Eva Marie is pulling back the curtain on one of WWE’s most talked-about segments — and the reality behind it is a lot more controlled than fans realized.
During her appearance on Chris Van Vliet’s Insight, Eva revisited the infamous 2016 moment during her feud with Becky Lynch, where she avoided competing due to a wardrobe malfunction. The segment exploded online, pulling in tens of millions of views, but it wasn’t some random accident — it was carefully planned from the start. She explained that the storyline itself was built around finding creative excuses to avoid stepping into the ring, fully leaning into her heel persona.
“So that whole kind of storyline was fun. There’s always going to be an excuse for me not to get in the ring. One I got stuck in traffic. The other one I hurt my knee, and then the wardrobe malfunction. I can’t remember who exactly thought of that idea, but it was pitched to me. I’m obviously easy, I really am, especially because I’m a bad guy as is, so I have removed really quickly being the hero or being like, the one that doesn’t look silly. Because I think that also is a big component in going into WWE. Sometimes some superstars have a really hard time with [being the butt of the joke], or not being the man. I kind of let that sht go, because it was like, it’s fine, here we are, and it worked.”*
The reaction from fans was exactly what WWE was aiming for. Eva said the crowd heat during that run was intense, with audiences fully buying into her character.
“People really did hate me. There’s a sign, and I can’t remember what city it was, it was like, if Eva Marie’s here, we riot. Or just this crazy little section of this is Eva Marie’s section or something so obnoxious, but it was fun, because they couldn’t wait to just talk sht to me when I came out.”*
When it came to the wardrobe malfunction itself, Eva made it clear that nothing was left to chance. Because it was live TV, the segment had to be rehearsed carefully to avoid any real issues.
“But the wardrobe one was gnarly, because it’s live television, so to make it realistic, we had to do like we did a run through with it, because the last thing that we needed was me actually dropping my top. So cameramen were paranoid, freaking out, so I was securely taped, but it came off pretty good.”
She then broke down exactly how the illusion worked — and why it looked so convincing on screen.
“I do, yeah. But the way that I’m holding it looks like, Oh, my God, it’s really happening, but I’m taped up. So if I literally let my hands go, it’s just flapping in the wind.”
“It basically just clips off and it just falls forward. And how it kind of came off on TV looked great. I liked how it just really did look like this is happening, like her top is literally falling off, and Becky played off it great.”
Looking back, the segment did exactly what it was supposed to do — generate attention, build heat, and get people talking. Even years later, it’s still one of the most viewed and discussed moments tied to Eva Marie’s WWE run.
Did segments like this help elevate characters, or did they cross the line for what fans expect from WWE programming? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.