Emma’s release allegedly a long time coming due to ‘considerable heat’ with writers

While her runs on the main roster have been as bumpy as any in recent memory, the release of Emma on Sunday, Oct. 29 still came as a surprise. Darren Young and Summer Rae, who were let go at the same time, have not been on television for quite some time, but the Australian wrestler just received a mini-push and a pay-per-view (PPV) spot opposite the debuting Asuka at TLC.

The latest Week in Wrestling report on SI.com from Justin Barrasso claims to have some insight on all three releases, but offers the most on Emma. While Summer and Young are about what you’d expect - there were no plans to use them, so the decision was made to cut them during the weekly Friday budget meeting with Vince McMahon - Barrasso reports the “the writing on the wall for [Emma’s] departure has been in place for some time, as she had considerable heat within the company.”

Much of the heat allegedly came from the writing staff. SI points to Emma complaining on Twitter as an issue, and one has to wonder if the reports of management pulling the plug on the Emmalina gimmick due to a perceived lack of investment from the performer didn’t also rub Creative the wrong way.

The other motive behind the Aussie’s release was to send a message to the locker room, where Emma was respected as an in-ring wrestler. Barrasso cites the departures of Jimmy Jacobs and Neville, and the supposed issues Nia Jax had with her booking, as reasons why Vince and his team wanted to make it clear to talent this was no time to step out of line.

Emma is keeping a positive outlook on her future, and even a report as negative sounding as this one points out that the door could be open for her to return to WWE someday.

We shall see.