20 Most Underrated WWE Stars Of The Past 20 Years
2. Emma
For nearly four years now, Tenille ‘Emma’ Dashwood has been one of the most talented female wrestlers in WWE, ever since signing a developmental contract in spring 2011.
Aggressive, athletic and creative in the ring, she can talk and work - and as for looks, well if that’s your criteria then Dashwood isn’t exactly a shrinking violet when it comes to swimwear or selfies. Arguably, she’s the best of both worlds: the striking appearance of WWE’s old Diva model of women’s wrestler, and the all-round in-ring talent of the company’s post Revolution female superstars like the Four Horsewomen.
It was Emma’s revelatory matches with Paige in NXT in summer 2013, and the reception they received, which persuaded the office to take a closer look at improving the profile of women’s wrestling on NXT.
Paige was selected to become the inaugural NXT Women’s Champion, and was called up to the main roster to win the Diva’s Championship nearly a year later. And Emma? She was asked to be undercard comedian Santino Marella’s goofy sidekick.
Emma missed out on the fruits of her hard work in NXT, and was relegated to a nothing role on the main roster. By the time she resurfaced in NXT again, even the developmental women’s division had passed her by. Deadeyed and dead inside, she was placed into a ‘Ghost Of Christmas Future’ feud with Bayley, heelishly showing her what her life on the main roster was about to look like. Even the storylines had her down as a failure.
When the success of the NXT women’s division finally began to translate to improving the state of the Diva’s division on RAW and Smackdown, Emma was in NXT, with no momentum, working as enhancement talent. However, called up to the main roster again shortly afterwards - this time as a hardass heel working in a Women’s Division that gave the female talent something to do - she was finally able to prove what she was worth.
And then, two months later, she seriously injured her back and was forced to go into surgery. It’s like she ran over God’s dog or something.
The most underrated woman on the WWE roster today has some catching up to do when she returns... but she’s used to that.