Former WWE Diva Layla El in action | Image Credits : IMAGO/osnapix
Sportshadow got the opportunity to interact with the former two-time WWE Women's Champion, Layla El, in the twelfth episode of its Wrestleshadow podcast series.
Layla El revealed why she dated Cody Rhodes, shared behind-the-scenes stories from famous segments, and explained how she realized that The Undertaker had a soft spot for her compatriot, Michelle McCool.
Here are the edited excerpts of the interview.
My mother passed away suddenly. She was only 47 years old. It was just before her 48th birthday and the date she passed was 8,8,2008. And, at that point in my life, I was living in California and my apartment number was 888.
So, it just registered with me in every way that it was. So, I just wanted to have that, plus the eight turned sideways means infinity. So, it was just a way to pay tribute and also move past the sadness of losing a parent.
It was actually a combination of both (herself and people from the backstage in the creative) because if you reflect back in my career when I was in ECW, I used to hold my leg and bend it through and go all the way under the rope.
And, one day I did it, and Vince (McMahon) told somebody to tell me don't ever do that again. That's it. Don't do that again. I was like okay. So, I knew I had to come up with an entrance. So, I was in FCW and I was just trying all this stuff and Billy Kidman was there and I was like this and that. He goes, "That's it! That's all you need."
Like, I literally was like, "What about something like this?" I was going to keep going, like being more elaborate. And he's like, "That's all you need!" And I was like, "Okay!" So, that's how literally it originated because I couldn't do my other entrance.
File pic of the Miz | Image Credits : IMAGO/MediaPunch
Well, actually, I kind of messed. It was my first pay-per-view. I was extremely nervous. If you notice, I'm like taking the Miz's clothes off, messing around with him, and I was also supposed to take his pants off, but because I'm British, pants are trousers. So, he kept it.
I could hear him going, "Take my pants off. Take my pants off." But I didn't know what he meant. And I was nervous. So, I think it could have been even funnier.
And what I was actually supposed to do was to make sure he had just his underwear on and then Big Dick Johnson will come up. So, but I still think it was funny. It worked. And the Miz is like so easy to work off. He makes everything entertaining, easy. So, we just laugh about it now, but I should have taken his pants off.
I felt horrible. Backstage, I was like eating myself. I was like so mad at myself and you get frustrated like, "Oh!" But, you can't change it now. It's just a funny story.
File pic of Layla El from 2013 | Image Credits: IMAGO/NewsCom/AdMedia
So, the 50 grand was my contract for 2006. So, I did get a cheque for $200,000. The first thing I did with it, which I was so scared, was I paid a lot of taxes. Paid a lot of taxes from it.
And then I think I put some of it away and then other stuff I just, kind of, had for expenses. So, you don't realize you're going to get a massive cheque, but then you're like, "Oh, no!" The taxes and stuff like that. So that was, like, the biggest kind of time that I had to pay so much taxes first time.
It wasn't so much that I wasn't Americanized enough. It wasn't anything like that or I'm saying I was too British or anything like that because I was so nervous and so out of my place.
It wasn't so much the difference in the culture for us that I actually felt different. It was the fact that I didn't understand any of the wrestling language.
I didn't understand any of the backstage rules or how you should conduct yourself or not conduct yourself. Because this is stuff that you either go to train and you learn, or like me, you have to learn by trial and error, or watch other people mess up and know I can't do that or I must do that. So that was what I found the hardest.
As soon as I got backstage as well at that time when I'd won that money, there was so many like wrestlers, who are not top names, who are like,"I'm training every day. I've trained my whole life. I've done this. I've done that. And then you come in and you win that kind of money."
I had to adapt to that and to people looking at me differently and not treating me like, how you would normally just treat a new colleague. And it wasn't personal, which now I can reflect, but like at that age when I was like 20, I was like, "Oh, oh!"
Like I felt guilty at one point for winning that money and being given that opportunity. So that was the hardest. Not so much the Americanization of the language.
Layla El revealed that she choreographed the performances to Kelly Kelly and Brooke Adamsin ECW Extreme Expose | Image Credits : IMAGO/Zuma Press Wire
So, I couldn't wrestle, of course, and I wasn't told to go train and wrestle, right? So, they saw a match with me and Kristal on Smackdown and then they're like, "Okay, we're not going to put her out there."
But then I think it was Johnny Ace who was like, "Well, Layla can dance." And then, they were so invested in Kelly's Expose by herself. And you've got to remember, Kelly was 19 at that time. And then, I even said to Johnny, "Johnny, I can dance! You know, if you need me whatever." And Brooke was from my Diva Search too.
