WWE News: Details Behind Why Emmalina Character Was Nixed In Favor Of Emma Again

After months promoting her arrival, the Emmalina character finally debuted on this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW. She told us we had been waiting 17 weeks as a matter of fact, but just as the wait was finally over, the Emmalina character vanished again, announcing that she would undergo a reverse makeover back to the Emma persona she portrayed before her injury.

Emmalina was originally set to debut on the December 12 edition of RAW, but WWE officials delayed it with no explanation. One backstage explanation we got was that they wanted to hold off on her debut until all angles were wrapped up after the Roadblock: End Of The Line pay-per-view, though there was also speculation circling that the whole thing was one giant rib. A rib on the fans, Emmalina or both.

However, Emmalina finally emerged, but as noted, will be reverting to the mean heel Emma once again. Pro Wrestling Sheet is reporting that the change was made because Emma wasn’t fully committed to the qualities of the Emmalina character and that WWE officials weren’t convinced she could pull it off. Officials wanted her to resemble a character like that of Sable or The Kat, but after many rehearsals, it became clear that their vision wasn’t being properly executed.

There are many backstage who remain big fans of Emma, but those same people are also big fans of the Emmalina concept. The plan, for now, is to let Emma return to her previous personality, but keep the Emmalina idea on the back-burner and save it for someone else who might be able to pull it off. Before Emma got hurt last spring, there were pitches to make her a champion at some point, so we’ll have to see whether they go through with that down the line.

As we pointed out back in December, there were other reasons why the company was delaying Emmalina’s debut. As noted, they wanted to wait until Roadblock was over. And at first, the idea was for Emmalina to confront Sasha Banks upon her debut as a way to transition Sasha away from Charlotte and the RAW Women’s Championship. However, it was later decided to give that spot to Nia Jax.

After those plans had been nixed, it was then pitched to re-pair Emmalina with Dana Brooke to resume that angle. The two teamed together in NXT and were achieving some level of success together on the main roster before Emma was injured in May. She actually got hurt during a house show tag match with Dana against Sasha and Becky Lynch. In either plan, Emmalina would have portrayed a heel, but both ideas were scrapped.

As time went on, they continued promoting Emmalina even though she wasn’t fully grasping what the producers were looking for, delaying it even more. There hasn’t been any indication as to whether Emma will return immediately or if this “makeover” will last another 17 weeks. The plan for the RAW women is to have a fatal four-way match for the championship at WrestleMania, between Bayley, Charlotte, Sasha and Nia Jax.

We saw Dana return to television this past Monday, interfering in the main event on behalf of Charlotte again. So even though the Dana-Emma pairing was working and was pitched to be reformed, Dana appears to be realigned with Charlotte for WrestleMania season.

There are no other active female babyfaces on the RAW roster outside of Bayley and Sasha for Emma (or Emmalina) to feud with, so she may have to sit out of WrestleMania altogether until that angle concludes. Even then, Sasha is primed to turn heel soon, leaving an even bigger dearth of faces on Monday nights. But as of now, Emma will be brought back as a heel.

[Featured Image by WWE]