My Friday column for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review takes a look at Eva Marie and how she is the next WWE star everyone is going to love to hate. The following is an excerpt:
There’s no middle ground with Eva Marie — you either love her or hate her.
It’s the easiest way to sum her up. It’s also a great recipe for a professional wrestler. She gets a reaction, has a marketable look with her fire-red hair and cameras like her. The only thing she’s missing is, well, learning to wrestle.
Since it became public knowledge that Marie has been in the fast lane of training out in California with veteran Brian Kendrick, I’ve been forecasting that she’ll be a top heel in NXT and then the main roster.
The storm began Wednesday night when she had her debut match in NXT.
She’s not yet a household name who is selling out venues on her name alone, but there is a lot of the John Cena formula in how she is viewed. Even in her debut match, there was a run of “Let’s go Eva” chants followed by “Eva sucks.” The exact chant, of course, that’s become famously directed at Cena every week.
Reaction is the most important thing in professional wrestling, and I don’t think she’s going to have any trouble continuing to get one. Some like her because she’s got an attitude, has an appealing look and there is appeal in someone having to fend off so many haters. Then there are those who don’t like her because she has the least wrestling background of the Divas and already is getting the attention of other outlets like Maxim magazine and Hollywood but hasn’t proven anything in WWE other than being the heel on a reality show.
Good and bad of her NXT match, plus what she does that most are afraid of—CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE COLUMN.
