In her first interview since WWE release Emma talks Emmalina, Evil Emma

With her 90 non-compete clause officially up, Tenille Dashwood, WWE’s Emma, is now free to wrestle where she chooses. After being picked to be Asuka’s first main roster opponent at TLC, Emma was released the next day, Oct. 29, by the WWE.

Last weekend Emma returned to the indies for the first time in since 2011, where she main evented a Wrestle Pro card with former TNA Knockouts champion Angelina Love.

Now for the first time since leaving the company. Emma is speaking about her time in the WWE and what’s to come for her in 2018 on the independent scene. Speaking with her former trainer Lance Storm on his Killing the Town podcast, Emma opened up on a number of topics.

On watching FCW grow into NXT:

“Definitely as far as the facility it was like night and day,. We went from like a factory or a warehouse type situation with no air conditioning and small locker rooms to a state of the art facility with seven rings. Like night and day.”

On the rise of the women's division in NXT:

”That was an exciting and important time in my life and my career. I loved stepping in the ring with Paige and being given those big opportunities. And I feel like that was when we started to get noticed and get those opportunities. It’s actually written in the NXT history books. I’ll still claim I started the revolution.”

On if she knew where the WWE wanted to take her failed Emmalina character:

”No (laughs). I wish I had more of a say. I don’t know, I guess there was an idea to it and they kind of realized along the way that wasn’t me. That wasn’t for me at all. I mean, I’m just not a diva, you know? I’m not like that at all. And I just want to wrestle. So I think they kind of realized that along the way or something like that and just were like, let’s just have her be Emma and have her be herself and we were able to bring that back around.”

On the success and formation of her Evil Emma persona:

“That’s the thing, I’m comfortable doing that. In real life I’m a smart ass. I like to have fun and joke around but I love to wrestle, so I think that it was a combination of everything and that just came out in that character. Get out of the way, I got a job to do.”

If nothing else, after three months of silence Dashwood comes off at peace discussing her time with the WWE and is excited for the chance to be part of the indie scene in 2018. Dashwood’s next event takes place on Thursday Feb. 22nd in the Baldwin Park, California for Bar Wrestling.

Never say never, after hearing the interview is it possible the WWE and Tenille Dashwood meet again down the road?

Starting around the 43:00 mark of the podcast, check out Dashwood’s full interview with Storm here.