Eva Marie was a fairly divisive figure in WWE in the 2010s. The Total Divas star was never the most proficient in-ring worker, but her striking, bombshell look still made her a hit with many fans.
Her official WWE debut was in the reality TV series, and Marie was called up to the main roster with only weeks of formal training. She improved over time, but was someone that many fans loved to hate.
In 2016, Marie was scheduled to face Becky Lynch on an episode of SmackDown. At the time, her gimmick was all about coming up with an excuse not to compete in a match after making her entrance. When it came to clashing with the Lass Kicker, Marie suffered a wardrobe malfunction and fled in a clip that racked up nearly 50 million views on YouTube.
Talking to Chris Van Vliet, Marie reflected on how the angle was pitched to her by WWE:
"So that whole kind of storyline was fun. There’s always going to be an excuse for me not to get in the ring. Once, 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 sh*t go, because it was like, it’s fine, here we are, and it worked. 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 sh*t to me when I came out."
"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 me actually dropping my top. So cameramen were paranoid, freaking out, so I was securely taped, but it came off pretty good."
Explaining how legitimate this wardrobe "malfunction" actually was, the former WWE Superstar added, "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," Marie continued. "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."
You can hear more from Marie in the player below.