WWE Royal Rumble 2018: 3 Improbable Long Shot Surprise Entrants for Women’s Royal Rumble Match
By Bryan Heaton
Eva Marie
Picture this if you will: as the twelfth entry to the Rumble is about to enter, the timer counts down to zero and the buzzer sounds. The lights turn red, and the booming baritone of an emcee blares through the arena. “From Concord, California, comes the most stylish, elegant, bewitching, eternally beguiling, continuously charismatic, and fantastically fascinating woman to appear in this or any arena… All red everything herself, EVA MARIE!”
Listen, I’m one of the six people on the planet who absolutely loved the Eva Marie angle that started just before she left the company in 2016. She wasn’t a great wrestler by any stretch of the imagination – her vast improvements left her as about a quarter as good as, say, Lana. But as far as character, she was everything.
A personal ring announcer. An entrance that lasted longer than any of her matches. Beautiful robes, the removal of which was choreographed perfectly to sync with the arena lights changing colors. Excuse after excuse as to why she never really competed. It was a stroke of brilliance from everyone involved.
Since leaving WWE, Eva Marie has focused on her acting career. She’s been in the public eye in recent days for revealing her struggle with alcoholism. The cynic in me says this story is only out there to get dopes like me thinking she’ll show up in the Royal Rumble. But the realist freely admits it’s a long shot.
Even if Eva Marie does enter the Rumble, the odds are pretty high that she’ll get in the ring, “faint” and fall backwards over the tope rope, and eliminate herself before she actually does anything.