WWE Releases Emma After Shoplifting Arrest (Then Change Their Mind Hours Later)

wwe.comUpdate: In an astonishing turn of events, it's now been reported that Emma has been reinstated. F4WOnline.com reports that a fan backlash at the release of Emma may, incredibly, have saved her job. WWE received huge criticism in the hours after announcing Emma had been released for a seemingly minor crime, particularly compared to the likes of Jack Swagger and Cameron who had far worse legal troubles but kept their jobs, and WWE decided to do a complete U-Turn. At the time of writing, Emma is back with the WWE and everything goes on as normal. Original report follows... When news broke on Tuesday about WWE Diva Emma getting arrested for shoplifting it took a lot of people by surprise. Why would a WWE Diva steal something? They make good money. She's not making big money like the main event guys, but everybody that's in WWE does well. Even though the arrest appears to be a mistake on Emma's part, WWE took action on Wednesday by announcing that WWE has been released. Here's the confirmation from WWE.com: "WWE has come to terms on the release of WWE Diva Emma as of today, July 2, 2014. WWE wishes Emma the best in all her future endeavors." Usually they use the person's real name (Tenille Averil Dashwood), but in this case they did not. TMZOnce the story made it onto TMZ it was trouble for her because then it got picked by places outside of wrestling news sites. The TMZ report noted that Emma was busted in Hartford Monday night after Walmart security spotted her swiping a red iHome 'Slim Swivel' iPad Mini case that was on sale for $21.14. According to the police, Emma was charged with misdemeanor larceny in the 6th degree. The legal system for such a small crime must be really quick because she already went to court on Tuesday and was sentenced to one day of community service. Emma's layer said that it was just an innocent mistake and that she just forgot to pay for it while going through the self-checkout line. Other reports noted that it would be taken off her record although that's not confirmed. It seems like such a petty crime that probably was an accident. She apparently paid for other items. Why would she pay for them, then try to steal something that was as little as $21.14? That's bizarre. Some will think it was an accident while others will think she's guilty because she got caught. It seemed like a mistake, but it's also something that should never happen. Emma's an Australia native that learned to wrestle by attending Lance Storm's wrestling school in Calgary. It takes a lot of initiative to go all that way to learn to wrestle. WWE signed her in 2011, she worked in FCW/NXT for a couple of years and was called up to the main roster this year. Her gimmick from NXT with the quirky dancing was used on the main roster, but she really didn't get over with it. She was barely on TV the last few weeks and if she was it was merely to do comedy segments. She's actually a good wrestler that got over in NXT because of her in-ring talents in addition to the quirkiness, but she hasn't been allowed the chance to show her skills on the main roster since most of her matches were really short. Since she's only 25 years old she obviously has a bright future in wrestling. The arrest could be a bad thing for her considering she's in the US on a work visa, but hopefully it doesn't prevent her from staying in America. She should continue to wrestle in the indies if she can and maybe WWE will bring her back in six months, a year or further down the line. What's disturbing is that this arrest seems like such a minor thing that was resolved within a day. There have been people that have had DUIs like diva Cameron, who was suspended for 15 days and is still in the company. There are others too. From WWE's point of view, it's bad press when somebody gets arrested. It makes the whole company look bad. This sends a message to everybody on the roster that mistakes won't be tolerated, especially by those that are relatively new on the main roster like Emma was. All the best to her in her future in life and in wrestling.