Tenille Dashwood Set to Return at Tonight’s WWE SmackDown: Report

Stars coming and going in WWE or any other promotion are nothing new in the wrestling industry.  Since 1984, you could argue the industry is pretty much driven by it.  But over the past couple of years, the number of names sent packing from WWE reached alarming highs, with several performers whom fans believed in the potential of being given pink slips.  But with Vince McMahon hitting the road and Triple H taking over, we’ve found a number of dismissed fan favorites being welcomed back into the WWE fold and even finding the success that they had previously seemed destined for.  Is another one of those names set to rejoin the WWE roster tonight on SmackDown?  It sure sounds like it.

PWInsider.com is reporting that Tenille Dashwood, whom WWE fans will remember as Emma, is backstage in St. Louis, Missouri, right now and is set to make her WWE return live tonight on SmackDown.  It appears she is set to be the one answering Champion Ronda Rousey‘s open challenge for her SmackDown Women’s title.

Dashwood was the first-ever Australian woman signed by WWE in 2011 (since then, WWE has signed the likes of Rhea Ripley and Indi Hartwell from the country), and she wrestled there as Emma until her release in October of 2017.  She initially became popular as a comedy gimmick, with her bad dancing during her entrance getting her a prime spot in the Women’s Division (I’ll give you one guess on which cackling old man who used to haunt the Gorilla Position was behind that).  She then turned heel and became a dark, arrogant version of herself whom fans referred to as “Evil Emma.”

After her WWE run, she worked in Ring of Honor and then for several years in IMPACT under her real name, building a pretty good reputation as a talented wrestler for the first time since her days in NXT.  It’s not known yet whether she will be returning as Emma or working under her real name, but the WWE Women’s Division is definitely in need of some new blood to mix things up, and this is a good move to bring a veteran in who can hit the ground running with fans’ immediate respect.