Emma Explains Why Emmalina Persona Failed in First Post-WWE Interview

Former WWE Superstar Tenille Dashwood, better known as Emma, conducted her first interview since being released by the WWE back in October 2017 on the Killing The Town podcast with retired wrestler Lance Storm this week.

Between her time in NXT, multiple runs of the main roster and several failed incarnations of her in-ring persona (Dancing Emma, Emmalina, Evil Emma), the Australian wrestler had plenty on her mind.

When asked where she thought WWE was trying to take her Emmalina character, which famously teased her debut for 17 weeks only to then turn back into regular Emma, she said she had no idea.

“No. I wish I had more of a say. I don’t know,” Emma said. “I guess there was an idea to it and they kind of realized along the way that wasn’t me. That wasn’t for me at all. I mean, I’m just not a diva, you know? I’m not like that at all. And I just want to wrestle. So I think they kind of realized that along the way or something like that and just were like, let’s just have her be Emma and have her be herself and we were able to bring that back around.”

She said the persona she felt the most comfortable in was her “Evil Emma” character, which started when she returned to NXT after an initial main roster run in 2015.

“That’s the thing, I’m comfortable doing that. In real life I’m a smart ass,” Emma said. “I like to have fun and joke around but I love to wrestle, so I think that it was a combination of everything and that just came out in that character. Get out of the way, I got a job to do.”

Following her 90-day no-compete clause, Emma will return to the independent wrestling circuit this month. She’s already been announced for the BAR Wrestling promotion in Los Angeles on Feb. 22.

For Emma’s full interview with Lance Storm, click here.