Friday, August 4, 2017

Red Dusk: Eva Marie Leaves WWE

Good luck, All Red Everything
Photo Credit: WWE.com
Eva Marie hasn't been on non-Total Divas WWE television for almost a year; I'll defer to the TD-watching crowd to inform on when she last appeared on that show. Rumors have swirled around regarding her release ever since her suspension for a wellness violation right before last year's SummerSlam. Today, those rumors finally became corporeal, as Ms. All Red Everything herself confirmed her departure on Twitter:

I won't pretend she was the best wrestler, or even a good one, but she represents a missed opportunity for WWE. Her final in-ring gimmick, as an entrance and excuse not to wrestle, was one of the most unique things to do with a wrestler ever. Even though her traditional in-ring skills left much to be desired, she showed promise to be a grade-one heat generating machine in matches vs. Asuka and Bayley in NXT. Of course, a lot of that had to do with the fact that she had a high Miz factor, aka fans hating a performer because they feel that person doesn't deserve the push. Still, any heat is good heat, and she generated a lot of it. Eventually, Miz became one of the best overall guys in WWE, and even if it didn't seem like it, she could have gotten to a similar point with the right support.

Sadly, the wellness suspension seemed to have killed any enthusiasm or momentum a wrestling career of hers could've had. Instead, she'll go down as one of the most interesting anomalies in company history. My guess is she'll try modeling and acting, but wouldn't it be funny if she trained even more and did a tour of like, STARDOM or something? I'm all for my wrestling to get weird. But anyway, happy trails, Eva Marie. All Red Everything forever and a day.