Eva Marie on How Her Life Changed After She Signed With WWE, Recalls Being ‘Terrible’ When She Started

Eva Marie recently appeared on Chris Van Vliet’s INSIGHT podcast, where she opened up about how her life changed after she landed a deal with WWE, among other things.

Marie signed a developmental deal with World Wrestling Entertainment during the summer of 2013 and went on to have a four-year stint with the promotion. She was also featured on the reality show Total Divas during her first tenure.

Eva Marie on how her life changed after she signed with WWE

“So, how it went down was actually really wild, because we had the in-ring physicality tryout, and that’s obviously where I met and totally hit it off with JoJo and a couple of the other girls from our camp; CJ [Perry] was in there as well. So it was a four-week tryout. I fell in love with it because I was missing that competitive edge in my life, too. So the fact of doing something and getting into a ring, it’s like, especially if you don’t have that type of physicality background. I feel like dancers and gymnasts, they kind of pick it up a little bit easier. I’ll never forget my body. I couldn’t even pick up my legs. I was so sore. It was insane.

“So, how it went with that is, after the four weeks, if they thought that they saw some type of potential in you, you would end up getting a developmental contract, move to Tampa at the time, because that’s where the facility was, not in Orlando yet. So it was just a developmental contract, and then you would go out there, learn how to wrestle, learn whichever character you’re going to try to work on, and learn about the business, and then hope to get called up to the main roster on Monday Night Raw or Friday Night SmackDown. I always refer to it as AAA baseball, but even at AAA, you know how to play the game. But when you’re going in, how we got the developmental contract, none of all of us knew how to kind of run the ropes and kind of take a back bump by then, and we’re doing forward backward rolls. It’s not like we’re really knowing how to wrestle. We’re knowing little basics, and that’s about it.”

How long after she started training did she have her first match?

“No one will ever walk into WWE the way that I did; I can almost guarantee it, because it’s insane, in a good way, though, for me. Because it’s like I’m so blessed that I was able to have that opportunity. Because if I didn’t, I don’t know what I would be doing. So that’s why I’m so thankful. So after those four weeks, I got my developmental contract. Me and JoJo actually got it together. They told us together. I was so excited. I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh! And they’re like, ‘Okay, well, you guys have a couple of months to get your things together because you’re gonna have to move to Tampa.’ No problem. I ain’t got sh*t out here, I was sharing a bed with a girlfriend of mine because I had too much pride to move back in with mommy and daddy. So I was just like sharing a bit with her, because that’s how bad my life was, or my decisions, I guess you could say, had put me.

“But then I get a call because I was in LA, and they go, ‘How do you feel about going in for this audition? We can’t really tell you much about it. We don’t know about this project if we were gonna green light it, or whatever it is, but they want to see you.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, sure, no problem.’ I don’t care. So I sit down, green screen, and shout out to Russell, the producer of the reality show Total Divas. I had no idea that’s what the casting was for. But cameras kind of like this, and you’re sitting in front of a camera, and he’s drilling you a million questions, just like, ‘Who you are? Where you’re from? Family? This, that, and the other. Three hours later, interview is done, and he goes, ‘Just so you know, this project is moving really, really fast, and if you do get it, your life will be changing pretty quickly.’

“So it’s only happened to me probably twice in my life, this being one of them. When I walked out of that interview, I was like, ‘I motherf*cking murdered that!’ I just had that feeling of, ‘Wow, I think I just killed it, for sure.’ So I ended up leaving that interview and drove back up to the Bay Area. It was a Friday night. Drove up to where I’m from, was with my parents, and got a call on Saturday. It’s Russell saying, ‘Congratulations, you got the job,’ and they mentioned something about my hair. Totally go deaf, because I don’t care, because now I’m like, ‘You have to think I’m a chick that had all these hopes and dreams of being a soccer player, then that kind of shattered. Got heavy into my addiction, went to rehab, just got out maybe five weeks or so ago, and now I’m getting a call saying that I just got this opportunity to not only be in the WWE, but now I’m going to be on this reality show that showcases what that looks like on the road.’ So I get the call Saturday. So that’s 24 hours after my interview, saying that, ‘Congratulations, you got the job.’ First day on the job is going to be New York WrestleMania. You’ll be on a flight on Monday morning.’ So my life changed within 48 hours, just like that.”

How long was Eva Marie on Total Divas before her first match?

“So my first match? Not long at all. That’s why I was f*cking terrible, which played in my favor character-wise. But it was so horrifying because I hadn’t had a real match in practice or anything. I barely even knew how to take kind of a back bump. So I think what happened was, because things were happening so quickly, Total Divas started to air, and then immediately they were like, ‘Oh my gosh, we need to put these girls on and kind of coincide with them on Monday Night Raw.’ But you have to remember too, when Total Divas started airing, women did not have the time they have now on WWE TV. So it was even more difficult to kind of paint a picture and paint a story. Because, I mean, the first year or first season, you get to watch the disappointment, and then you have to think, ‘The [Bella] Twins and the Funkadactyls, they were just valets for the guys at the time for WrestleMania, and they got cut.’ Their match got cut during that first season. But that’s kind of how it was for women at that time too.”

After parting ways with WWE in August 2017, Eva Marie returned to the company for a brief stint in 2020-21. Check out Eva Marie’s interview below: