10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About Maryse

8. WWE Wanted Her To Be An Evil Lesbian

maryse divas
WWE

After her early appearances on SmackDown, Maryse was struggling to gain any traction from her act. Generally doing nothing and being vaguely French wasn't really attracting the attention of the crowd, so WWE decided change was afoot.

Course, this was 2008, so the obvious answer was a rerun of the outmoded and homophobic gay wrestler gimmick that had worked so well in the past. Except with women, which lent it a salacious element no doubt many of the primarily male writers were absolutely giddy about.

Anyway, following an ever-ennobling swimsuit contest, Maryse and Eve Torres became embroiled in a feud, after which it was to be revealed Maryse's anger stemmed from unresolved feelings of lust towards her fellow Diva.

Going down the Goldust route, it was intended for Maryse to flesh out her heel character by stalking her female opponents, as the fans were expected to boo the evil lesbian. Crass, homophobic, infantile nonsense. 

The plan was scrapped when it was decided the gimmick was too graphic for family programming. But not too plainly insulting.

Editorial Team
Editorial Team

Benjamin was born in 1987, and is still not dead. He variously enjoys classical music, old-school adventure games (they're not dead), and walks on the beach (albeit short - asthma, you know). He's currently trying to compile a comprehensive history of video game music, yet denies accusations that he purposefully targets niche audiences. He's often wrong about these things.