Eva Marie recently spoke with Rolling Stone to promote the new season of Total Divas on the E! Network. After fine tuning her in-ring skills and spending several months in NXT, Eva sounds like she’s ready to get back on WWE TV and show the world what she’s made of these days. Here are the highlights.
Returning to the Main Roster:
“I mean, that is the hope. I can tell you [the photo shoot] was definitely for Fastlane, and that is the goal for sure. I think there needs to be a little bit more of All Red Everything on Raw and SmackDown.”
Wanting to be the Top Heel Diva in WWE:
“So much has changed. I’m a pretty big bad guy, so that would definitely transpire on the main roster. I’d be coming in as a major heel. I think they need some heel blood for sure, so hopefully that can happen.”
WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross recently updated the Q&A section at JRsBarBQ.com, fielding questions from fans on a number of topics. Below are some of the highlights.
On Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose:
“I like and support both Reigns and Ambrose. It simply takes a while for talents to get to their destination (Get over) and both these men are still on their journey to get there. Let’s give both time. Patience.”
On Reigns’ matches always looking the same:
“I don’t have any thing for you that’s going to make you automatically like Reigns or any one else any more or any less. Connecting with a talent sometimes never occurs and for others it comes immediately or over time. If you don’t like him, it’s not a crime. I know he’s doing his best to ger there but Roman is green an still evolving with miles to go before he reaches the Promised Land.”
On Eva Marie:
“Eva has a great look but how she matures as a performer is the key to her future. I think her look has been what has appealed the most to WWE thus far.”
On why WWE ring entrances aren’t as cool as they used to be:
“Even bigger than the entrance music, accompanying pyro, is for the stars to be over and many aren’t at this time. I don’t see this as a Lilian, entrance music or pyro issue whatsoever.”
On reason why WWE doesn’t have international photographers at ringside as much as they used to:
“I don’t know but it’s seemingly been long ago except for Wrestlemania or so I think. WWE likes to own and control all their own intellectual property.”
NXT Women’s Champion Bayley recently spoke with Digitalspy.com about working with Eva Marie in NXT. Here are some highlights:
Why she loves working with Eva Marie:
“I love being in a ring with Eva Marie because of the crowd reaction she gets. It also helps me feed off of it. Even being in the ring with her is something really special. This may sound funny – I’ve never heard fans boo somebody as much as they boo her. To me it’s amazing because the fans really care about what’s going on in the ring.
“Whether they hate her, or they love me, or they just don’t want this match to happen, or they do want the match to happen, whatever it is they care about it. It’s an amazing feeling that a person can get the reaction like she does from all these fans. They hate her and it just makes our job so much more fun. At least for me – I don’t know how she feels!”
Did Eva Marie deserve an NXT Women’s title match?
“Right… there’s tonnes of people who in my opinion deserve a match before her, but I know she’s been training hard. I guess she has her ways and just asks for the match. Our stories are very different, I had to work for it! But she can do whatever she wants… I’ll show her.”
– Following her loss to Bayley in the NXT Women’s Championship match on this week’s edition of NXT on the WWE Network, which aired on Wednesday evening, WWE Diva and Total Divas star Eva Marie spoke to WWE.com about coming up short and how she’s earned everything she’s gotten while in WWE, noting that nothing has been “handed to her.” You can check out the new Eva Marie interview above.
– On next week’s edition of NXT, Samoa Joe and Tommaso Ciampa will go one-on-one. In an interesting statistic, both Joe and Ciampa have worked for WWE, ROH and TNA during the 2015 calendar year.
– WWE posted the following video showing NXT Women’s Champion Bayley struggling to her feet after being attacked by Nia Jax on this week’s edition of NXT TV.
– Featured above is the latest edition of WWE’s “Five Things” YouTube show, which takes a look at five love affairs fans may have forgotten about.
