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WWE is Pulling Off Its Greatest Trolling Ever

By Rob Wolkenbrod

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WWE is trolling the fans harder than ever — and it has nothing to do with Roman Reigns.

The art of “trolling” is one that had mostly been kept for social media if one person mocks or plays a joke on the other. Most of the time, it’s to get a reaction. WWE has picked up on this in recent months with their fans by being aware of what they’re complaining about, and actually “trolling” them about it.

There has been nothing about WWE flat out saying, “We are fooling you all by doing this!” However, we’re seeing just about the closest thing to this with the vignettes for Emmalina.

Back in May 2016, Emma underwent back surgery that had been set to sideline her for up to six months. However, back on September 19, she noted on Twitter how WWE cleared her six weeks earlier. So it’s been roughly six months since the Australian Superstar should have been good to go.

Then on October 3, 2016, vignettes for Emma’s redebut as “Emmalina” began. It seemed to show off her looks in model photos for some type of makeover, without giving away what her character is going to be. That had been fine, though, since it was only the first video.

Over the next few weeks, the Emmalina vignettes continued to play. Fans started to grow tired of them, wondering when she would show up. Then came the announcement in the clip of her being set to debut on Raw on December 12. Awesome, right? The conclusion to two months of teases seemed set to stop and we were going to get the newest addition to the women’s division.

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Wrong.

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The December 12 episode of Raw came and went with no mention of Emmalina debuting that night. However, one week later, her vignettes began to appear again with the “premiering soon” tagline at the bottom of the screen.

Well, fast-track to Monday, February 6, and here we are. We’re one week past the first Raw without an Emmalina video since September, with the Raw Women’s Division taking shape as we head into WrestleMania 33 season. So what’s the deal here?

This is just WWE’s latest trolling, folks, and it’s working to perfection with fans speculating every week, if this is going to be when Emmalina finally shows up. They work everyone up with the vignettes just hoping that “premiering next week” appears on their screens, only to get everyone riled up, in the end, to see “premiering soon” pop up yet again. It makes for one gigantic trolling.

Breaking news: WWE is aware of what the fans say on the internet. Some booking decisions of their’s may not be the most widely-regarded, but they are listening to what everyone is saying online. Those curated Twitter bars you see on Raw, SmackDown, and others WWE shows are just a bi-product of that. It’s obviously only going to be positive tweets about the product, because why would they show something about fans hating on Roman Reigns, saying he’s a terrible promo? Or for someone else saying, “John Cena can’t wrestle”?

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Even look at the 2017 Royal Rumble. They used Reigns, the supposed “Next John Cena” to work the crowd. They knew everyone would boo him, so they put him in the Royal Rumble to be the piece that completed Randy Orton’s Royal Rumble puzzle. It got Orton the win and sent the fans home happy, even though he’s a heel. WWE knew what they were doing by playing with the crowd’s emotions, and it worked as well as it could have. They fooled everyone at the Alamodome and those watching at home.

This goes back to the Emmalina trolling. Fans are flipping out over where she is and wondering when she’s going to debut, which WWE is following along with right now. It’s why she hasn’t debuted, and also due to the company likely having nothing to do with her. That’s the only disappointing part about this, especially if the former NXT star had been cleared since August. Is there really nothing she can do with the Raw Women’s Division so thin?

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There seems to be no plan for Emma to be brought back to WWE TV, so everyone will continue to be messed with until she actually shows up. If they’re going to wait until after WrestleMania 33, it’s going to be eight months since she’s been cleared. It’s a bit much, but to fool with fans for so long — and for it to work — is incredible.

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