When WWE first turned Eve heel, they used the ill advised “tell, don’t show” method, having Eve explain to the Bellas how awful she was for pretty much no reason whatsoever. It was arbitrary, inconsistent with everything we’ve ever seen from Eve, of questionable taste and just generally an all-around terrible bit of storytelling. Since then, the promotion has stepped up to the plate and attempted to actually show Eve being an awful, manipulative bitch to Zack Ryder. Unfortunately, two things keep getting in the way: Eve and Zack Ryder.
I really want to like this storyline, as it seems like good soap opera story material, and could be a good way to get Ryder back over after having Kane beat him up for weeks on end. Unfortunately, either Zack and Eve don’t really understand what they’re supposed to be accomplishing in their scenes, or they just don’t have the acting chops to pull it off, as their backstage segments are stilted and flat-out painful to watch. Additional points were taken off this segment for the shoehorned-in involvement of Beth Phoenix, who should have just Glamslammed the bejeezus out of both those dopes.
