Emma (Tenille Dashwood): What Happened to the Retired WWE Star?

Given her explosive ability, technical skills, and inspiring desire to succeed, Emma was destined to achieve success in the squared ring as soon as she burst onto the scene of professional wrestling. When she first appeared on the main roster of WWE, she had plenty of training and experience under her belt.

But after a rather successful career in the industry, she was released from her contract, leaving fans to wonder the reason behind that decision. In case you are interested in knowing the why and how of Emma’s departure, and her current whereabouts, allow us to feed you all the information about the same!

Why Did Emma Leave WWE?

Born on March 1, 1989, in Victoria, Australia, Tenille Averil Dashwood was introduced to professional wrestling by her elder brother at the age of 8 while she was inspired by Stone Cold Steve Austin, Trish Stratus, and Lita. Starting from her early teens, she began training for professional wrestling in Australia in 2003 and a couple of years later, she even competed in the Australian wrestling promotion Pro Wrestling Australia under the ring name Valentine.

In 2008, Tenille traveled to Canada and spent a few months training at the Storm Wrestling Academy. In the following months and years, she competed on the independent circuit for various promotions, including Wrestlerock, PWA Queensland, Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling (ECCW), and Shimmer Women Athletes, under a new ring name, Tenille Tayla. Upon making a name for herself in the professional wrestling field, WWE came chasing and in March 2011, she signed with them, becoming the first female Australian wrestler to be signed to WWE.

In August 2012, Tenille introduced her new ring name, Emma, while featuring in WWE’s developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). After the rebranding of FCW into NXT the same month, she made her television in-ring debut against Audrey Marie in the November 2012 episode of NXT. Soon, Emma got involved in a feud with Summer Rae, after which they faced off in several tag team matches. After spending more than a year or so on NXT, she appeared on the main roster in January 2014 as part of the crowd. Given the brewing rivalry between her and Summer Rae, the following month, Santino Marella invited her into the ring for a dance-off against Summer, which Emma won.

Continuing her ongoing rivalry with Summer Rae, Emma competed in a series of matches against her, be it singles or tag team matches. Soon, when Layla replaced Summer as Fandango’s valet, Emma began a feud with her. The alliance between her and Santino ended when the latter retired from in-ring competition. After that, she fought against several divas in the squared circle, winning some matches while losing the others. In January 2015, she announced her return to NXT as her tenure on the main roster was not working out for her, as she stated.

Proving her detractors wrong, Emma showed that she meant business this time around in NXT and she was not just fun and games. The Australian Diva returned to NXT in a totally altered attitude, getting involved in feuds and storylines along with competitive matches in the ring. After a year of shaking up things in NXT, in March 2016, she moved back to the WWE main roster to give it another shot. For the first couple of months upon her return, she was in the thick of things but after suffering from a back injury, she was forced to treat it with surgery and take a break from WWE.

Although Emma made a return to the ring in April 2017, she kept losing most of her pivotal matches. Then, in October 2017, she was released from her contract by WWE. This prompted her to try out her wrestling skills elsewhere under her real name Tenille Dashwood. In October 2022, nearly five years after her release, she made a surprise return to the industry. Even though she participated in the 2023 women’s Royal Rumble match, she failed to have an impact as good as her last spell.

So, in September 2023, WWE announced her release yet again. Upon her release, she tweeted, “While I wasn’t expecting a call yesterday, it’s also fair to say that I wasn’t shocked. When I returned to WWE I was so excited, I was ready to work my a** of and do all the things I didn’t get to do the first time around. But it became apparent pretty quickly that this wasn’t my time. And that’s ok!”

Where is Emma Now?

During her time away from WWE, Emma competed in the independent circuit and numerous promotions under Tenille, such as Impact Wrestling and Ring of Honor. While she spent a couple of years in Ring of Honor, she appeared in Impact Wrestling for about three years or so, where she pursued championships and formed a formidable alliance with Madison Rayne called The Influence. On the personal front, she got engaged to Michael Rallis AKA Riddick Moss on June 3, 2023. They even did an engagement photoshoot in September of the same year, as they closed in on their wedding. Together, the couple indulge in some adventurous trips and activities across the country as well as outside the States.