Emma

Tenille Averil Dashwood (born 1 March 1989) is an Australian professional wrestler.

She is best known for her tenure in WWE, under the ring name Emma.

She is also known for her time in Impact Wrestling, where she performed under her real name.

She met Dustin Rhodes in 1997 and, at the age of 13 in 2002, she met Stratus at WWE Global Warning Tour: Melbourne.

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.

Dashwood started training for professional wrestling in Australia in 2003 when she was 13 years old.

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.

In 2008, Dashwood went to Canada to train at the Storm Wrestling Academy.

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 2008, she moved to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, for a few months to train with Lance Storm at the Storm Wrestling Academy.

Dashwood returned to Australia by September 2008 and wrestled there until February 2009 for promotions such as Wrestlerock and PWA Queensland.

Dashwood then travelled to the United States, and made her in-ring debut for all-female American promotion Shimmer Women Athletes on 2 May 2009 at Volume 23 as Tenille Tayla, where she lost to Amber O'Neal.

At Volume 25, Tenille defeated Jetta of the International Home Wrecking Crew, but was attacked by the Crew after the match.

At Volume 26, Tenille lost to Rain, another member of the Crew.

Rain and Jetta defeated Tenille and Jessie McKay at Volume 28.

Tenille teamed with McKay again at Volume 36, when they unsuccessfully challenged Portia Perez and Nicole Matthews for the Shimmer Tag Team Championship.

Dashwood made her debut for the Canadian wrestling promotion Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling (ECCW) on 22 May 2009 under her real name.

In 2009, Dashwood also wrestled for another Canadian promotion, Prairie Wrestling Alliance, as Tenille Williams.

In Dashwood's debut match for ECCW, she defeated Nicole Matthews to earn a shot at the SuperGirls Championship, but later lost to champion Veronika Vice.

On 1 August, Tenille defeated Vice and Matthews in a three-way match to win her first ECCW Supergirls title.

By racking up successful titles defences in singles matches against Vice and Matthews, Tenille held the championship until 27 November 2009, when she lost it back to Vice.

At 19 March 2010 ECCW event, Tenille defeated Veronika Vice to re-capture the ECCW Women's Championship.

She then made successful title defences against Vice, Nicole Matthews, and Lylah Lodge in singles matches, as well as against Matthews and KC Spinelli in a three-way match.

Dashwood lost the title to Matthews in a tables match on 26 October, and went on to lose a title rematch to Matthews in December 2010.

In 2011, she signed with WWE, thus she became the first female Australian wrestler to be signed to WWE.

Dashwood also competed for Ring of Honor (ROH) and for Impact Wrestling, where she is a former Impact Knockouts World Tag Team Champion.

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.

In early 2011, Dashwood returned to Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy for further training, during which she became one of the ten trainees featured on the World of Hurt reality television show.

Tenille's last match in ECCW was on 7 May 2011, where she was defeated by Matthews.

On 9 July 2011, at a Melbourne City Wrestling event, Tenille had her last match in Australia before heading to WWE, and was defeated by Shazza McKenzie.

In March 2011, Shimmer announced that Dashwood had signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

In July 2011, Dashwood decided to undergo surgery for her shoulder, which had caused her problems throughout her career.

After the surgery she applied again and the company signed her.

In June 2012, Dashwood relocated to Tampa, Florida, and eventually reported to WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW).

She made her FCW in-ring debut on 1 August live event, participating in a battle royal.

In August 2012, Dashwood revealed Emma as her new ring name.