Back in October last year, the WWE teased the first vignette of the all-new, rebranded Emmalina.
The old, immensely popular heel of Emma was coming to RAW with an entirely fresh new face.
For those familiar with Emma’s work in NXT, there was a tinge of disappointment. Yes, one of the best workers in the women’s division was back, but without the heel persona that made ‘Evil Emma’ such a fan favourite.
Her alignment with Dana Brooks was superb in NXT and with the likes of Bayley and Sasha Banks to take on in the red brand, her bad girl routine had real legs.
But, it wasn’t to be, as WWE wanted to re-imagine Emma and that’s fine as long as it played out right.
Unfortunately, in a week that Bray Wyatt finally claimed a big title, Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho artfully brought their friendship to a close and Elimination Chamber served up a cracking pay-per-view, it all fell apart with Emma, or Emmalina, or whatever we’re calling her now.
Rumour has it that the Australian Superstar failed to deliver in the new character but that is surprising considering how well she has resonated in the past.
Whatever the cause, somehow, after 17 weeks of video teasers and near-constant delays of the new character’s debut, the sparkling Emmalina came out on RAW.
And then, just a minute or two later, she left saying we would now be left waiting for the return of Emma.
It was immense trolling, that’s a given.
But, it was also an immense failure on WWE’s part as the whole thing came off as being put together by a bunch of amateurs.
This may well end up as a blessing in disguise but, considering how good a week it has been for the company, that the abiding memory is the botched return of Emma leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
At the very least, after such a long layoff due to surgery a little less than a year ago, Emma should soon be back in action. For everyone watching on, that will be a real treat to see.
If only we hadn’t had to see the rest of this nightmare unfold in the meantime.