Emma returned on February 13th’s episode of ‘Monday Night Raw.’ (WWE.com)
Easily the most bizarre moment of Monday Night Raw this week came when Emma finally returned to debut her new character after four straight months of buildup, only for the character to be immediately abandoned. We’re now learning more about the behind-the-scenes reason for this strange development.
Pro Wrestling Sheet is reporting today that there were far more significant plans for the debut of the Emmalina character, but it became clear in rehearsals that it wasn’t quite working, with producers feeling that Emma wasn’t fully committed to the role. For that reason, the whole angle was totally dropped, although the gimmick may be used for another female performer sometime in the future.
Back in October 2016, promos began appearing on Raw saying that Emma would soon be returning to debut a new character, Emmalina. It seemed she was going to be some sort of over the top, self-obsessed fashion model character. Week after week, the exact same promo video aired, with no further information being given other than that Emmalina would be “premiering soon.”
It got to the point where it all seemed like some big practical joke at the expense of viewers, sort of similar to having Eva Marie repeatedly avoid in-ring competition on SmackDown Live a few months ago. Back in December, it was even flat out announced that Emmalina would be debuting on the December 12th episode of Raw, but when that show aired, she was nowhere to be found, and there was absolutely no explanation for the delay.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported in early February that the Emmalina thing was “just a running joke” and that there was actually no open spot for her yet.
Finally, after 17 long weeks of teases, Emmalina did debut on Raw on February 13th, but Emma dropped the character within moments, saying that viewers would now be seeing the makeover of Emmalina back into Emma. According to Pro Wrestling Sheet, Emma is now just going to go back to the same character she played before.