Eva Marie: “Top Guys Would Pay For That Heat”

Eva Marie is, perhaps, the worst wrestler in WWE. A holdover from the time the women’s division was built more on looks than in-ring ability, a series of comebacks and an extended stay in NXT have done little to improve her wrestling acumen.

But here’s the thing–she gets a louder reaction than anyone this side of John Cena. She gets booed so loudly every night that you’d think Batista had just won the Royal Rumble. Her SmackDown character even plays into that, presenting her as a pompous lightweight whose self-importance is only matched by her incompetence.

That shift in character began in NXT. In an interview with the International Business Times, Eva said “The NXT crowd is no joke. Not only going out to those live crowds and those live audiences to work at those live events, not only my in-ring ability, but also to listen to the crowd and really play off of that emotion and their feelings and be able to give them a great show really helped me take it to the next level. It was a fantastic experience. Who can say that they get booed out of arenas on a daily basis?”

“I embrace it with open arms,” says Eva. “Even top guys come up to me and they’re like, ‘You don’t understand. We would pay for that heat.'”

Eva, of course, has been off television for sometime. She was suspended in August for a wellness policy violation, and subsequently out filming the movie Inconceivable with Nicolas Cage and Faye Dunaway. No doubt some fans are hoping that absence lasts even longer.