Linda Miles

[3.0] "Linda Miles, better known as Shaniqua, is mainly remembered as the dominatrix manager of The Basham Brothers. As a valet, she was fine. Had a towering presence that made her stand out well, and if she remained a manager, I don't think people would have considered a failure. The problem is that they wanted her to wrestle, and she was clearly not ready when they sent her between the ropes."

[7.0] "Linda Miles, fka Shaniqua, was a standout the moment she walked through the curtain. Fresh off her win in Tough Enough Season 2, she entered WWE with a build, attitude, and aura that made her feel different from everyone else in the division. She didn't come off like a model trying to wrestle. She came off like someone who would run through you without blinking. And in the early 2000s, that was rare. As the enforcer for the Basham Brothers, Shaniqua brought real intimidation. She looked like a threat standing next to male talent and often outshined them in terms of presence. Her dominatrix-style gimmick might have been over the top, but she committed to it and stood out on a roster full of cookie-cutter characters. Whether she was staring down Torrie Wilson or getting in Bradshaw's face, you believed she could back it up. Where things fell short was in-ring execution and character development. Shaniqua had the look and intensity, but she never got the chance to round out her game. Matches were short, her moveset never evolved, and promos were limited. WWE's booking didn't do her many favors either. She was pushed hard out of the gate, then abruptly written off television in early 2004. There was no redemption arc, no second act -- just a quick rise and a quicker fall. Still, fans of that Ruthless Aggression era remember her. She looked like a unit. She fit right in with the wild, aggressive energy of SmackDown at the time. If the system had been more patient, or if she had more time to develop, she could have become something more than just a forgotten powerhouse. Shaniqua was a presence. In the right era, with the right support, she could have been a standout. She didn't get there, but she looked the part in a time when that still counted for a lot."

[7.0] "Linda Miles, aka Shaniqua, had all the tools to be a dominant force in WWE, and it's a shame they didn't give her more time to shine. She had the size, presence, and intensity that made her stand out, and if WWE had invested in her properly, she could have been a cornerstone of SmackDown's women's division. Her run as the Basham Brothers' manager showed she could play the role of a powerhouse enforcer, but they never really let her develop beyond that. Had they committed to her as a competitor, she could have been SmackDown's answer to Victoria or Jazz; a physically dominant, no-nonsense competitor who brought legitimacy to the division. With the right feuds and storytelling, she could have been the perfect opponent for rising stars like Torrie Wilson and Dawn Marie while also having standout matches with veterans like Lita when she eventually moved to Raw."

[9.0] "Too bad Shaniqua never wrestled against Chyna. That would have been a match worth seeing! Especially since they both had everything in common. All the women Shaniqua wrestled looked to weak for her. Chyna would have been the only one who could give Shaniqua a real challenge."

[2.0] "Fantastic size and a unique look but just didn't have it between the ropes. I think if she had received more training and was given time to actually learn the in's and out's of the business than she would have been a decent talent that you could portray as a monster or something similar to what Jade Cargill or Bianca Bel Air is today"

[3.0] "This didn't end up going well. Some of it wasn't really her fault as she won Tough Enough, then wrestled when she had very little experience and ended up having a similar problem as Jackie Gayda. After she went to developmental she became most remembered as Shaniqua who had a terrible dominatrix gimmick. WWE seriously jumped the shark by having her written off TV for a boob job! I will at least say for her that she had a decent storyline which only lasted a few weeks where she dominated all of the divas on Smackdown and she cut an imposing figure, but unfortunately the Women's Division was on Raw and WWE had no intention of creating a second one like they have done now. Unfortunately there was nothing really to her besides that. She was very poor in the ring and was mostly served in a manager role and some of the selling was really bad as well."

[2.0] "Two is a very generous rating. She was terrible. Had no ability in the ring or on the mic. Couldn't wrestle worth a lick. Her only real claim to fame was being the manager for the Basham Brothers. For her to have been trained by Al Snow, Chavo and Jacqueline, three wrestlers who are great talents in the ring, and she's STILL terrible, that's on her."

[2.0] "In just the year or so she was in the WWE, she looked like a big deal, especially the way she was dominating various Divas in 2003. She could talk, but just didn't do it a lot. She never really developed actual wrestling ability though. After Tough Enough, they pretty much just threw her on TV with no real plan, but I also don't think she was fully into the industry either (something she actually said years later in an interview). There was potential there, but no real motivation."

[1.0] "Another example of why the Tough Enough contest doesn't work. Just because you won an athletic contest does not mean you're cut out for the world of pro wrestling. Pretty much the only thing she did on television was do some odd dominatrix act with the Bashams. It was cringey at best and uncomfortable at worst."

[2.0] "Co-winner of the second season of Tough Enough, Linda Miles looked like she had a good amount of potential with a good look and 6' stature. She never seemed to get the hang of in-ring basics, though, and soon found herself repackaged as Shaniqua, a dominatrix character to manage the Basham Brothers. She did reasonably well in the ringside part of that role, but lacked the mic skills to serve as a truly effective manager, and there's only so far that gimmick could have gone in a mainstream TV product anyway (even in the pre-PG era of WWE). After that run she returned to OVW for further development, but only lasted four months. After her WWE release she only returned once more to the ring, for a match in Mexico against fellow Tough Enough winner Nidia, before calling it a career."

[0.0] "Linda Miles was atrocious at every single aspect of the wrestling business. Whether it was actual wrestling, talking, or anything else; Linda Miles was hideously bad."

[2.0] "Another Tough Enough Champion, Linda Miles was simply not cut out for the wrestling world, as she managed to stumble her way into some of the worse women's matches of that period of time."

[4.0] "Shaniqua was known for her "dominatrix" demeanor with bringing a whip with her to ring and she would use it to command attention in the WWE. She derailed the Bashams career and she looked out of the shuffle during 2003 with her matches with Nidia, Torrie and Dawn. Still I saw some slight potential in her. SLIGHT."