So, he put Brooke and Kelly brought it together. And, like basically I was in charge of everything. I designed the costumes. Sometimes I made the costumes. I edited the music. I choreographed the girls. I taught the girls and the first couple of times I think if you look back up, I was mortified. It was awful. The performance, I was just like, this is so bad like. And, I was like, this is so bad. But I kind of need this because I want to maintain my job and learn to train on the side.
So the first couple of times it was not good. Then, I think it was the Pussycat Dolls. Vince pulled me aside after that performance and he said, "I'm really impressed with this. I want to keep moving forward with this. And I know that you're in charge. So, I need you to do this, this, and this." He loved Extreme Expose.
The next week we had pyro. Every night we were booked on every live event shows. We weren't wrestling but we were training behind and then Expose was really great. Like Expose could have done so much more than I think that it actually did.
But, Vince did love it. Like, he he really did. He pulled me aside. I mean, that's a big deal. That's a huge deal when you think about it in getting pyro and stuff like that. Expose was awesome. It really was a good time and I think Vince made a good call by putting the three of us together. I think it worked. It really did work.
I never said no to any storylines though. I'll be honest with you. I really wasn't the one that really said no to any story lines or felt anything humiliating. I didn't even look at it like it's humiliating because it was like, I'm a performer.
You're paying me. And, I was fine. I'm adventurous. I didn't mind being the one who was made a joke of, or the one in a fat suit running around, or the one being thrown a pile of mud, and stuff like that. Like, that's the whole thing about WWE. Like, I'm an entertainer.
I want the crowd to react and sometimes you've got to do things that might be perceived as humiliating, but to me, it's like, I'm just performing. I'm just doing my job.
Layla El with Vickie Guerrero in 2010 | Image Credits: IMAGO/WENN
Vickie (Guerrero) was great. From the day I met Vickie, she's amazing. And actually, Vickie was the one that, when we used to do Extreme Expose, I'd be in the locker room like out, like we got a few hours, but we can't go into the ring now because people are coming in. I would ask Vickie, "We're next, right?"
So, I would ask Vickie, "Vickie, can you sit there and just watch us?" Because I can't count. I can't leave them. Can you see how it is? Can you tell me if we're together or if we're not? So, Vickie used to judge the Extreme Expose, like, "No, that one was bad. No, that was that."
So, that's where that started. Then, when Vickie started working with Michelle and then, I started working with Michelle, because that was one of the first things I remember going out in the crowd with her, like when we had a show.
I've never heard the building. I've never heard anyone boo so much in my life. I could not believe I could not hear a word what she was saying. I remember me and Michelle looking at one point. I'm like, "What is she saying?" Like, because we have stuff to do. We have things to do but I can't hear.
Like, I don't know what she is saying. So, literally, every time you go out there, like even when she came out of gorilla, we're in the ring. We know what she's supposed to say. Can't hear it. So, for that, and it's amazing that Vickie like, attained, that kind of success because I'd never been able to perform next to that kind of success and even with Michelle.
So, it was always like, "Wow!" And then, Vickie, when Laycool first started, we used to make our own outfits. Like, we used to make our own beads. So, we used to all be sitting there on the floor gluing together our sequences and stuff like that. Ask Vickie. She'll tell you, she'll text me. "Great. I just found four more sequences stuck in my shirt or five sequences stuck in my sock." So, we have great ties on the TV. They put a cockroach on me one time. I hate cockroaches. Vickie did that and Michelle. But, I'm very privileged to work with both of them.
Looking back at it at that time, I didn't understand how big it was. And now when I look back and reflect, I was like, "Wow!" That was really a great moment in history of wrestling, and also a great part of history for women because things were starting to change.
I do believe that it was a missed opportunity, but I also think it was the worst thing that could have happened because I think the way that LayCool was handled with the split titles, it was so perfect, original and I am, kind of, glad it didn't.
Would I have liked it to progress afterwards with that? Yeah. But no, I like it the way it was. I really do. I like it the way we were always being remembered as the girls that divided titles, right? The girls that share a title. And now, there's a great moment for the women's division. Now there are Tag Team Championship titles. And I think it's perfect timing.
File pic of Michelle McCool from 2008 | Image Credits : IMAGO/PicturePerfect
The first time I ever met Michelle, it was right after I won the Diva Search. I remember it was in Boston because it was my first show. I just said hello to everybody. I had a brief conversation, and we always spoke after that.
I connected with her from the beginning. It was cool. We could talk, have fun. She's very talented. She's also very organized and she works hard, like I mean, harder than anybody I saw in the locker room. And it was just chemistry. And then when we started working together, it was just undeniable chemistry.
And, Michelle and I will always be friends. We will always have a huge part in each other's lives. We shared something that was so magical and so beautiful that people are still talking about it to this day. I'm glad I got to share that with Michelle. She made me work better. She made me learn so much. So, not only that, I'll always be grateful to her for that. She really gave me a lot.
