Emma’s time in WWE may have come to a close, and it may have ended on a whimper, but her legacy cannot be neglected.
You’ve certainly heard the news by now: Emma is gone from WWE. In a curt, two-line “statement” on WWE.com, the company announced her departure and wished her well.
Yikes.
I have been shaking my head so much since reading this news I can feel the vertebrae in my neck erode. The world of wrestling punditry is saddened by this turn of events, but depending on who you’re speaking to, it was either expected, an inevitability or an overall tragedy.
Personally, I find myself in the final camp. How WWE creative spent all these years with a talent of Emma’s caliber and be truly incapable of finding something to do is beyond me. Emma has incredible strengths that creative never seemed to want to cater to. Instead, she was pushed into roles that felt forced or did not play to her natural advantages. She can be added to the list (which seems to be getting longer) of WWE talent who are unable to properly shine under the confines of the overly-scripted and overbearing format of WWE television production.
So let’s pour one out for Emma’s WWE stint as we look at her best three matches while under the employment of Vince McMahon’s House Of Wham-Bang Brawling.
Emma vs. Santana Garrett: NXT, March 2, 2016
Gentle reader, if you just did a double-take and wonder why this nondescript NXT match is on the list, do not worry. I have a perfectly good reason, but I will preface it with this disclaimer: This match isn’t must-see Emma watching because of the wrestling. I’d be a stone cold liar if I were to tell you the opposite. I mean, it’s not a bad. It’s a decent, fine match. It’s basically a squash match, a showcase for Emma. So, no, don’t watch this match for the wrestling. Watch this match if you have ever doubted Emma’s in-ring character work.
There have been doubters about Emma’s personality, you know. The kind of people who felt that the “Emmalina” character was actually going to do wonders for her. It’s very much a mystery to me why WWE creative believed she needed to be saddled with a gimmick. Why did they feel the need to dress her up and make her play model? Why did she have to dance with Santino Marella? Emma has so many natural qualities and mannerisms that she only needs to be this extension of herself to make her in-ring personality work.
Look at how great her heel work is here as she works Garrett over. She’s so confident and smarmy, working wonderfully as the classic self-imbued heel. There are no artifices or whistles, she’s just using her natural charisma. You know, that charisma she oozes and uses to connect effortlessly with the audience? Just let her develop that part instead of being obsessed with Twitter hashtags.
Emma vs. Asuka, NXT Takeover London
I wrote about this match in a previous article when I was running down some of Asuka’s best fights. Rarely does the success of a high-calibre, competitive match rest with only one participant, so it only makes sense that it gets a nod as a career highlight for Emma, even if she did lose the match. While Asuka’s in-ring work has recently been lauded to the nth degree, Emma was there to make this match an unmistakable highlight in the careers of both women.
This match was early in Asuka’s NXT tenure. She was already being booked as the future of women’s wrestling and she needed a strong, credible opponent to make her win meaningful. Being paired with Emma for this was no mistake: The Australian had become a reliable hand and a solid fixture in NXT, particularly cemented due to her championship match with Paige a year earlier (spoiler: that specific match is the next slide).
This is the match that most fans pointed to when Emma was revealed to be Asuka’s first main roster opponent on TLC. Why? Because Emma gave Asuka a hard fought match with an absolutely amazing final third. The memory of Emma’s capable, skillful work made us hope lightning could strike twice.
Emma vs. Paige, NXT Women’s Championship Tournament Final
Over the past few months, Emma started getting a little cocky about her contributions to the WWE’s women’s division. Perhaps stemming from some real-life frustrations, she began to refer to herself as the the person who actually started the women’s revolution in WWE. This accolade is typically reserved for Charlotte, Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch and Bayley, whose work in NXT was unquestionably groundbreaking.
However, it is hard to remove Emma’s contribution to reigniting women’s wrestling in the modern era. Her match with Paige brought an end to the tournament to crown the first ever NXT Women’s Champion. Throughout the road to this final match, Emma and Paige both established themselves as worthy and credible contenders. They performed entertaining and sound matches at every occasion.
The match itself was a wonderful slow burn, starting out very methodically only to gain in intensity and emotion as it wore on. The commentary team was selling the storyline perfectly, the crowd was super hot and the finish was absolutely outstanding.
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Emma may have lost this match as well, but it was a defining moment for her, Paige and women’s wrestling. It began a shift in the perception of women’s wrestling. Remember: the WWE main roster still had Divas, not a “women’s division.” Sure, the women were improving and performed like wrestlers more than your Attitude era Divas, but they was still a disconnect, as if women wrestlers couldn’t be taken as seriously as their male counterparts. This is something that will forever be Emma’s and we would be hard pressed to forget her part in it.