– The following is scheduled for tonight’s edition of NXT on the WWE Network:
* Guest general manager due to William Regal recovering from surgery
* Finn Bálor and Samoa Joe contract signing
* Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder vs. The Vaudevillains for the NXT Tag Titles
* Asuka vs. Dana Brooke
* Apollo Crews vs. Jesse Sorensen
* Bayley vs. Eva Marie for the NXT Women’s Championship
– WWE taped the following matches for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event prior to the SmackDown television taping in Indianapolis, Indiana on Tuesday evening:
* Titus O’Neil def. Stardust via count out in the first of four matches taped for this week’s show.
* Ryback def. Heath Slater in a quick match. This basically amounted to a squash match, with Ryback dominating throughout.
* Rusev def. Zack Ryder in another quick match. The fans in Indianapolis were into Ryder here, and also gave Rusev good heat.
* Brie Bella def. Charlotte in a non-title match after Paige caused a distraction that allowed Brie to get the win.
– In the video featured above, Chad Gable and Jason Jordan talk about defeating The Ascension on this week’s edition of NXT.
– Announced for next week’s NXT is a contract signing between NXT Champion Finn Balor and Samoa Joe for their match at the upcoming NXT TakeOver: London special, which takes place on Wednesday, December 16th at SSE Wembley Arena in London, England. As noted, the special will air live on the WWE Network at 3pm EST. / Noon PST. on 12/16.
– In addition to the contract signing, the following matches were announced for next week’s NXT, which will be taped on Thursday night, November 19th from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.
* Bayley vs. Eva Marie
* Asuka vs. Dana Brooke
* The Mechanics vs. The Vaudevillains
– NXT Diva Gionna Daddio is now using the name “Marley.” She will be facing Eva Marie on the November 4th episode of NXT TV, which was taped on Thursday night at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.
– Also at the NXT TV tapings on Thursday night, independent wrestlers Corey Hollis and John Skyler worked a tag-team match against The Mechanics. That match will air on the November 18th episode of NXT TV.
– As noted, Samoa Joe vs. Tyler Breeze is scheduled for next week’s edition of NXT TV. Breeze cut the following promo on Joe ahead of their match.
The following are spoiler results from the set of NXT television tapings held on Thursday, October 22, 2015 at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.
NXT TV Spoilers For 11/4
– Asuka def. Cameron via submission
– Bull Dempsey def. Angelo Dawkins
– Eva Marie def. Gionna Daddio, who is now using the name Marley.
– Apollo Crews def. Finn Balor ended in a DQ when Baron Corbin attacked both guys in what was a NXT title match, so the title didn’t change hands. After Corbin hit the ring, Samoa Joe came out and took out Corbin, but then shocked everyone by attacking Finn Balor for a surprising heel turn to close out that week’s show.
NXT TV Spoilers For 11/11
– Adrien Reese (aka Athena) def. Peyton Royce with a top-rope jump into a Stunner for the 1-2-3.
– Baron Corbin vs. Tye Dillinger never takes place as Apollo Crews takes out Corbin.
– Bayley, Zack Ryder & Mojo Rawley def. Alexa Bliss, Blake & Murphy in a six-person inter-gender tag-team match. Bliss stole Bayley’s title and ran off with it during the match. Bayley hit a Belly-To-Bayley on one of the men and then ran after Bliss. Ryder hit the Rough Ryder to get the win for his team.
– Nia Jax def. Deonna Purrazzo in a squash match.
– The Mechanics def. The Vaudevillains via submission to become the new NXT Tag-Team Champions. Great crowd reactions for this match and for the title change.
– Samoa Joe came out for a promo segment. The fans boo him because he turned heel and attacked Finn Balor on “last week’s show.” Balor ends up coming out and confronts Joe. They get into it but referees end up holding them back. This segment ends the 11/11 edition of NXT TV.
NXT TV Spoilers For 11/18
– Nia Jax def. Carmella in a squash match.
– Chad Gable & Jason Jordan def. The Ascension in tag-team action when Gable and Jordan score the pin after hitting the assisted German suplex.
