Eva Marie
Lady in red
Evil Eva Marie
Villainess Eva Marie on NXT
Natalie "Eva" Marie Coyle (born September 19, 1984), professionally known as Natalie Eva Marie, is an American fashion model, actress, valet, and professional wrestler. She currently performs for WWE under the ring name Eva Marie.
In 2013, Nelson signed with WWE, and was assigned to WWE's Performance Center in Tampa, Florida to begin her training. In July 2013, Nelson made her main roster debut, and later in the month would become the valet of The Bella Twins.
Professional wrestling career[]
Main Roster (2013–2015) []
In May 2013, Nelson was announced as part of WWE and E!'s new reality show entitled Total Divas that would feature behind the scenes footage of select WWE Divas and a look into their personal lives.
Nelson made her main roster debut under the name Eva Marie on the July 1 episode of Raw, in a backstage segment along with her fellow Total Divas co-stars Jo-Jo, Natalya, The Bella Twins (Brie and Nikki Bella), and The Funkadactyls (Cameron and Naomi). Marie was announced as Natalya's protégé on the July 4 episode of WWE Superstars, during a match in which she accompanied Natalya to the ring where she defeated Naomi.
Eva Marie, along with the cast of Total Divas appeared on MizTV on the July 22 Raw, where she slapped Jerry Lawler, claiming to make a name for herself and establishing herself as a villainess. Two weeks later, Marie appeared in a backstage segment with The Bella Twins and Natalya, in which Marie complimented Brie on her win over Natalya the previous week, aligning herself with the Bella Twins. At Summerslam Axxess, Marie made her in-ring debut in a diva tag team match alongside Brie Bella against Natalya and Maria Menounos in a losing effort with Natalya pinning Marie. Following this match, Marie began accompanying Brie to her matches. On the August 26 edition of Raw, Marie accompanied Brie Bella to a successful singles competition match against Natalya, until AJ Lee interrupted and declared war on the Total Divas against the "real" hard earning Divas, turning the Bellas and Marie face in the process.
Marie made her televised in-ring debut on the October 7 edition of Raw, teaming with JoJo and Natalya to defeat Alicia Fox, Aksana and Rosa Mendes in an six diva tag-team match. Marie teamed up with The Bella Twins against Lee, Aksana and Tamina Snuka on the November 4 Raw, where Eva and The Bellas emerged victorious when Marie got an upset victory over Snuka by pinning her, garnering her first pinfall victory. The Total Divas defeated The True Divas (Alicia Fox, Aksana, Divas Champion AJ, Kaitlyn, Rosa Mendes, Tamina Snuka and Summer Rae) in a traditional survivor series elimination tag-team match at the Survivor Series pay-per-view and again on the subsequent Raw.
Marie made her return to WWE after a nearly three month absence on the February 14, 2014 episode of SmackDown, defeating Alicia Fox in her first singles match on WWE television. However, the match was cut from the broadcast. On the February 26 episode of Main Event, Marie teamed up with Natalya against Alicia Fox and Aksana, but lost the match when Aksana pinned Natalya. On the March 7 episode of SmackDown, Marie teamed up with Natalya in a tag team match against AJ Lee and Tamina Snuka, which they would win. On the March 26 episode of Main Event, Marie teamed up with Natalya, The Funkadactyls (Cameron and Naomi) and Emma in a losing effort to the team of Rae, Fox, Aksana, Layla and Snuka. On April 6, Marie made her Wrestlemania début when she participated at WrestleMania XXX in the 14-Diva "Vickie Guerrero Invitational" match for the WWE Divas Championship, which was won by defending champion AJ Lee.
On the May 23 episode of SmackDown, Marie teamed up with Nikki Bella in an losing effort to The Funkadactyls (Cameron and Naomi) when Marie was pinned by Cameron after special guest referee Summer Rae made a fast-count. On the following episode of Raw, Marie defeated Summer Rae after an interference by Fandango and Layla.
Eva Marie regained her villainous persona on the July 4 edition of SmackDown in a losing effort to new Divas Champion AJ Lee. On the July 8 episode of Main Event, the evil Eva Marie participated in a six–on–one handicap match with Rosa Mendes, Summer Rae, Naomi and Natalya against Nikki Bella as part of Stephanie McMahon's punishment against Nikki, where she picked up the win for her team after a DDT.
Marie also participated in a staged match which ended in a beat down when Marie and Fox attacked Nikki. Marie made her first appearance on NXT on August 7, where she was defeated by Bayley. She faced Divas Champion AJ Lee in non-title bouts on the August 11 episode of Raw and August 15 episode of SmackDown. She emerged victorious via pinfall and countout, respectively, following distractions by Paige.
On November 9, after a month of inactivity, Marie wrote on her Instagram account that she was recovering from an injury. In the Total Divas episode "Twin Leaks", which aired on January 18, 2015, this injury was revealed to be a rupture in her breast implants. Marie returned on the March 9 episode of Raw, accompanying Summer Rae to her match against AJ Lee. She went on another hiatus shortly after in order to train with former WWE Tag Team Champion Brian Kendrick. During her hiatus, Eva Marie was shown at the premiere of San Andreas, alongside heel manager Dany Garcia, who aligned with Marie.
