Tenille Averil Dashwood, born on March 1, 1989, is an Australian professional wrestler. She is widely known for her time in WWE under the ring name Emma from 2012 to 2017. In 2018, Dashwood began working for Ring of Honor, Impact Wrestling and several more promotions under her real name. She returned to WWE in 2022 but was released again in 2023.
"Emma (wrestler)" redirects here. She was the first female Australian wrestler to be signed in WWE and was active in the NXT division, as well as on Raw and SmackDown television. She also gained notoriety for her time in Ring of Honor. Dashwood currently competes on the independent circuit.
Dashwood was born and raised in Boronia, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne. She has an older brother named Jake, who introduced her to professional wrestling. She cites Stone Cold Steve Austin, Trish Stratus and Lita as her inspirations in wrestling.
Dashwood was introduced to wrestling by her older brother, Jake, when she was about eight years old. She involved herself in the Australian wrestling scene, and did some training from the ages of 13 to 15. In 2005, Dashwood made some appearances for the Australian wrestling promotion Pro Wrestling Australia under the ring name Valentine.
However, from the age of 16 to 18, Dashwood was limited to setting up the ring at events and helping out after she suffered a severe shoulder injury. She started training for wrestling in Australia in 2003 when she was 13 years old. In 2008 and 2011, Dashwood went to Canada to train at the Storm Wrestling Academy.
Read also: High School Women's Wrestling
She wrestled in Australia and North America on the independent circuit for promotions like Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling (ECCW) and Shimmer Women Athletes under the ring name Tenille Tayla. In 2011, she signed with WWE, thus she became the first female Australian wrestler to be signed to WWE.
Early Career
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 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. 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.
Read also: Steve Keirn: Wrestling Icon
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.
WWE Career (2012-2017)
WWE went on to rebrand FCW into NXT in August 2012. 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 during her time in NXT
Emma then debuted the gimmick of a clumsy dancer on 9 January 2013 episode of NXT. From April, Emma began to rack up wins over the likes of Bayley and Audrey Marie, while becoming one of NXT's most popular wrestlers. On 26 June episode of NXT, Emma competed in the NXT Women's Championship tournament to crown the inaugural champion.
On 7 August episode of NXT, Emma won a dance competition against Summer Rae to become the number one contender for the NXT Women's Championship, but Rae then attacked her to start a feud. In the following months, Emma teamed up with Paige to feud with Rae and Sasha Banks, collectively known as the Beautiful Fierce Females (BFFs).
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On 18 December episode of NXT, Emma was challenged by Natalya for Emma's shot at the NXT Women's Championship, which was contested on 1 January 2014 episode of NXT, in which Emma was victorious. On 27 February at NXT Arrival, Emma received her title match against Paige, but was unsuccessful in capturing the championship.
After Paige was stripped of the championship in April, Emma lost to Charlotte in a tournament to determine the new champion. On 5 June episode of NXT, Emma and Paige saved Bayley from an attack from Summer Rae, Sasha Banks, and Charlotte.
On 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 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. Emma appeared on 3 April episode of Raw as her previous villainous persona. She teamed with Charlotte Flair and Nia Jax against Brooke, Sasha Banks, and Bayley in a losing effort.
On 7 May, Emma suffered a shoulder injury at a live event in Liverpool, England. Emma made her return on 12 June episode of Raw in a six-woman tag team match, where she, Jax, and Alexa Bliss were defeated by Banks, Brooke, and Mickie James. On 4 September episode of Raw, Emma teamed with Jax to defeat both Bliss and Banks to earn spots for herself and Jax in the Raw Women's Championship match at No Mercy, her first pay per view match since the 2014 Survivor Series.
On 9 October episode of Raw, after confronting General Manager Kurt Angle about who would face the debuting Asuka, Emma defeated Sasha Banks, Alicia Fox, Bayley and Dana Brooke in an elimination match to earn the right to face Asuka at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, where she lost via submission. Frustrated over her loss, Emma challenged Asuka to rematch. On 23 October episode of Raw, Emma was defeated by Asuka which would be her final match in WWE.
Independent Circuit and Ring of Honor (2017-2019)
In November 2017, several independent promotions announced they had signed Dashwood to perform at their shows, beginning in February 2018. Dashwood's post-WWE debut was on 3 February, headlining a WrestlePro event in which she defeated Angelina Love.
Dashwood made debut in Ring of Honor (ROH) on 9 February 2018, at its Honor Reigns Supreme show. She was introduced as the newest member of ROH's Women of Honor division, and, the 16th and final entrant in ROH's tournament to crown the first Women of Honor Champion. Later that night, Dashwood teamed with Mandy Leon, defeating Kelly Klein and Stacy Shadows.
With her new ring name, she also renamed some of her signature moves. At ROH's State of the Art, on 17 June, Dashwood defeated Thunder Rosa. At the ROH Best in the World PPV she won her tag team match together with Sumie Sakai, Jenny Rose and Mayu Iwatani. On Death Before Dishonor XVI, Dashwood unsuccessfully challenged Sakai for the Women of Honor Championship.
Backstage, after the match, Dashwood was attacked and injured, the attacker's identity remained unknown. The background of the injury storyline was that Dashwood needed time to recover from a full body flare up of an autoimmune disease and a dislocation, torn labrum and fracture of her shoulder, for which a surgery was needed.
Impact Wrestling (2019-2022)
On July 29, 2019 it was announced Dashwood signed with Impact Wrestling. She first match was held on the 13 September episode of iMPACT! Wrestling defeating Kiera Hogan. The following week, Dashwood returned on the 27 September episode of iMPACT! where she defeated Madison Rayne.
