After airing Chapter Five of the Lacey Evans story, WWE has completely moved on from the former Southern Belle character and introduced the sympathetic former U.S. Marine character to WWE fans. Evans was reintroduced to the live crowd on Friday's episode of SmackDown, but the only confusing part was that WWE announced her return with specific instructions, leaving the WWE Universe with the impression Evans might still be a heel.
When the final vignette aired, SmackDown's ring announcer spoke for a few moments about how emotional Evans' story was. It was clear WWE was bringing Evans back for the live crowd but when introduced, it was told to the WWE Universe that Lacey asked they show her the "proper respect". They were then instructed to "applaud and welcome" Lacey Evans. It was a very heel-like set of instructions that didn't seem to go over terribly well with the audience.
While there was certainly a level of respect shown for Evans after listening for multiple weeks to her emotional journey and battle to get to WWE, the company may have ruined the entire series of vignettes by telling the audience what to do. It seems obvious the fans would have stood and applauded for Evans, but to ensure she got a rousing response, WWE might have gone too far. Either that or they're hoping this backfires and the plan is to make Evans a heel.
If it is the latter, it could be a genius move. Evans would have a huge reason to hate on the fan base if they dared boo her after pouring her heart out in a series of videos meant to show the fans all she's gone through. If they were apathetic upon her return, (which they kind of were), she could snap at them. The question now is, did WWE do this on purpose?
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Was This A Huge Error By WWE?
Perhaps it wasn't meant to come across as WWE telling the fans to cheer for someone and show respect. They could have simply said, "Let's give her our love" or "C'mon WWE Universe, let's show Lacey how much we're behind her!", but the company chose different verbiage and it may have hurt weeks of promotion.
Next week will be very interesting. One has to assume Evans will be back and perhaps have her first match on SmackDown since her leave to have a baby.
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