Eva Marie Will Surprise WWE Fans with Her In-Ring Improvement

The next time Eva Marie steps into a WWE ring, fans will wonder if someone else is inhabiting her body.

Thanks to diligence, Brian Kendrick's tutelage and time away from the camera to work on her craft, Eva is far better as an in-ring performer than she ever has been. Expect stunned faces in the crowd. Expect the perception fans have of her to be drastically different by the end of her next match.

Eva's career began with a thud. She was thrown onto center stage too soon.

She was not a wrestler. She was a beautiful woman with magazine-cover looks and striking red hair. Regardless of her lack of mat acumen, WWE banked on her. The company put her on Raw at the point in her career when she should have been taking back bumps in a gym.

The results were unsurprisingly hard to watch.

In six-Diva action in October of 2013, she stood out in the worst way. Everything she did was awkward. She flopped around on the mat, seemingly unsure of what to do next.

Blaming her for that would be like blaming a guy who has only played baseball for a few months for striking out against the Detroit Tigers four times in one night.

Eva was a key part of the Total Divas reality show, but she stunk as a wrestler—"skunks rolling around in a dumpster" stunk. A lack of in-ring instinct and wooden footwork had her in the discussion for worst performer on the roster.

Months later, she put on a match so bad that WWE wouldn't air it. In February of last year, PWInsider's Mike Johnson reported, "The Eva Marie vs. Alicia Fox match that was taped for Smackdown was cut from the show last night. Live, we received a report that the bout was pretty bad."

She was barely in the ring, but when she was, she was asked to do very little. Slaps and theatrical kisses comprised the bulk of her move set. You can't fault fans for being bored during her match with Summer Rae last May and chanting for Daniel Bryan.

You also can't fault them for rolling their eyes when her music hits again.

Expectations will be low. Memories of her failures will linger. That's when her transformation will become evident.

WWE has wisely taken Eva off TV. After recovering from an injury, she's been working with former tag team champ The Brian Kendrick. It was back to basics for her. She went through a training process that she should have gone through before debuting.

Kendrick has her watching ECW videos and Japanese women's wrestling. He has her hitting the mat hard, adding to her arsenal and morphing into a different performer altogether. 

From the glimpses of her growth that Eva has shared, it's clear that she's progressing and working hard.  

Watching her hit an arm drag is startling:

This is certainly not Ricky Steamboat quality, but it's miles ahead of anything she was doing before. It's smoother than the moves we've seen her perform in the past. There's more confidence in her approach as well.

She's also added a suicide dive to her toolbox:

That looks good. She controls her body well and shows some snap. That's been true for all the other moves she's been working on under Kendrick's watchful eye. She now executes a springboard DDT and Sliced Bread No. 2 with surprising success.

The most surprising part of this story, though, is her willingness to work hard. The general perception of her was that she didn't respect the business, that she was a model looking for a payday. Many fans assumed that she wasn't going to stick around long.

Her new trainer, however, provides a different perspective. In an interview on WWE.com, Kendrick said, "She's the most driven person I've ever dealt with."

Asked what has most impressed him about Eva's progress, he said, "It's her understanding for wrestling; by watching matches and picking them apart, she's getting an understanding of it real fast."

Just reading those quotes and not seeing her Instagram posts or hearing what's she been doing behind the scenes, one would assume that Kendrick is simply confused. He must be talking about someone else, right?

He's talking about an Eva that fans don't yet know. The version of her that we saw flail between the ropes is gone.

She's still not as experienced as someone like Paige. She's still not the natural athlete that Charlotte is. Regardless, she has greatly improved. Those clips of her hitting moves with Kendrick in the gym surpass any highlights that she's generated on TV.

And if she's as driven as Kendrick says, she's only going to get better.

WWE must be happy with her progress so far. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Wrestling Inc), the company's long-term plan is to push both Lana and Eva.

Kendrick believes in her as well. He said of what's next for her, "I think she's going to do great. A championship is definitely in her future."

That's hard to picture with so many images of her early failings in fans' minds. Soon, she'll get a chance to compose new images and change her narrative. She is poised to became the biggest surprise success story of the year.