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Former WWE star Eva Marie recently shared the backstory of her first promo on RAW, in which she slapped a Hall of Famer. Marie wasn't ready to do it, but she had no other choice because it was live television.
The 40-year-old had a different path to WWE, starting as the winner of the 2013 Diva Search. Unlike past winners such as Christy Hemme, Ashley Massaro, Layla El, and Eve Torres, her contest wasn't aired. She also got directly into the main roster and Total Divas immediately.
Eva Marie did her first promo on the July 22, 2013, edition of RAW when the cast of Total Divas appeared on Miz TV. Jerry "The King" Lawler got her name wrong, so Marie corrected him and slapped the legendary star.
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Speaking on the Ring The Belle podcast, the erstwhile Red Queen opened up about the slap, admitting it was "horrible!"
"This is my first time stepping out doing anything. You would think someone would tell me what to do, right? No one told me anything, and then I'm like, 'I can't slap Jerry!' I don't know how to do that 'cause I didn't want to hurt him either. No one wanted to help your girl out, so to this day, shoutout to Bayley because she likes to clown me about my slap, because it's horrible. You can tell that I'm trying to kind of not really hit him," Marie said. [10:00-10:30]
Despite what transpired on that RAW segment, Eva Marie managed to stay on the main roster for two years before getting sent down to NXT. She returned to the main roster in 2016 but eventually parted ways with the company a year later. She made a brief return to the company in 2021 but was released later that year.
Eva Marie opens up about her SummerSlam match against Alexa Bliss
In the same interview on Ring The Belle, Eva Marie was also asked about her singles match against Alexa Bliss at SummerSlam 2021. During her second stint with the company, she was involved in several storylines, including a feud with Little Miss Bliss.
"The crazy thing with that, even for that match, and Alexa, she's amazing and she's fantastic. I love her character and the work that she's done, and it was fun to actually work with her, too. It was like creepy and weird and awesome, but we literally did that match and put it together like day of and right before heading out, which was wild, too. Yeah, things are crazy in WWE," Marie said. [32:36-32:57]
Marie lost the match and was written off TV a few weeks later after being taken out by Shayna Baszler. Her second stint with the company ended in November 2021.
