Emma Tenille Averil Dashwood ( March 1 , 1989 ) is an Australia n professional wrestler and model . She is currently signed to WWE under the ring name Emmalina . Dashwood is best known in WWE as Emma and wrestled on the independent circuit under the ring name Tenille Tayla . Professional wrestling career . Early career . Tenille was introduced into wrestling by her older brother Jake , when she was about 8 years old . She involved herself in the Australian wrestling scene and did some training from the ages of 13 to 15 . In 2005 , Tenille made some appearances for the Australian wrestling promotion PWA under the name Valentine . However , from the age of 16 to 18 , Tenille was limited to setting up the ring at events and helping out after she suffered a shoulder injury . In 2007 , she moved to Calgary , Alberta , Canada for a few months to train with Lance Storm at the Storm Wrestling Academy . In the fall of 2008 , Tenille returned to Australia . She wrestled for several promotions , with one of her most notable appearances being at Nightmare Wrestling , where she teamed up with Christy Hemme , Kellie Skater and Sara Jay to defeat the team of Traci Brooks , Vixsin , Sway and Aurora . On February 22 , 2009 Tenille also won PWA Queensland ' s first - ever " Queen of the Warriors " tournament , after defeating Shazza McKenzie , Jessie McKay and Kellie Skater . Canada and Shimmer Women Athletes ( 2009 – 2011 ) . On May 2 , 2009 Tenille made her debut for all - female American promotion Shimmer Women Athletes , at the tapings of Volume 23 , losing to Amber O ' Neal . Tenille wrestled on Volumes 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 32 , 34 and 36 in a variety of matches . She made her debut for the Canadian wrestling promotion ECCW on May 22 , 2009 under the name Tenille Dashwood . In her debut match Dashwood defeated Nicole Matthews to earn a shot at the Supergirls title . She challenged the then - champion Veronika Vice , but was unsuccessful . On August 1 , 2009 Tenille defeated Veronika Vice and Nicole Matthews in a 3 - way match to win her first - ever ECCW Supergirls title . Tenille held the championship until November 27 , 2009 , when she lost it to Veronika Vice . On March 19 , 2010 Tenille defeated Veronika Vice to re - capture the ECCW Supergirls championship . Tenille defended the championship against Lylah Lodge , Nicole Matthews , KC Spinelli and Veronika Vice , before losing it to Matthews in a tables match . In addition to Shimmer and ECCW , Dashwood wrestled for wrestling promotions such as RWF , Prairie Wrestling Alliance , MLW , PCW and Wrestling Fan Xperience . In early 2011 , Tenille returned to Lance Storm ' s Storm Wrestling Academy for further training , during which she became one of the ten trainees featured on the " World of Hurt " reality television show . World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE ( 2011 – present ) . NXT ( 2011 – 2014 ) . On March 4 , 2011 Tenille Tayla attended a FCW tryout camp and it was reported that WWE had signed her to a developmental contract . In July 2011 , Dashwood decided to undergo surgery for her shoulder , which had caused her problems throughout her career . In June 2012 , Dashwood relocated to Florida , and eventually reported to WWE ' s developmental territory , Florida Championship Wrestling . Dashwood debuted in the rebranded NXT Wrestling under her new ring name , Emma . On the November 28 edition of NXT , Emma made her televised debut in a losing effort against the evil Audrey Marie . Emma began acting as a heel with the gimmick of a clumsy dancer character on the January 9 , 2013 edition of NXT in a losing effort to Paige . From April , Emma began to rack up wins ( over the likes of Bayley and Audrey Marie ) , while becoming a babyface due to the high number of cheers she received . On the June 26 edition of NXT , Emma competed in the NXT Women ' s Championship tournament to crown the inaugural champion and defeated Aksana in the first round . She went on to defeat Summer Rae in the semi - finals on the July 10 edition of NXT . Two weeks later , Emma was defeated by Paige in the finals for the NXT Women ' s Championship tournament . On the August 7 edition of NXT , Emma defeated Summer Rae to earn another shot at the NXT Women ' s Championship . In the following months , Emma teamed up with Paige to feud with The BFF ' s ( Sasha Banks and Summer Rae ) , On the December 18 episode of NXT , Emma was challenged by Natalya for Emma ' s shot at the NXT Women ' s Championship , which was contested on the January 1 , 2014 episode of NXT in which Emma was victorious . At NXT Arrival on February 27 , Emma was defeated by Paige in a match for the NXT Women ' s Championship . A week later on " NXT " , Emma was defeated by Charlotte . On the April 3 edition of " NXT " , Emma defeated Sasha Banks in singles action . Main Roster ; Various Feuds ( 2014 ) . On the January 13 , 2014 episode of Raw , Emma made her first appearance on the main roster when WWE acknowledged her appearing amongst the live audience , Emma continued to appear in the crowd on " Raw " and " SmackDown " that month , with tensions developing between her and Summer Rae . On the February 3 episode of Raw , Emma was invited into the ring by Santino Marella to participate in a dance - off against Rae , which Emma won by fan vote . In the following weeks , the feud between Emma and Rae continued and Emma eventually began teasing a on - screen relationship with Marella , showing romantic feelings towards one another on both " Raw " and " Smackdown " . The two would finally face off in a match on the February 24 episode of " Raw " , where Emma would defeat Rae . Week later , on the 3 March episode of " Raw " , Emma and Santino would defeat Rae and Fandango in a mixed tag team match , when Emma once again made Rae submit . On the March 25 episode of " Main Event " , Emma teamed up with Natalya , The Funkadactyls ( Cameron and Naomi ) and Eva Marie in a losing effort to the team of Rae , Alicia Fox , Aksana , Layla and Tamina Snuka , when Snuka pinned Naomi . On the 27 March episode of " WWE Superstars " , Emma once again defeated Rae via submission . On April 6 at WrestleMania XXX , Emma competed in the " Vickie Guerrero Divas Championship Invitational " match for the WWE Divas Championship , which was won by defending champion AJ Lee . The following night on " Raw " , Emma and Marella once again defeated Rae and Fandango in a mixed tag team match , with Emma making Rae submit . On July 2 , 2014 , two days after Emma was arrested for sixth - degree larceny in real life , WWE released Emma from the company . However , within hours , WWE reversed their decision and reinstated Emma while stating that they would still " take appropriate punitive action " against her . She returned on the July 15 episode of " Main Event " , where she defeated Cameron in a singles match . In August , Emma was placed in a feud with Alicia Fox , with the latter facing Fox in three matches on " Superstars " and " Main Event " , which Emma would win the first two bouts before losing to her on the September 4 episode of " Superstars " . Emma returned to NXT on 18 September , facing NXT Women ' s Champion Charlotte , but came out on the losing end . At Survivor Series in November , Emma participated in an elimination tag team match , where she eliminated Summer Rae before her team won the match with a clean sweep . Return to NXT ( 2015 – 2016 ) . On the 28 January 2015 episode of " NXT " , Emma announced that she would be returning to " NXT " , stating that her tenure on the main roster was not working out . The following week , in her return match , Emma was defeated by Carmella . In March , Emma turned heel after criticizing Bayley in a backstage segment which prompted a match between the two on the 1 April episode on " NXT " , which Emma lost . Emma continued her feud with Bayley , when she provided a distraction during Bayley ' s match with Dana Brooke , ensuring Brooke the victory and forming an alliance with her in the process . On the 6 May episode of " NXT " , after Emma was defeated by Charlotte and later attacked by Bayley , a tag team match was made between Emma and Brooke and Bayley and Charlotte at NX T TakeOver : Unstoppable , which Emma and Brooke lost . On the 27 May episode of " NXT " , Emma got retribution over Bayley , and after the match , Emma and Brooke attacked Bayley and Charlotte . Emma ended her feud with Bayley when the latter returned from injury in mid – July , and defeated Emma . On the 26 August episode of " NXT " ( which was taped at the NXT TakeOver : Brooklyn event ) , Emma won a fatal four – way match against Dana Brooke , Charlotte , and Becky Lynch . In mid – September , Emma and Brooke were involved in a feud with newcomer Asuka , and confronted her during a contract signing with William Regal , which led to a match between Brooke and Asuka at on 7 October , where Emma was attacked by Asuka after attempting to interfere . Throughout November , Emma started provoking Asuka , including an attack planned by Emma and Brooke , which occurred on the 25 November episode of " NXT " , resulting in a match between she and Asuka at the event on 16 December , which Emma lost , despite interference from Brooke . On the 13 January 2016 episode of " NXT " , Emma competed in a number one contender ' s battle royal , which was won by Carmella . Return to main roster ( 2016 ) . On the 22 March episode of " Main Event " , Emma made her return to the main roster alongside Summer Rae by attacking Alicia Fox and Natalya during a match between Paige and Naomi , distracting Paige , and subsequently aligning herself with Team B . A . D . , Lana and Rae , after a reconciliation between Lana and Summer . The following week , in her return match , Emma defeated Paige on the 28 March episode of " Raw " , after being helped by Lana . Post - match , she along her allies , attacked Brie Bella , Natalya , Alicia Fox and Paige , before a returning Eva Marie cleared the area . As a result , a 10 - Diva tag team match between the Total Divas team ( Brie , Fox , Natalya , Eva and Paige ) and the newly dubbed team B . A . D . & Blonde ( Naomi , Tamina , Lana , Emma , and Rae ) was announced for the WrestleMania 32 ' s pay - per - view pre - show . At the event on 3 April , they were defeated by team Total Divas after Naomi submitted to Brie Bella . After WrestleMania , Emma began a feud with Becky Lynch , and defeated her on the 2 May episode of " Raw " , however , she lost to her and Natalya in a tag team match the 5 May episode of " Smackdown " . On the 9 May episode of " Raw " , Emma and her NXT tag team partner Dana Brooke assaulted Lynch during a backstage segment . On 16 May , WWE announced that Emma had suffered a back injury during a live event which would require surgery . Emmalina ( 2016 – present ) . On the 3 October episode of " Raw " , a repackage vignette was displayed during transmission , where it was announced the return of Emma under the new ring name Emmalina while she was established as a member of the Raw brand . Personal life . Dashwood grew up in Boronia , a suburb of Melbourne , Victoria . Dashwood has an older brother named Jake , who introduced her to wrestling . She cites Stone Cold Steve Austin and Trish Stratus as her inspirations in wrestling . In 2002 , at the age of 13 , she met Stratus at the WWE Global Warning tour in Melbourne , and Dustin Rhodes in 1997 . On 30 June 2014 , Dashwood was arrested in Hartford , Connecticut . She did not appear on the episode of Raw that aired live that night . Police released her after she agreed to appear at Hartford Community Court , [ 99 ] which she did the following day on 1 July . Her lawyer claimed that she forgot to pay for an iPad case when using a self - checkout machine at a Walmart . The court ordered her to perform community service and an online course , after which the charge would be dismissed . This initially led to WWE releasing Dashwood , but they reversed their decision hours later . In August 2014 , Dashwood was reported to be a relationship with former NXT wrestler William McNamee , and lived together in Denver , Colorado . In May 2015 , Dashwood announced on Twitter that she had left Colorado on her own to live in Orlando , Florida . In January 2016 , she confirmed being in a relationship with Matthew Cardona , known on - screen as Zack Ryder .