Summer DeLin Bryan of Shreveport is a finalist in the World Wrestling Entertainment Diva Search contest. (Courtesy of 2005 World Wrestling Entertainment)
On TV
"RAW!" airs at 8 p.m. Mondays on SpikeTV
On the Web
View photos and videos of Summer Delin Bryan in action on the World Wrestling Entertainment site, www.wwe.com. You can also vote there after each week's episode of "RAW."
"RAW!" airs at 8 p.m. Mondays on SpikeTV
On the Web
View photos and videos of Summer Delin Bryan in action on the World Wrestling Entertainment site, www.wwe.com. You can also vote there after each week's episode of "RAW."
Earlier this year, a Shreveport native won the heart of "The Bachelor." Now, can another local woman win the hearts of millions of World Wrestling Entertainment fans?
Summer DeLin Bryan, a Caddo Magnet High and LSU-Shreveport graduate, has made the cut of eight finalists in the WWE Diva Search, a contest that begins today at 8 p.m. on the program "RAW," airing on SpikeTV.
"I've even picked up a little catch phrase," Bryan said. "Do you know what time it is? It's Summertime!"
She and the other finalists will appear during "RAW" each Monday, enduring whatever tasks the producers dream up for them each week. (This week, the ladies face something called the Sgt. Slaughter Bikini Boot Camp. Uh oh.)
After each program, fans will go to wwe.com and vote for their favorite. The one who gets the least votes each week is eliminated, which is announced on the next "RAW." The last woman standing will be crowned Diva.
"To me, this whole thing has been like 'American Idol' meets 'America's Next Top Model'," Bryan said of the process.
A professional model since she was 13, most recently traveling the globe with Miss Hawaiian Tropic International (she's Miss July in its 2005 calendar), she responded to a WWE's online call for auditions.
The selection process began in Los Angeles with 100 women, which was quickly whittled down to 30 and finally eight. The cut was decided by several different judges.
They were looking for more than sex appeal, Bryan said. They were interested in personality and athleticism, which was no problem for the former competitive gymnast and cheerleader.
But the two-day process of repeated auditions was tough, she said. Even more tough than getting up in front of 18,000 fans when the finalists were introduced in the ring at a "RAW" event in Anaheim, Calif., on June 27.
"That was way more easy than the auditions were," she said. "A couple of the girls were booed, but fortunately I was one of the ones that got cheers."
As for their on-screen personas, Bryan said they aren't being asked to play a character but to be themselves, only a super-charged version.
"They said to be yourself, but your personality times 1,000," she said.
Bryan said she and her fiance, Shreveport plastic surgeon Dan Knight, were only passingly familiar with the WWE but have become quick studies since she entered the contest.
"No, I wasn't a fan, but it's been really fun to be thrown into the middle of it," she said.
Should she win the coveted Diva title and its $250,000 prize, she'll travel with the WWE to various events and be an on-air personality, though not in the ring.
"No, there's no wrestling in the Diva Search," she said.
But, should something start to go down, what's her preferred weapon, metal folding chair or two-by-four?
"Metal folding chair."
Bryan is hoping reality show lightning strikes twice for Shreveport natives in 2005. In May, Byrd High graduate Sarah Brice was chosen by Charlie O'Connell to be his bride in the ABC show "The Bachelor."
