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Melina is a former three-time Women's Champion and two-time Divas Champion. Her release from WWE back in 2011 came as a shock, given the fact that she had been at the top of the Women's Division for a number of years up to that point. So, why was Melina released from WWE?
The early years
Melina was first introduced to the WWE Universe back in 2005 as a valet for Johnny Nitro and Joey Mercury and the trio were known as MNM.
Over the next six years, Melina became one of the most recognisable female wrestlers in WWE after the torch was handed to Mickie James and Melina when Trish Stratus and Lita retired from the company back in 2006.
Melina won her first Women's Championship in 2007 when she defeated Mickie James and the duo then had one of the best women's rivalries in the years that followed.
Backstage problems
Melina has had a number of reports written about her when it comes to her attitude. Melina was taken to wrestlers court at one point because of the fact that she thought she was better than everyone else in the WWE Women's locker room. This worsened to an extent that Lita kicked Melina out of the locker room and refused to let her back in. It came as a shock since Lita is usually one of the calmest women backstage.
Melina's affair with Batista back in 2006 also left her with quite a lot of backstage heat, even though she claimed that she and John Morrison were on a break at the time and the couple were later able to work out their problems and reunite.
Melina was said to have had problems with a number of female wrestlers throughout her career. The best-known one was the issues she had with Candice Michelle because the two women decided to write their thoughts about each other online for the world to see.
Final years in WWE
Melina won her third Women's Championship at The Royal Rumble in 2009, before being drafted to SmackDown and taking the Championship with her, to make it exclusive to the SmackDown brand for the first time.
After Melina lost the Championship to Michelle McCool at The Bash, she was traded back to Raw and was able to win the Divas Championship on the same night. A few months later, Melina tore her ACL and was forced to relinquish the title and spend six months on the sidelines.
Within two weeks after Melina's return from injury, she defeated Alicia Fox at SummerSlam in 2010 to lift the Divas Championship for the second time. She later dropped the Championship to Michelle McCool so that the two Championships could be unified at Night of Champions before Melina had one more shot at the Championship at the beginning of 2011, against Natalya before she was released.
WWE release
Melina wasn't used on WWE TV for a number of months in 2011 before WWE announced through their website that she had been released from her contract on August 5th. Melina was released along with Gail Kim, DH Smith, Chris Masters and Vladimir Kozlov in what seemed as a cost-cutting measure from WWE. They released many stars that were not a part of WWE programming for a while or had already decided to leave.
Melina's backstage heat and attitude became a huge problem for her throughout her career and it is thought that this is what finally allowed WWE to decide to release her. The biggest shock was the fact that it had taken the company so long after several months of losses on WWE TV to come to this decision.
Life after WWE
Since her release, the former Women's Champion has gone on to make a name for herself on the Independent Circuit where she still performs in the UK and America. Melina is a former Queen of Southside and has been regularly wrestling on the Indy scene ever since her release from WWE back in 2011.
Melina has also made a number of appearances in Lucha Underground whilst she was still dating John Morrison.