When we first started, I honestly thought it was just going to be a one-off like promo and a quick match. But then it progressed. So, Michelle's 100% right. We would always like apologize and try to make it clear. I just want to make a good story line.
And I have to give Mickey (James) credit because Mickey did amazing in that. She kept her head up. She made it. And here's the thing. LayCool was supposed to be mean girls, right? We're the mean girls.
So, in that, at that time, in that era, people were mad. People were completely mad. Like, that was the first time that I'd felt when I was in the Divas division that the Divas actually had heat with the audience because prior to that, I'd never felt such heat.
So, we go out there for live events. I mean, women were screaming at us. They wanted to beat us up. They're like throwing things at us and stuff like that.
As tender as that subject was, because Mickey, let's be real, Mickey wasn't heavy. As horrible as that was, it did get people to care about the wrestling more. They care get the girls and women to care about divas wrestling.
But not only that, it showed that Mickey, you can overcome your bullies. Now, she beat us. She shut us up. If it would have been the other way, then I'd have been like, "Okay, that's wrong." But she showed everybody, "Yes, I am a woman. I am this!" And she beat us up and shut LayCool up.
So, as controversial as it was, maybe in this era, it wouldn't fly, but for what happened, I have no regrets for it. And you should ask the other girls. I'm not too sure if they do, but for me, I think it was great storytelling and it was entertainment at that time.
I told Michelle right away, when it was a long, long time ago. I said to Michelle. I think I called her out. I said, "Oh my God, he loves you!" That's it. That's the end of the conversation and look he did.
Turned out he did. I don't know how I just felt it. I was just like, "Oh my God! They're perfect for each other." So yeah, I did see it and everything and then.
Like, I don't think they were together or anything like at that time. But, I could just make it obvious. It was just me. I just made it. That's what I just thought. "Oh my God! He loves you." That that was it. That was the end of it.
Like, I didn't make it obvious. I could just feel it. Sometimes, you just can feel things before like it happens, and I, probably, was looked at like an idiot when I said that. But that's what I felt at the time.
Cody was exaggerating. Of course, there was only one title that was split. There was only one. There was not one at TV or, there was one, like, that Michelle and I carried.
She had her half, I had my half. Sometimes, like, I pack a lot more than usual. And I do remember, I think he just wanted to get through security quickly and stuff like that. So, he grabbed the title and he goes, "Okay, let me put this in my bag. Let me put this in your bag."
And I was like, "Okay." And then I remember, like, going through security and I'm like, "What? What are you doing?" And he's like, "So!" And then they're all looking at him weird. And then it says when the guy pulls it up, like, half of the Women's Championship.
I remember, he's like this, just standing there, and he goes it belongs to her and my girlfriend, and then they're like, they kind of all laughed it off, and that.
He exaggerated. That happened one time. Happened one time. And yes, we used to date a long, long time ago. We dated and he was a gentleman and he would carry my stuff through security, for sure.
Cody Rhodes after winning the NWA Heavyweight Championship in 2018 in All In | Image Credits : IMAGO/MediaPunch
I, 100%, saw that. I started dating Cody because I knew he was going to be a star and he had a lot of dreams and everything that he told me that he was going to do, he's done it.
So, congratulations to him because for someone who can tell you their dreams and they're going to make it happen and they do make it happen, congratulations!
So yeah, I mean of course I saw it because I wouldn't have dated him or been with him if I didn't see everything that people will see now. So yeah, I did.
Once you're given more time, you are given time to develop character, given time to tell a story within the match. That's the whole thing. That's how you draw people in.
Like, I look at the time the girls have now and I'm like, "Oh my God!" Sometimes, I'm blown away by it. But the thing that I like about the Divas era and, especially LayCool was, we were given two minutes. Go out there. Put a match together. Like, do your match. Do your story line and keep it moving. And we did it within that time frame.
So you've got to remember, like, of how big LayCool was at at that time, with that kind of time we did it. That's the thing you've got to look at. We still maintained to do it.
I think it's not fair because I always used to hear like, "Okay, take five off the Divas, five off the Divas. Divas, you got two minutes." Like it was always, the time was cut from the Divas. But I'm very happy for the girls now because look, they've got the time. There's no rush and stuff like that.
And it's just evolution. It's just the way it was. They can't change it. And if I was younger now and I was in the wrestling business, would I be good? I don't know. I really don't know.
I think they can be a little bit open-minded, but once you're under contract, you're under contract. So, I think, it's just a really, like, thin line.
WWE is the one that are giving you the time on TV, giving you all the publicity and then you're going off making money all by yourself. I totally understand it, but you've got to look at it from a business point of view.
