Emma Is Refreshing Addition to WWE Raw Women's Championship Picture

In an eye-opening turn of events, the perennially underused Emma is suddenly a win away from claiming the WWE Raw Women's Championship.

In allowing Emma to invade a tier unfamiliar to her, WWE has invigorated the women's title scene. It has given the Aussie heel a much-needed chance to shine and given itself more moving parts to use atop the women's division.

After weeks of clamoring for opportunities, Emma knocked off Mickie James last Monday. Raw general manager Kurt Angle rewarded her on the most recent Raw by telling her if she and Nia Jax could defeat Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss, both women would be added to the Raw women's title bout on No Mercy on Sept. 24.

Jax did much of the heavy lifting during the fight, but Emma was happy to slide in at the end and pin a hapless Banks for the win.

And with that, the next pay-per-view Raw women's title match became a Fatal 4-Way contest, one including a woman who has too often been left out of the spotlight.

Before Emma and Jax earned their way into the title bout, Jason Powell of ProWrestling.net wrote: "...the potential addition of Emma is a nice surprise. Now if only they would give her something more than hashtags to talk about."

He's right. Her character needs some work, but what a welcome curveball it is to have her challenging for the title.

Credit: WWE.com

For one, Raw has made a habit of zeroing in on a small section of the women's division and repeating matchups. Every Raw women's title match on PPV in 2017 has featured either Bayley or Bliss.

• Charlotte Flair vs. Bayley (Royal Rumble)
• Bayley vs. Flair (Fastlane)
• Bayley vs. Banks vs. Jax vs. Flair (WrestleMania)
• Bliss vs. Bayley (Payback)
• Bliss vs. Bayley (Extreme Rules)
• Bliss vs. Banks (Great Balls of Fire)
• Bliss vs. Banks (SummerSlam)

Only one of these featured Jax. Emma, meanwhile, hasn't even sniffed the gold.

She has yet to compete for the Raw title. She's had only two title matches her entire run—against Paige for the vacant NXT Women's Championship and the WWE Divas Title Vickie Guerrero Invitational in 2014, per CageMatch.net.

Since then, Emma has mostly been the forgotten woman of the roster.

WWE looked to repackage her and rechristen her Emmalina last year, but after months of vignettes teasing her arrival, the company changed its course. Her delayed re-debut led to her reverting back to her old cocky, relentless character.

Emma would go on to produce solid performances in the ring when given a chance to do so. She slipped comfortably into a persona fueled by delusions of grandeur. She looked every bit like a sneering villain who deserved to be in the title mix. But WWE steadily chose not to take advantage of any of that, giving her inconsistent airtime.

Now ahead of No Mercy, an Emma title chase is finally happening.

Her stay at this level may be brief, but it's a welcome sight.

Emma is set to create a fresh matchup at the PPV. She offers Banks and Bliss a new foe to tangle with. And seeing a benchwarmer get called into the game to prove herself is stirring.