NXT (2015–2016)[]
Eva Marie turning heel on NXT
Marie appeared on the June 3 episode of NXT, stating that she was looking forward to competing in the NXT women's division, while the NXT audience was heavily booing her. In a backstage segment with NXT general manager William Regal on the June 24 episode of NXT, Regal said he needed to see some proof that Marie was ready to compete in the women's division. On the July 15 episode of NXT, Marie announced on the stage that she would be making her in–ring debut the following week, in which she defeated Cassie.
Marie began turning heel while competing at NXT live events, where she ignited a feud with Carmella. This led to a match between the two at the special August 26 episode of NXT (taped during the NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn event), which Marie won. Marie then continued her winning streak, defeating the likes of Billie Kay, Carmella, and Liv Morgan on the NXT program. Marie's heel turn continued during her match against Kay, as she snarled and roared at the crowd while tormenting Kay.
On the November 18 NXT, Marie challenged Bayley to a match for the NXT Women's Championship, which she received a week later. Marie turned heel and formed an alliance with Nia Jax during her championship pursuit, but was unsuccessful in winning the championship despite interference from Jax and referee Charles Robinson. Two weeks later on the December 9 episode of NXT, Marie accompanied Nia Jax to challenge Bayley for the NXT Women's Championship at NXT TakeOver: London. On the January 13, 2016, episode of NXT, Marie competed in a number one contender's battle royal, which was won by Carmella. On the February 10 episode of NXT, Marie would attempt to get her revenge on Carmella by attacking her and Bayley with Nia Jax, until Asuka made the save. Marie and Jax subsequently went on to defeat Bayley and Carmella in a tag team match on the February 24 episode of NXT.
Return to main roster (2016-2017)[]
On the March 28 episode of Raw, Marie made her return to the main roster as a face helping her fellow Total Divas co-stars over an assault against Lana's then-allies; Naomi, Tamina, Emma and Summer Rae. As a result, a 10-Diva tag team match between the Total Divas team (Brie Bella, Alicia 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 April 3, Eva's team won after Naomi submitted to Brie Bella.
On the July 19 episode of SmackDown LIVE, Marie was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2016 WWE Draft. Marie turned heel on the following week's SmackDown, debuting a new long introductory entrance while confronting the brand's female talents. Through August, Marie began faking multiple unfortunate events in order to avoid in–ring competition, until on August 18, when she was suspended for 30 days after violating the company's wellness policy.
On March 27, it was reported that Marie's WWE contract would not be renewed. Prior to the report, Marie began pursuing interests outside WWE and had also began to remove WWE references from her social media. On August 4, 2017, Eva Marie announced that she and WWE had parted ways.
Return to WWE (2020–2021)[]
Eva Marie turning heel at ringside
In October 2020, PWInsider reported that Marie had signed a contract with WWE. On the May 3, 2021 episode of Raw, a vignette aired advertising her return under a character of a "celebrity who wants to help other people", in which she promoted "the Eva-Lution".
After several weeks of vignettes, Marie returned on the June 14 episode of Raw, originally announced to face Naomi. Despite appearing to be a face in the vignettes, Marie began turning heel by ordering an unnamed protégé to wrestle and defeat Naomi on her behalf. Post-match, Eva Marie announced herself as the winner, cementing her heel persona in the process. The following week on Raw, Marie subsequently renamed her protégé as Doudrop, but later that night, an annoyed Doudrop seemingly turned on Marie during a Money in the Bank qualifying tag team match against Asuka and Naomi, which resulted in Marie being pinned by the latter. Despite this, the pair kept teaming up in tag team matches in following weeks where they would come out victorious, while the evil Marie continuing to announce herself as the sole winner.
This led to an appearance on the backstage segment Alexa's Playground with Marie later instructing Doudrop to attack Alexa Bliss on the July 12 episode of Raw, starting a feud between the three. Eva Marie lost to Alexa Bliss at SummerSlam. The same night, Doudrop turned on her. Marie would then confront and lose to Doudrop in singles matches on Raw in the following weeks. Marie's last appearance in WWE, occurred when she was involved in an injury angle on the September 27 edition of Raw, after being attacked by Shayna Baszler, who had begun using the steel steps to injure her opponents. A report later revealed the injury was a storyline to write her off TV so she could start production on a movie. On November 4, Marie was reportedly released by WWE, as part of a seventh round of layoffs that involved administrative staff and talent.
Other Media[]
Eva Marie as Sasha in Hard Kill (Open Source)
In 2017, Eva Marie made her film debut in the thriller, Inconceivable, as Linda. The film starred Nicolas Cage, Gina Gershon, and Nicky Whelan. That same year, she filmed another movie, Action #1, which has yet to be released. In 2019, Eva Marie (having changed her hair color from red to purple) appeared as a contestant on the second season of the US version of Celebrity Big Brother, and was the fifth houseguest evicted.
Eva Marie was also cast in the series, Paradise City (a spinoff of the film, American Satan), as Jade. In January 2020, Eva Marie began filming Open Source (later retitled, Hard Kill); a film that also stars Bruce Willis and Jesse Metcalfe. Eva Marie portrayed Sasha in the film, which wrapped up on February 10, and was released on August 21, 2020.