It’s been an… interesting… year for Lacey Evans.
Her return from more than a year off began with a series of videos chronicling the real-life hardships she’d faced getting to WWE. Those aired on SmackDown, but then she was moved to Raw. She didn’t work any televised matches on the red brand, and when she showed up live in the arena it was as a heel. Eventually, she was back on Friday nights en route to working July’s Money in the Bank.
Long-believed to be a favorite of now-former WWE head honcho Vince McMahon, she disappeared again after Triple H took over creative. Since then, she’s worked three television matches — two of which were multi-person #1 contender affairs where it seemed she was just there to fill out the line-up.
Then last night (Dec. 2) on SmackDown, we got this…
Jokes about how many times WWE’s changed their minds about Evans aside, this feels like they’ve finally landed on the right gimmick for her. As good as she was drawing heat as a “Sassy Southern Belle” (there was always debate about whether it was of the “go away” variety, but it got a reaction), it never really fit her actual backstory as a member of the United States Marine Corps. This seems to blend the arrogance of her best known character with a legitimate reason for Lacey to believe she’s better than her rivals.
It also recognizes that Evans’ on-screen history will make a face run a tough sell, regardless of how moving her actual story might be. Referring to the rest of the women’s roster as “the whiners, and the weak” is pretty clearly a line you put in a villain’s video package.
Unless they change their minds again as Lacey’s “Back To Basics” rollout continues…