrestling
Linda now resides in Cincinnati and is a substitute teacher for Cincinnati public schools.She also was a study hall teacher in 2007 at Colerain High School.
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Diving crossbody - as Linda Miles
- PowerbombPowerbombA powerbomb is a professional wrestling throw in which an opponent is lifted up and then slammed back-first down to the mat. The standard powerbomb sees an opponent first placed in a standing headscissors position...
- TKO - OVW
- Torture rack - OVW
- Signature moves
- Big boot
- Lariat
- Scoop powerslam
- ManagersManager (professional wrestling)In professional wrestling, a manager is a secondary character paired with a wrestler for a variety of reasons. The manager is often either a non-wrestler, an occasional wrestler, an older wrestler who has retired or is nearing retirement or, in some cases, a new wrestler who is breaking into the...
- Jackie GaydaJackie GaydaJacquelyn Gayda-Haas is an American semi-retired professional wrestler and valet, best known for her work on World Wrestling Entertainment 's Raw and SmackDown! brands and in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as a TNA Knockout...
- Jackie Gayda
- Wrestlers managed
- Danny Basham
- Doug BashamDoug BashamThis article is about the wrestler, for the talk show host see Doug Basham Lyle Douglas "Doug" Basham, Jr. is an American professional wrestler, He is best known for his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment between 2002 and 2007, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling under the ring name...
- Shelton BenjaminShelton BenjaminShelton James Benjamin is an American professional wrestler and former amateur wrestler best known for his tenure in World Wrestling Entertainment. Benjamin has an amateur wrestling background, including wrestling in high school and at the University of Minnesota. In addition, Benjamin has acted...
Championships and accomplishments
- World Wrestling EntertainmentWorld Wrestling EntertainmentWorld Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
- Tough Enough II