– Emma def. Mary Kate (aka Rosie Lottalove and Andrea) with the Emma-lock.
– The Mechanics def. Two local talents (believed to be Corey Hollis and John Skyler) to retain the NXT Tag-Team titles.
– Bayley def. Alexa Bliss via the Huggplex to retain the NXT Women’s Championship. Eva Marie ended up coming out to challenge Bayley to a future title match.
– After missing the most recent set of NXT television tapings due to Total Divas filming in Paris, Eva Marie will return to action at the NXT tapings at Full Sail University on Thursday night.
– WWE is considering Eric Bischoff for a future episode of WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s “Stone Cold Podcast” on the WWE Network.
– CM Punk and AJ Lee were in attendance at the Chicago Cubs game in Chicago on Tuesday evening. Below is a photo of AJ Lee in the crowd at the game.
– Eva Marie returned to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida on Tuesday after missing the NXT television tapings last week due to Total Divas filming commitments in Paris. As noted recently, WWE has been in the process of coming up with creative non-wrestling ideas for Eva Marie. Marie tweeted the following about returning to training.
– WWE Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens took to social media to express his excitement about the news that he now has an official Kevin Owens Throw Blanket available via WWE Shop. As you can tell, Owens was pretty excited.
– Several of the Total Divas are making their way to Paris for a special trip today. Eva Marie is one of the Divas scheduled for the trip, so she definitely won’t be at the NXT Takeover: “Respect” event tonight on the WWE Network. Paige tweeted the following about the trip:
With NXT TakeOverL Respect taking place tomorrow night, NXT Women’s Champion Bayley did some media to push the show, which she’s main eventing against Sasha Banks in a 30 minute Iron Man Match. As has become common on WWE media days, one of those interviews was with RollingStone.com. Here are some of the highlights:
On who she wants to work with and why:
And this might sound bad, but I really want to work with Eva Marie, just because it seems like that’s what people want. [“Why would that sound bad?”] [Bayley laughs] My fans don’t like her, so I don’t want them to be like, “Oh, why do you want to work with her?” But the reason is because she’s a different competitor and I think we’d have an interesting dynamic. I get a lot of tweets about Eva, and I can’t blame the fans, because all they really know is what they see on Total Divas, and they base their cheers on that, I guess. I’ve never personally had a problem with her; I don’t see her much, but the shows that she has done, I’ve seen her progressing each match, each show, each training session. I know that the drive is there to get better, so it’s up to her to see how far she can go.
The responsibility of being NXT Women’s Champion:
I feel like this is a very important part of my career. With the top three girls gone, and me being the champion, I’ve never been the person in the locker room who’s been here the longest – it was always Sasha and Charlotte. And now that I’m literally the leader in the locker room, and the champion, it’s a huge opportunity for me to help girls while I have the chance. Girls who don’t have any experience at all, I’m asking to get matches with them, so I can help them and bring them up. Paige and Charlotte were very helpful to me when I first arrived. It’s really important; you can be the best wrestler in the world, and make the most money, but if you’re not a good person in the back, that says a lot about you. I’ve never wanted to be that person, because I’ve had so much help along the way and I want to continue that. I want everyone to be comfortable in the locker room and the ring, and be hungry to make this division even bigger than it already is.
There’s much more in the original article, including Bayley’s thoughts on her friends leaving for the main roster, the term “diva,” and much more.
At last night’s WWE NXT live event in Nashville, TN, Carmella sustained a stinger during her match with Eva Marie. Eva Marie got the pin, won the match and afterwards the doctor threw up the “X” sign signaling for the doctors backstage to make their way out to the ring.
Carmella was reportedly upset and crying in the ring and did leave the ring with some help meanwhile Eva Marie was met with “please retire” chants.
– WWE is no longer planning to give Eva Marie an NXT Women’s title push in the immediate future. She continues to train and improve, but she’s not even close to as good of a worker as Bayley, Sasha Banks or Charlotte.
