Emma Leaves WWE Raw Oozing with Wasted Potential

WWE whiffed on Emma. An awkward-hack-at-a-slider-two-feet-from-the-plate kind of whiffed. 

One of Raw's most underrated and underused talents is no longer with the company, as Emma fell victim to WWE's latest round of roster cuts. WWE announced on Sunday that it had parted ways with Emma, Summer Rae and Darren Young. 

Young didn't appear on TV even nearly three months after being cleared to compete following an elbow injury early in the year. Rae had long dealt with injuries and hadn't been seen on-screen, either. Those moves weren't surprising. However, getting rid of Emma, just as she was shoving her way into the Raw Women's Championship picture, was.

Her exit comes after a long, frustrating and meandering journey with the company. WWE never seemed to believe in her. It too often kept her on a low rung. And that was all a mistake.

When she first arrived on the main roster, WWE saddled her with playing the role of Santino Marella's sidekick wielding a pink sock puppet. She was a court jester rather than the endearing, awkward babyface she was at NXT.

When that didn't pan out, she traveled back to WWE's developmental promotion and reinvented herself.

Emma grew cocky, vicious, filled with delusions of grandeur. She sported a new look and tons more swagger. This new fiendish version of the Aussie was excellent.

In the ring, she was quick and aggressive, able to hang in with WWE's best, from Sasha Banks to Asuka.

It didn't matter. Her rebuild process never amounted to much. Doors that should have opened didn't.

Emma teased a feud with her former crony Dana Brooke. Nothing came of it. In fact, other than her earning a shot at Asuka when she debuted at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs and Raw, WWE didn't script stories for her. 

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Emma only had a single one-on-one PPV match, per CageMatch.net. One match in three years. That's not opportunity, that's straight-up neglect.

It's no wonder that many, including Adam Pacitti, formerly of What Culture, have been critical of how the company utilized her:

The prime example of that came when WWE stepped in just as Emma's persona was clicking. The company wanted to shift gears, changing her into Emmalina, an Instagram model come to life. 

This would have been a fine shtick for Eva Marie or Lana, but it was ill-fitting for the Lance Storm trainee. It's not as if Emma didn't have the look for this role, but she thrived as the predatory, egotist heel.

The vignettes announcing her transformation and re-debut ran from October to February, WWE stretching out her arrival to the point that it became a running joke.

Her Emmalina days lasted but a few seconds. And she was back to being the sunglasses-and-shoulder-pads-wearing narcissist. 

The character began to focus on hashtags and trending online. Despite its seemingly limited scope, the act began to click. But following the pattern of the rest of her career, WWE gave up on that too quickly.

Now her run has ended with too little time in the spotlight, with so many what-ifs left lingering. 

WWE didn't give her enough of a platform to maximize her talent. It never valued her. And as Robbie Rox of Barstool Sports pointed out, hers is not an isolated case.

"

I think my biggest frustration with WWE this year is their inability to capitalize on their own talent's full potential.

— Robbie Fox (@RobbieBarstool) October 29, 2017"

With the company missing the boat on stars like Luke Harper and Bayley, we may end up remembering the New Era as the "what could have been" era. 

As for Emma, the world outside of WWE is eagerly welcoming her.

Moose of Impact Wrestling made it clear he wants her to be part of that promotion:

New Japan Pro Wrestling star Will Ospreay talked her up:

It's telling that wrestlers like Ospreay and Moose pounced as they did. They see the talent and potential in Emma that WWE apparently didn't. 

Raw is going to suffer from less depth in its women's division now. The show will have one less steady hand, one less rising star. Emma, meanwhile, will be busy proving WWE wrong in the next stage of her career.