Diva Dirt presents its fifth annual Writers’ Choice Awards, as decided by the Diva Dirt team. As we come to the end of 2015, we have picked the best of the best to be awarded our Writers’ Choice trophies.
Most Improved: Emma
Emma is proof that you can bounce back from a career-threatening gimmick. When Emma’s bubbly, carefree character transitioned from NXT to WWE, it just didn’t work. NXT’s small crowd mentality may have loved the Emma dance and her Emmamite Sandwiches but it didn’t wash with the main roster. Cue a phenomenal change in fortune.
Emma reverted back to NXT where she has enjoyed major success prior, reaching the finals of NXT Women’s Championship tournament. With that former success and more recent disappointment on her mind, Emma dropped the dancing and inherited intensity. Taking no prisoners, Emma threw all gimmicks to the side and through caution to the wind.
Her “coming down to Earth” process started, appropriately, with a feud with Bayley. Emma seemed set on destroying the rose-colored glasses Bayley saw the world with, teasing and torturing the happy-go-lucky Diva in a series of segments and matches that solidified her new status as a heel.
Not only did Emma’s attitude improve, so did her entrance music taunting, and overall look. Whilst the former was a decision out of her hands, her music really does set the tone for what she will do in the ring; it is dynamic and impactful. Her GIF-worthy posing on the ramp and in the ring are fantastic, and she has never looked better. Her metallic attires really are reflecting her new sharper, sleeker and glossier repertoire of moves.
The more Emma became a NXT exclusive talent, the more confident she looked, going from throwaway matches on SmackDown and WWE Main Event to actual storylines that exploited the talent she’s had from the beginning. Truly, with the change of scenery and wealth of opportunities, she was reinvigorated.
Emma also aligned with Dana Brooke in 2015, and while she hasn’t always been notching up wins, she has proved that hanging with the likes of Bayley and Asuka is way better than hanging with Santino. Her and Dana’s confidence went hand-in-hand and whilst the pair haven’t reached their complete potential just yet, Emma has made Dana a better performer in the process.
If we really want to clutch at straws too, she’s certainly improved in the kitchen too. Her YouTube presenting skills are rather dandy as well.
Emma’s 2015 may have ended with her coming up short a few times too many, but with that violent mean streak she now possesses, maybe one more setback will be the perfect trigger to an even more dangerous side. Come 2016, it’s safe to say that Emma will improve even further and cause a major DilEmma for NXT’s women’s division. Bubbles not included.
Stay tuned for more Writers’ Choice Award reveals throughout the day.
