Eva Marie apparently gave the idea of joining another wrestling company some thought after leaving WWE, but getting her to actually pull the trigger would have required one hell of an offer. And money wouldn’t have been the only thing she wanted on the table.
While speaking to TMZ’s Inside the Ring, Eva Marie was asked whether companies such as AEW had reached out following her WWE release and whether she ever considered going somewhere else. Eva admitted that she thought about the possibility early on, but WWE being her wrestling home made the idea complicated.
“It was initially at the very beginning, and I kinda, like, thought about it. But it’s also like, it would have to be done so good and not trying to recreate Eva Marie. And I feel — WWE was my home. So if I were to have to do something like that, the offer would have to be incredibly good. There would be a lot of zeros, and I would have to have some type of creative control.”
That creative control part wasn’t just Eva trying to make a few extra demands either. She explained that her WWE experience taught her how important having input into a character can be, especially when wrestlers are otherwise relying on writers to make sure their story actually goes somewhere.
“’Cause that’s what I have learned in doing the business — it helps a lot if you have a lot more input, because a lot of us in WWE don’t. You’re basically hoping that the writers help you to the fullest and make the storyline that is juicy and good, and you get a payoff. And if you don’t get that, it kinda sucks for your character.”
Ultimately, Eva never seriously pursued anything with another wrestling company. While she considered the possibility at first, the combination of wanting a huge financial offer, more creative input and something that wouldn’t simply attempt to recreate her WWE character meant she didn’t take things any further.
“So I never really looked into it any further with other companies.”
Eva certainly isn’t ruling out wrestling outside WWE under absolutely any circumstances, but she’s made the price of getting her interested pretty clear. If another promotion ever wants to change her mind, apparently they’ll need plenty of zeros and a willingness to let her have a much bigger say in what happens once she gets there.
Would you want to see Eva Marie join AEW or another wrestling company if she was given more creative control over her character? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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