As seen on RAW last night, Eva Marie returned to the main roster after a one-year absence. Eva, who has been wrestling in NXT over the past year, was added to the 5-on-5 Team Total Divas vs. Team Bad & Blonde match at WrestleMania 32 this Sunday as a member of the babyface Total Divas team.
Eva Marie has been incessantly booed during her time at NXT. Apparently WWE believes that the WWE audience thinks differently than the NXT audience, as Dave Meltzer noted on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE expected Marie to get a positive response from the crowd.
“How do you not figure this one out?,” Meltzer wondered. “That was an easy one.”
Marie noted in an interview with Fansided earlier this year that the boos from the crowd used to upset her, but now she embraces it.
“Walking into the WWE I was brand new; I did not know how things worked,” Marie said. “Deep down I wanted everyone to cheer and adore me but this is the WWE where it doesn’t work that way all the time. There’s a good guy and a bad guy, and I am pretty badass bad guy.
“Now that I have the training behind me, I think that really shows I do have the skills and talent to become a well-rounded wrestler. I think it goes back to me asking Vince [McMahon] and Triple H on wanting to go back to NXT to hone my craft and learn the ropes. I feel extremely confident when I walk out there now and I embrace the boos and the craziness from the WWE and NXT Universe.
“At one of the live events somebody had a sign that said ‘If Eva Marie Is Here We Riot.’ I thought that was pretty cool. The crowd reaction is something that I definitely love. When I first started if I walked out from behind that curtain and heard a pin drop or deafening silence, then you have to look at switching something up. Now, I am embracing my heel character to the fullest.”