The latest plan is for Bayley to feud with Dana Brooke and Asuka once her feud with Sasha Banks winds down.
– Chris Jericho announced that he’s working on yet another book:
I’m proud to announce that I just approved the deal for my FOURTH book! It’s gonna be something a little different this time…. #staytuned
– The Pat Patterson autobiography that WWE has partnered with ECW Press to produce is being co-written by Bertrand Herbert, the same author who has been involved in many hit wrestling books. The book on Patterson is scheduled to be released in June of 2016.
– Speaking of Patterson, his former on-air sidekick Gerald Brisco celebrates his 69th birthday today. Also celebrating a birthday today is Eva Marie, who turns 31.
– NXT Women’s Champion Bayley tweeted the following praise to Samoa Joe and Tyler Breeze, both of whom reportedly stole the show with their singles match at the NXT live event in Austin, Texas on Friday evening.
Former WWE writer Brian Gewirtz was named Senior Vice President of Development for Seven Bucks Productions, the production company owned by Dwayne Johnson and his ex-wife Dany Garcia, who recently appeared on an episode of Total Divas as the new business manager of Eva Marie.
When Gewirtz left WWE back in July, it was reported that he would be taking on an executive role in Johnson’s company.
Gewirtz was the lead WWE writer for several years, but was taken off of the writing team back in 2013, although he would continue to remain with the company through a consultant role. He would be brought back to the writing team whenever Dwayne Johnson would return as The Rock for WWE appearances, because Johnson would often use him to help write his material.
Gewirtz’s new role in Johnson’s company will be to oversee television content development.
– NXT Women’s Champion Bayley is getting prepared for her upcoming 30-minute Ironwoman Match against Sasha Banks at the NXT Takeover special in October. Below is a photo of Bayley studying the Rick Rude vs. Dustin Rhodes 30-minute Ironman Match from 1993.
– In the following preview clip for this week’s edition of WWE Total Divas on E!, WWE Divas Champion Nikki Bella questions her future in WWE due to the stress that comes with the job.
– In the second of two preview clips for this week’s Total Divas episode, Eva Marie finds out that WWE is bringing her back to work earlier than she expected.
– WWE also posted the following tweets to promote this week’s Total Divas:
– On Tuesday, WWE will release their “Monday Night War: Vol. 2: Know Your Role” DVD and Blu-ray set, which as noted, will feature a new interview with Eric Bischoff. Below is a clip from the special that features Bischoff calling “B.S.” on comments made by both Paul Heyman and Vince Russo during the “Monday Night War” series on the WWE Network.
– Fred Oliveira, a video director of Grey Wolf Visuals, is currently filming some kind of project that involves Eva Marie and her husband Jonathan Coyle. Oliveira tweeted the following teaser on Saturday.
The current plan right now is for NXT Women’s Champion Bayley to feud with Dana Brooke and then Eva Marie. WWE executives apparently want to validate Eva Marie by putting the NXT Women’s title on her. The idea is that they can tell the story of how Eva Marie proved her critics wrong through hard work. While this is not confirmed at this point, it looks like Bayley vs. Dana Brooke could kick off at the NXT television taping from Full Sail University on September 10th, with a possible match at the NXT Takeover event on October 7th. Following that set of television tapings, Eva Marie could begin her feud with Bayley at the next set of tapings, with a possible title match at NXT Takeover: London in December. A three-way feud to carry them through December is also a possibility.
– John Cena granted yet another Make-A-Wish prior to this past Monday’s edition of WWE RAW in Tampa, Florida. The WWE Community website has photos of Cena meeting with Make-A-Wish kid Spencer at Community.WWE.com.
– The “Dusty Rhodes Tag-Team Classic” match featuring Samoa Joe and Finn Balor vs. The Lucha Dragons has been confirmed for next Wednesday’s edition of NXT TV on the WWE Network.