After several months of hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dashwood returned on 1 September 2020 of Impact! In early 2021, Dashwood began feuding with Decay after losing a match to Rosemary on 12 January episode of Impact!. At Hard To Kill, Dashwood and Kaleb lost to Crazzy Steve and Rosemary.
The rivalry continued at No Surrender, where Dashwood teamed with XXXL (Ace Romero and Larry D) against Decay (Black Taurus, Crazzy Steve and Rosemary), which Decay won. Dashwood would then begin her next feud against Havok and Nevaeh, defeating both of them in singles matches on Impact!. It led to a match at Sacrifice, where Dashwood and Kaleb defeated Havok and Nevaeh.
At Hardcore Justice, Dashwood defeated Havok, Rosemary, Jordynne Grace, Alisha and Su Yung to become the #1 contender for the Impact Knockouts Championship. She received the title opportunity against Deonna Purrazzo at Rebellion, which Dashwood lost due to interference by Kimber Lee. Taylor Wilde rescued Dashwood from a post-match assault by Kimber and Susan.
Dashwood began feuding with Jordynne Grace and Rachael Ellering after inviting Ellering to join her as co-host of the All About Me talk show segment and Ellering bringing Grace with her, which Dashwood did not take lightly. This resulted in a match between Dashwood and Grace at Against All Odds, which Dashwood won. After trading wins with Ellering on Impact!, Dashwood and Kaleb lost a tag team match to Grace and Ellering on 15 July episode of Impact!.
On 12 August episode of Impact!, Dashwood defeated Taylor Wilde with the assist of the returning Madison Rayne. As a result, Dashwood and Rayne formed an alliance called The Influence, alongside Kaleb. In their first match as a team, the Influence trio defeated Wilde in a handicap match on 26 August episode of Impact!.
Influence began pursuing the Impact Knockouts World Tag Team Championship as Dashwood and Rayne unsuccessfully challenged Decay (Havok and Rosemary) for the titles at Knockouts Knockdown. On 30 September episode of Impact!, Influence defeated Jordynne Grace and Rachael Ellering to earn a future shot at the Knockouts World Tag Team Championship.
Dashwood also advanced in the tournament for the new Digital Media Championship by defeating Alisha on 20 October, thus qualifying for the six-way match to determine the inaugural champion at Bound for Glory. Dashwood returned to action in December and Influence began feuding with The IInspiration (Cassie Lee and Jessie McKay) over the Knockouts World Tag Team Championship, defeating them for the titles at Sacrifice on 5 March 2022.
At Multiverse of Matches, Influence retained the titles against Decay, Gisele Shaw and Lady Frost, and Savannah Evans and Tasha Steelz in a four-way match. At Rebellion, Influence successfully defended the titles against IInspiration in a rematch. Dashwood and Rayne lost the titles to Rosemary and Taya Valkyrie at Slammiversary. Shortly after the title loss, Gisele Shaw began teaming with Influence.
At Against All Odds, Dashwood and Shaw unsuccessfully challenged Rosemary and Valkyrie for the titles.
Return to WWE (2022-2023)
On 28 October 2022 episode of SmackDown, Dashwood made her surprise return to WWE as a face for the first time in nearly 5 years, under her former ring name Emma, accepting Ronda Rousey's open challenge for the SmackDown Women's Championship, where she failed to win the title.
Emma's return to WWE on SmackDown
On 21 January 2023 edition of SmackDown LowDown, Emma was announced to be in the 2023 Women's Royal Rumble Match, marking her first Royal Rumble appearance. Emma entered the match at number four, reuniting with former tag partner Dana Brooke during the match. She was eliminated by Dakota Kai from Damage CTRL after Brooke was eliminated.
On 17 March 2023 episode of SmackDown, Emma teamed with Tegan Nox to challenge Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez for a spot in the Women's WrestleMania Showcase match at Wrestlemania 39, though they were unsuccessful. As part of the 2023 WWE Draft, Emma was drafted to the Raw brand.
On 3 July 2023 episode of Raw, Emma competed on the brand for the first time in over 5 years teaming with Nikki Cross in a losing effort.
Dashwood regularly appeared in the WWE web series The JBL and Cole Show, until its cancellation in June 2015. In September 2015, Dashwood began a cooking show on YouTube entitled Taste of Tenille, which ran till 2016 and at times also featured other wrestlers cooking with her. Dashwood, as Emma, appeared in four WWE video games.
Controversies
On 30 June 2014, Dashwood was arrested in Hartford, Connecticut. She arrived backstage, but 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, which she did the following day on 1 July.
According to her lawyer, she forgot to pay for an iPad case when using a self-checkout machine for her purchase at a Walmart. The journalists Bryan Alvarez and Sean Ross Sapp talked with loss-prevention managers at Walmart who, after looking into the case, confirmed that Dashwood did pay for her purchase, except for the one improperly scanned item.
The employees criticized the arrest, stating that the clerk should have just reminded her that one item was not properly checked in instead, especially considering the low price of the forgotten item. She was ordered by the court to perform one day of community service and an online course, after which the charge was dismissed.
Personal Life
Dashwood revealed in August 2018 that she has fought the autoimmune disease psoriasis since she was fourteen years old. During her tour in Australia and New Zealand, in July 2018, a bad flare up happened, resulting in her wrestling in pain the following weeks.
On August 4, 2022, Dashwood revealed that she is dating Michael Rallis, who is best known by his ring name Riddick Moss. On June 3, 2023, Dashwood and Rallis announced their engagement. The couple married March 8, 2024. On September 6, 2024, Dashwood announced that she is expecting her first child with Rallis in 2025.
Championships and Accomplishments
Emma has achieved various accolades throughout her career:
| Organization | Championship | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ECCW | ECCW Women's Title | 2 times |
| SWE | SWE Ladies Championship | 1 time |
She was also ranked in Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) Female 50 for 2016.