Eva Marie was a polarizing presence during her time in WWE, and she bore the brunt of criticism from the first time fans saw her appear on screen.
The star first made her way onto WWE television in 2013 as part of the first season of Total Divas. To promote the new reality show, Eva appeared on an episode of MizTV alongside fellow cast members The Bella Twins, JoJo Offerman, Naomi, Cameron, and Natalya. After introducing the women in the ring, Miz turned over hosting duties to Jerry Lawler, who seemed surprised to be called up from the commentary desk.
Lawler said that he knew most of the women in the ring, but introduced himself to the newcomers, addressing JoJo first before turning to Eva, who he called “Eva Maria.” Eva took the microphone and said she didn’t like the way Lawler was looking at her before saying she was here to make a name for herself, lightly slapping the Hall of Famer across the face. The slap didn’t have much impact, and the reaction from the crowd was tepid at best.
“I Think It Goes Down In History As One Of The Worst Slaps Ever” – Eva Marie On Her WWE Debut
Speaking in a recent video on her YouTube channel, Eva opened up about her slap to Lawler looking weak, saying she originally wasn’t supposed to have lines during the segment and the slap was a last-minute change.
“My first time on television was slapping Jerry Lawler which was like a rib on me. Anybody that doesn’t know what a rib is, it’s basically like, joke’s on me is I wasn’t supposed to speak anything on television. I was just supposed to be the Total Divas crew out on Miz TV and then all of a sudden, right before, it’s like, ‘Eva Marie, these are gonna be your lines and then you’re gonna slap The King.’ I’m like, ‘Huh?’
“But it’s Jerry Lawler. He’s an older gentleman and he’s, you know, Jerry Lawler so I didn’t want to hurt him by slapping him. Nobody told me how to properly slap somebody so, I think it goes down in history as one of the worst slaps ever where when I got back into Gorilla, everybody was laughing at me because I slapped him (softly) and he kind of was like, you know, tried to sell it as best as he could.”
After being released from her contract in 2017, Eva returned to the company in 2021 for a short-lived run alongside Doudrop, now known as Piper Niven. She claims to be in constant talks with the sports entertainment giant and hasn’t ruled out a return.
h/t POST Wrestling