5 Worst female debuts in WWE history

Lacey Evans continues to parade over RAW and SmackDown with no obvious angle accompanying her debut. While such a character is not always doomed for failure - as it is very similar to how Elias made his 'drifter' debut - there has to be a payoff on the story fast.

Lacey had a strong showing at the Royal Rumble, but WWE seems to be going in another direction with her character. She has interrupted multiple superstars on the main roster, including Alexa Bliss, Asuka, and Elias, without settling into a program with any of them.

While Lacey is not close to being a bust, this list takes a look at five times a female wrestler debuted in the WWE in an underwhelming manner. The list deals with the first appearance of a wrestler as a proper character, so the debuts of Alexa Bliss, Charlotte, and Sasha Banks as part of Triple H's WrestleMania entourage or Becky Lynch as part of Adam Rose's Exotic Express are not considered.

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#5 Naomi

Naomi started as a Funkadactyl

It is really surprising that Naomi has been with the WWE from as far back as 2012. While she is respected for being a deserving multiple time Women's Champion with a good move-set, fans who remember her original WWE debut might wonder how she got to this point.

Naomi initially made her appearance on the main roster as one of Brodus Clay's dancer-valets alongside Cameron. For a long time, all they did on TV was dancing to Clay's music. Known as Funkadactyls, she and Cameron were by the side of Brodus and later Sweet T as part of a gimmick that wasn't going places.

Clay's release from the company as T's new job as a trainer in NXT opened the doors for Cameron and Naomi to truly showcase their skills. While the former would not last long in the company, Naomi would stand out for her athleticism and after a number of gimmick changes, has admirably settled down into her 'glow' gimmick.

#4 Eva Marie

Eva Marie's debut did not set the place on fire

Eva joined the cast of Total Divas before making an in-ring appearance and her debut on the main roster was a in a random backstage segment with the rest of the cast.

Her first promo happened on Miz TV - again as part of the group - where she slapped Jerry Lawler and delivered a cringe-worthy promo about making ' a name for herself'. Also, Lawler referred to her as 'Eva Maria' in the segment.

Her first singles match saw her defeat Alicia Fox on SmackDown - but the match was cut from the broadcast. She was soon relegated to NXT to get adequate training and made her return to Smackdown as part of the 2016 WWE draft. She started a gimmick where she continuously faked injuries/accidents to avoid wrestling.

However, this went nowhere as she was suspended for violating the company's wellness policy and soon left the company.

#3 Jillian Hall

Jillian Hall was an image consultant with an image problem

Jillian Hall had a five-year stint in the WWE from 2005 - 10 where she even became the Women's Champion once. She would debut as the fixer for MNM before going on to be an 'image consultant' for JBL, managing him to a United States title win at Wrestlemania 22.

Her debut was also conspicuous with the presence of a growth on the left slide of her face, which the commentators referred to as a 'blemish'.

It was a silly gimmick which was never going to get over. The gimmick ended during JBL's feud with the Boogeyman when the latter apparently bit the growth right off her face.

After her angle with JBL ended, she was relegated to yet another eye candy on the roster. She would depart the company in 2010 and has worked a few independent dates since then.

#2 Jackie Gayda

Jackie Gayda was never a ring technician

Jackie Gayda debuted on Smackdown in 2002 as the proud winner of 'Tough Enough 2' and then inadvertently proceeded to tank the reputation of the same by having a number of embarrassing matches in the ring.

While she debuted on the WWE B-show 'Velocity', her first Smackdown match saw her struggle in the ring as part of a tag team match involving Trish Stratus and Ivory.

Her performances did not really improve and things just got worse during a tag team match which pitted Jackie and Christopher Nowinski against Trish Stratus and Bradshaw.

Jackie was uncomfortable executing moves and taking bumps, resulting in a number of botches. The finish was supposed to be a second-rope bulldog by Trish on Jackie - Jackie botched the selling of the finish and the match ended with loud boos and a visibly upset reaction from Trish.

She was immediately sent down to WWE's developmental territory - OVW. She would return to the main roster after a while, teaming with Rico and her future husband Charlie Haas.

#1 Emma

Emma's debut did not go the right way

It is bad if you fail to make a good first impression - it is dreadful if you do it twice. But that is exactly what happened to Emma on the WWE main roster. Having forged a successful career on NXT, even reaching the final of the inaugural NXT Women's Championship tournament, Emma was introduced on the main roster as the valet for comedy character Santino Marella.

Accompanied by annoying hand gestures, Emma never seemed comfortable in the role. She even had to adopt Marella's finisher 'The Cobra strike' as her own - renaming it to 'Ven-Emma'. The gimmick didn't go anywhere and Emma had the ignominy of returning to NXT.

The changed worked well for her, and as a badass heel, she had memorable matches with the likes of Charlotte, Bayley, and Asuka before she was called up to the main roster again, but an injury sidelined her.

When she did recover, fans hoping for Emma's cool heel character to appear on RAW were baffled when vignettes started airing of 'The makeover of Emma to Emmalina'.

The segments showed Emma as a femme fatale in the ilk of Sunny rather than as a formidable competitor. It never really did get over and when she re-debuted after months of build up, Emma announced that next week she would have the makeover back from Emmalina to Emma.

Fans never bought in to this and after a few disappointing months, she was released by WWE. Emma has reverted to her original Tenille Dashwood persona and is using her popular badass persona in ROH nowadays.