“There’s no middle ground with Eva Marie — you either love her or hate her.” – Justin Labar, WWE columnist and co-host of online show called Chair Shot Reality
Eva Marie is one of the most polarising women in WWE today. No matter what she does, she will always get a reaction. Even if it’s a negative reaction, any response usually means good news for WWE wrestlers and divas nowadays. If the fans are not emotionally attached to your character, for better or worse, you’re going to be in trouble. It doesn’t really matter that John Cena is both beloved and hated by the WWE universe, because both reactions help develop his character. While Eva hardly gets a positive reaction, she does get incredible heat from the crowd which does play to her advantage. Usually any other flaws should really be shoved to one-side because as long as you can get a reaction, you can be a star in WWE. However, that’s not the case for Eva Marie…
Eva Marie, to put it nicely, is not the most co-ordinated person in the ring. Even despite once forgetting to kick out during a match, you can sort of forgive most of her in-ring blunders. One worrying recent incident though was at a NXT live event in Nashville. Reportedly, Eva messed something up which lead to Carmella taking a hard bump to the head to quickly end the match. Following the incident, reports suggested that Eva Marie got “please retire” chants. She’s 31 years old, two years into her career and has already received “please retire” chants. That tells you something.
As a fan of wrestling, I usually try to stay positive and look for positives no matter who or what I’m writing about. Usually, the WWE makes that task a lot more harder with the portrayal of these characters. Usually, it’s not their fault. However, the issue with Eva is not with the WWE. Eva Marie has been with the company for two years. She’s had opportunities to learn to wrestle at the WWE Performance Centre and has even worked with veteran Brian Kendrick. However, she’s still getting “you can’t wrestle” chants any time she’s in the ring.
To be fair, I admired Eva’s decision to go train with Brian and go down to NXT. NXT, at the end of the day, DEVELOPS wrestlers. The fact that Eva debuted on WWE’s flagship show RAW first will always boggle my mind. I don’t have an issue with her being on NXT. However, NXT sets an incredibly high standard for wrestlers. NXT TakeOver: Respect showed just how great the talent is on that roster. That’s especially true when it come to the women. Sasha Banks, Bayley, Charlotte and Becky Lynch have all raised the bar for women’s wrestling in WWE. These women are the epitome of hard work to achieve dreams. Many wrestlers on the NXT roster have had to work hard just to get a try out. Many wrestlers have had to “pay their dues” in order to get a chance. That’s why these wrestlers are so respected.
Taking that all into account, the WWE’s reported big idea for Eva in NXT was to promote and present her as someone who wants to prove critics wrong with hard work. This would all lead to a potential NXT Women’s title feud and could possibly lead to Bayley dropping the belt to Eva. Surprisingly, that’s not too big of a worry for me. A storyline like that is fine for Eva as it addresses the criticisms she’s been getting ever since she arrived. In fact, that’s great of WWE for wanting to show off Eva in that way… except with the supposed end-game of Eva winning the belt in just a few months.
To push Eva Marie to the NXT Women’s title within a matter of months will completely squash those dreams of Eva being the WWE’s next top diva. That’s especially true, considering that NXT showcased Bayley’s struggles to reach the top of NXT so effectively. The NXT fan base will not be as emotionally invested into Eva’s character as much as Bayley’s, because they’ll be able to see right through it. If she wins the belt within a few months, then what kind of struggle will Eva have gone through in order to get to the top? Bayley and Sasha have had to struggle for years in order to get to the top of NXT. Eva Marie has really “struggled” for just a few months in NXT. It’d completely hurt NXT as a whole if she were to win the belt, as the fans appreciate the product for the work and effort put in by everyone on that roster.
You’re not going to push Eva with her wrestling ability, because it is so limited. You’re not going to push Eva with the storyline that she’ll win the NXT Women’s title with “hard work”, because few people will buy it. Maybe the NXT trainers have seen Eva putting in the hours and really dedicating herself to wrestling. I don’t know. All I know is, pushing Eva won’t work unless you do something that truly tests whether Eva is worth all the effort you are putting into her. WWE is putting so much effort into Eva. Eva’s putting in a bit of effort into WWE, but it takes more than “effort” to truly become a star and win over the fans. Eva needs to be shown to be paying her dues… in the ring.
I remember a story Paul Heyman once told. Paul wanted to push Tommy Dreamer as the next top star in ECW but the fans rejected him initially. He was brought in as a pretty boy and had the wrestling ability, but the fans soundly booed him. Paul realised that the only way for Tommy to get over with the crowd was the show him paying his dues in front of him. If Tommy did that, he would gain their respect. So he booked Dreamer in a Singapore Cane match with The Sandman, which he lost. The loser had to take ten lashes with the cane and Tommy taking the caning from Sandman made Tommy a star. It made the fans think “Damn, that Tommy Dreamer took a serious beating with that cane,” and “how tough was that Tommy Dreamer kid when he took that beating?” With a fan base that was as “demanding” as the ECW fans were, that was the only way for Tommy to truly get them on his side. He had to prove that he could take a beating if he needed to. That’s what Eva needs.
OK, I’m not suggesting that NXT put on a Singapore cane match and have Eva smacked ten times with a cane. However, Eva can’t possibly get over with technical wrestling so a bit of smoke and mirrors are needed. If Eva can prove that she can take a beating from someone like Asuka, even the most hardcore of fans could respect her. NXT fans are dying for Asuka to fight Eva. Give them what they want. Give them exactly what they want. They want Asuka to destroy Eva in the ring. That works well for both parties. Asuka gets over with the crowd for beating up someone they hate and Eva gets respect for showing that she could take a beating. You know a woman that got over this way? TNA’s own Taryn Terrell.
Taryn is not exactly the excellence of execution when it comes to technical wrestling. However, she got over because the TNA fans knew that she could take a beating. She surprised fans with her exceptional Last Knockout Standing match with Gail Kim at Slammiversary 2013. A lot of it was hard spot after hard spot, but that was fine. It was effective and they were doing stuff that you rarely ever saw women do. It ended up getting coverage from TMZ. She took some incredible bumps and “paid her dues” in the ring because she was willing to put her body in harm’s way so the fans could get a good show.
Eva needs to convince fans that she’s willing to go through the same struggles for the audience. It’s also a test of whether Eva is truly worthy of the push that she’s been given. If Eva isn’t willing to take a bit of punishment in the ring then she really doesn’t belong in wrestling. Her job and WWE’s goal is to entertain the fans. If she’s not willing to go the extra mile for her fans, then she’s not willing to do her job to the best of her ability. Again, we’re not in TNA or ECW or Lucha Underground. We’re in WWE, where the company is incredibly cautious and wants to protect its talent. However, this ain’t ballet and sometimes wrestling needs to show that.
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