What’s the story?
The WWE is still keen on the character they wanted Emmalina to play and is planning to bring in former diva Kelly Kelly to take on the role.
WWE finally delivered Emma's long-awaited re-debut as Emmalina on this week's Raw, only to scrap the character immediately. Emmalina's first "makeover" vignette aired on October 3rd, 2016, making for 17 full weeks of promotion prior to her re-emergence.
The company reportedly had big plans for her new role, but these have now been nixed as, after multiple rehearsals, producers decided that Emma wasn't capable of pulling off what had been asked of her. This clarifies the confusion caused by her debut.
After acknowledging the long wait, Emma flipped the script completely, stating, "now, you will see the makeover from Emmalina to Emma." This confirmed that Emma would be going back to her old character, and the Emmalina gimmick was over before it truly began.
In case you didn’t know...
Kelly Kelly (real name Barbie Blank) left the WWE in 2012 after suffering a neck injury. Kelly Kelly is married to former NHL player Sheldon Souray.
She was backstage on Monday night at RAW, in Las Vegas, because the couple owns a home there and she indicated she would be game to step in the ring again. WWE posted a video of her backstage. In the video, Kelly said, “I would love to do one more run … in the future.”
Kelly then confirmed that she would be appearing at WWE Axxess.
The heart of the matter
As reported on the Dirty Sheets Podcast this week, it appears WWE has Kelly Kelly lined up for the role. Sources tell us that Kelly Kelly has just signed a two-year deal with the WWE, with an option for a third.
WWE wanted the Emmalina character to hark back to old characters like Sable and The Kat, and that the long delay was down to a feeling that Emma wasn't committing enough to the role. Eventually, WWE decided to pull the plug.
However, as the company was high on the concept, Kelly Kelly was quickly signed as the replacement. It was pointed out to us that the WWE had planned to bring in Kelly Kelly anyway, however, officials invited her to the Vegas taping and were said to be happy with Kelly Kelly’s audition for the character, resulting in Emma finally being dropped from the role.
What’s next?
Emma is likely to revert back to her role as a heel, as Raw is desperate for women performers.
Meanwhile, Kelly Kelly is likely to spend time at the WWE Performance Center to improve her in-ring skills. Kelly Kelly has already said she will be appearing at WWE Axxess during WrestleMania weekend on the WWE.com video.
However, did not state she has re-joined the WWE. However, our sources tell us that she has re-joined the WWE and that the company has big plans for her.
Sportkeeda’s take
Despite Emma not pulling the character off, she is a much better in-ring performer than Kelly Kelly. Therefore, no matter how well Kelly Kelly can do the character in rehearsals, one has to question how much she has improved in the ring.
It appears that the WWE clearly have more faith in their performance centre than they do in Emma’s ability to grasp this character. Kelly Kelly would now be considered a throwback to the “diva” era, which should be a good way to generate heat.
However, Kelly Kelly is still beautiful and the WWE is still an 80% red-blooded male audience. It will be interesting to see how this one pans out and if plans change again. It’s hard for me to imagine many males booing Kelly Kelly.
One thing that is for sure, Kelly Kelly will back in the WWE shortly and she will be appearing on both WWE TV and Total Divas. With the WWE likely to be without the Bella Twins and with the company already having a number of capable female workers on their roster, the re-signing of Kelly Kelly certainly makes a lot of sense.
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