– Eva Marie and her husband Jonathan Coyle are taking online clients to help them get in shape and manage a healthy lifestyle. Eva Marie posted the following on Instagram:
READ BELOW! IM NOW TAKING ONLINE CLIENTS! Ladies lets get you on track to the body you have always wanted. – Hey everyone! Jonathan and I have been getting contacted via our website and email non stop about our nutrition and what we do to stay fit year round. Your nutrition is vital, and everything you put into your body makes a difference. We’ve teamed up with @DevinPhysique and his nutritionist team to bring you the best coaching, weight loss, and muscle building guidance around. We have created a new email where you can email me personally, and I will be working with you and our nutritionist to create a custom plan that suits your goals. We all start somewhere, and we are all capable of building the body we want. Email me now, I’ll be on my laptop all night. – Weight Loss Plans Muscle Building Plans Natalie Eva Marie Bikini Plans Workout Plans Couples Plans – Email: NatalieEvaMarie@physiquemealplans.com
WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley recently took to Facebook to post a blog in support of Eva Marie, who he predicts will have a big match with one of WWE’s top Divas within one year.
Foley wrote the following:
FOLEY PREDICTS
WITHIN ONE YEAR ?#?WWE? Diva ?#?EvaMarie? will be in a great match at a big show with ?#?SashaBanks? ?#?BeckyLynch? ?#?MsCharlotte? ?#?Bayley? ?#?Natalya? or ?#?Paige? I’m not saying the match will be all her doing, but history doesn’t remember who came up with the ideas, or who carried the match; history remembers who was in it. And despite the problems she seems to have with some of her ?#?TotalDivas? co-stars, fellow wrestlers, and the heat – bordering on nuclear – that she has with some wrestling fans, Eva Marie’s improvement from week to week in recent matches has shown me she has the drive, determination, and that intangible “it” factor necessary to accomplish something special with one of the super-talented ladies of WWE/NXT.
Eva Marie takes flack for the personal training she receives from Brian Kendrick. As far as I’m concerned, there is no “one size fits all” method of training. Sure, almost all developmental talent undergoes extensive training at the Performance Center in Florida, where Sara Del Ray – one of my personal heroes – has played an invaluable role in dramatically transforming the expectations for what fans have come to expect from ?#?WomensWrestling?. But it looks to me like Eva Marie is progressing nicely with the one-on-one work she’s done with Kendrick. While watching season 3 of ?#?ToughEnough? on ?#?WWENetwork? today, my kids were SHOCKED to see the rough treatment Bob Holly dished out to Matt Cappotelli. But check out the treatment this young trainee receives at the hands of legendary Japanese female wrestler Chigusa Nagayo at about the 6:00 mark of ?#?GaeaGirls? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=245zlx98wTo and you can almost feel Bob Holly saying “Chigusa, take it easy on the poor kid.” When my kids asked me who the meanest trainer of them all is, and I said “Brian Kendrick”, they let out a huge laugh. For the life of me, I just can’t imagine Kendrick intentionally kicking in someone’s teeth, or breaking someone’s nose. But Kendrick is a GREAT trainer, with a gift for bringing out the best in students – and, from what I can see, Eva Marie has been the beneficiary of that gift.
I’m not saying that Eva will be able to approach some of the masterpieces I’ve seen in the last 16 months – from Natalya/Charlotte to the Fatal 4 Way, to Bank’s statements (see what I did there) with Becky Lynch and Bayley. But within a year, one of those ladies is going to find themselves standing in the ring with the much maligned Eva Marie…and something great will happen.
– The following matches are scheduled for tonight’s NXT television tapings, which are scheduled to take place immediately before the NXT Takeover: Brooklyn event.
* Eva Marie vs. Carmella
* Enzo Amore, Big Cass, Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley vs. Jason Jordan, Chad Gable, Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson
* Charlotte vs. Emma vs. Becky Lynch vs. Dana Brooke
* Bull Dempsey vs. Elias Samson
– The final episode of the WWE Tough Enough post-show “Tough Talk” on the WWE Network airs next Tuesday night with host Byron Saxton. The official description for the show reads as follows:
“Join Byron Saxton as he recaps the TOUGH ENOUGH highlights and sits down with the eliminated competitor whose WWE journey came to an end.”
– The latest edition of “Culture Shock with Corey Graves” airs on the WWE Network on Wednesday at 4pm EST. The official description for that one reads:
“Corey Graves heads to Baltimore, Maryland to experience BronyCon, the fan convention dedicated to all things ‘My Little Pony.'”
– WWE Network officials have been aware of some buffering issues with their streaming service after complaints by fans in recent weeks. The crew is reportedly working to make sure there will be no issues this weekend, as WWE has two big live events with NXT Takeover: Brooklyn and SummerSlam, back-to-back.
– New footage of Eric Bischoff will be featured on the new WWE DVD and Blu-ray, “The Monday Night War Vol. 2: Know Your Role,” which is scheduled to be released on September 8th. The following is the official synopsis for the new project, where WWE is promoting the fact that Bischoff is involved:
“For the first time in eight years, ERIC BISCHOFF returns to WWE home video and gives his candid and unscripted commentary on the final ten episodes of The Monday Night War in a post-episode analysis.”
– Stephanie McMahon, Renee Young, Eva Marie, Sheamus and Kofi Kingston held an anti-bullying rally at the Boys & Girls Club of New York City on Thursday. Below is a photo of the group at the event:
WWE Diva and Total Divas star Eva Marie recently spoke with Crave Online to promote this Sunday’s WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On if Brian Kendrick had her study any particular film or style: “Absolutely! He didn’t specifically tell me to stay with any certain style but he had me watch film from Japanese wrestling to old school matches with WWE. I watched a lot of super crazy Tajiri matches, which were insane to me because of that style. It’s so fast doing moonsault after moonsault after moonsault was pretty impressive. I just pick and choose from different matches and different eras. Things are always changing but a lot of things are the same just with different little flavors.”
On her NXT ring attire getting the Internet buzzing and how she came up with the look: “That was collaboration between Brian [Kendrick] and myself. His wife actually made my robe for me. I love the old school wrestling. That’s what I watched with my brothers so I wanted to bring back the over the top pageantry, the glam, and no Diva on the roster has an entrance like that so I wanted to be different and bring something new into the generation that I’m in right now.”
On why she has had so much animosity against her during this season of Total Divas: “To be honest, I don’t know the root of the animosity. I’m really just trying to train and get better at my job so I can get on those girls level and be able to entertain and put on matches that everybody is happy about. That’s where I’m coming from. The funny thing is, I’m in California and in Orlando. I’ve been training at the WWE Performance Center as well. It’s just the fact that the times I’m not in Orlando training at the Performance Center, I’m getting in the ring with Brian Kendrick. I’m doing the best that I possibly can with both situations. I’m working on the NXT live events and I go out to Orlando two weeks out of each month so that I can train.”
On what it’s like to work in front of NXT crowds: “For me it’s awesome! I just recently had my fifth singles match so it’s pretty incredible because that crowd is so close not only to the ring but it’s just such an intimate crowd so you can really feed off of however they feel or whatever they take to in the match and it’s a really big interaction between entertainer and fan, which is awesome.”
On what she ultimately hopes to get out of all of this: “I want to be able to bring the WWE Universe with me wherever I go and with whatever I am doing. I want to bring them on this journey just like how they’ve been following me on the last six months through me training and progressing in the ring and and now it’s walk with me to my first match. That was another little step and I want to continue to do that and bring them with me throughout everything, which is a lot of different things and different avenues and really integrate WWE with mainstream as well as be a positive role model and let them know that if you dream something you can definitely achieve it as long as you’re willing to put in the hard work and don’t let other people get in your way.”