If WWE decides and you can have it in your contract, I agree with it. But, if they're not, then you just have to make a choice. I don't think you can do both.
Natalya on Monday Night Raw debuts in Netflix | Image Credits : IMAGO/MediaPunch
Nattie (Natalya Neidhart) is just a very, very smart woman. She loves wrestling. Her whole family is involved in it, her husband, everything. She works really hard and she was very giving to everybody.
Like when the girls used to come up from FCW, they would always say, "Nattie is so nice. Nattie always helps me." So, Nattie was always that way. Like she worked with everybody. I don't know many people that have said a bad word about Nattie.
And the thing is, she doesn't give up. She's been there a really, really long time. And, she hasn't, like, slowed down or her work ethic has changed. Her work ethic is still the same.
She can still go, and she's always going to have a career, I think, in wrestling, in whatever capacity she wants it to be. So, Nattie's smart. Nattie worked hard. Nattie made sure she played the rules right too.
Paige is Paige. Paige is amazing. Her whole family is all about wrestling. Her whole life was all about wrestling.
So, I'm sure when she got injured, she was pretty devastated. So, I'm so happy that she could go back and, while she's still got some time in her to solidify herself as even a bigger name in WWE.
I don't think there was a plan. I think, in my mind, I was going to keep going and keep going. But I think that I was, like, 38 at that time. So realistically like, I've been there 9 years. I've done everything you could possibly do at that time. And, it was just time to go both from WWE and for myself.
I just needed to go because what was I really going to keep doing at that age and, I didn't want to keep ageing on TV as well. And, the road is just so rough and that. So, would I have liked to have gone out better? Would I have liked to have been able to have made a bigger deal about my career retirement? Probably.
But, I just woke up one day and I went to the gym and got to the arena for, like, call time and I just was, like, I don't want to do this tomorrow. I don't want to do this. I'm done. And so, I just said, I'm sorry. I just want out. I want done. And, that was it. And, I flew home. That was it. It was just something in me that just had enough.
I'd spoken to Vince. I think in July he was the one that gave me the 3 years contract which I signed and then like, I said within a few months I just was like, I don't want to do this anymore, and I went in and spoke to talent relations with Mark Carrano at time and, I just said, you know, I'm done.
We're done. I'm just done. That was it. It wasn't dramatic. It wasn't anything. And, as big as that moment was for me, in that, like, decision to just let it go. It actually felt like I could just breathe. I was like, I could just breathe. That that was it. And, I literally walked away from wrestling in every capacity once I'd retired.
I don't know because I'm not back there. I haven't been back there, like, to interact with people. I did go to the Hall of Fame when Michelle was inducted. So, I did get to see some people and look around and watch the environment.
But to me, I would think that it would be a hundred times better because they're not competing for just two spots. When the locker room that I was in, you've got to remember there were only two spots. It was one spot on Raw, one spot on Smackdown and that was it.
It was very competitive. I'm not saying it was negative, but it was competitive. And then there were circles of friends and circles of not. But I think now because everyone's got more time, girls being on on TV more, they're actually main eventers.
Like, I hope that by then, it's eased down and calmed down a little bit because you're not competing for just one spot. And the women's locker room wasn't, like, terrible when I was there. I mean people had fights and, didn't agree with this and didn't agree with that, and stuff like that.
But, the same girls that I had fights with, or same girls I didn't like, I can see now, and it's totally different because we're not in that environment competing with each other.
Well, for one, I'm so out of shape. Two, I don't want to break a hip or something. The only thing I think that I would ever consider or think about doing is if I would do a LayCool reunion. That's it.
If it's Michelle and I, then I'll do it. That would be amazing. Well, for myself, I'm sure for Michelle and I'm also sure for the fans of LayCool who would love to just have a nostalgic moment. Like, of course, why not?
Like, before it was always a no, but now it's like why not? If it happens and if WWE decides that, that's something they would want to do, yeah, I would do it, I think.
At first, I was, solely, like, (would have) said Chelsea Green because I thought that she's hilarious and she's such a diva. I think that would be great. But now, I'm thinking, like, Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss. Like, I think that would be a cool match. Or, even if they bring back the IIconics, too. Like, that would be a really good.
Layla El and Kaitlyn in 2012 | Image Credits : IMAGO/Picture Perfect
Kaitlyn and I did have drama. We have beef and that. I don't know necessarily if it was because of, how she just quickly rose to TV because I also had that moment and kind of thing.
I don't, really, remember exactly what happened but, no, there were time. Yes, there were times, I think that I could have conducted myself and behaved a lot better towards Kaitlyn than I did, and I should have had a lot more empathy for her. Like I said, sometimes the environment in your mind at that time, it can bring out a side of you that was not right at that time.
And, I've seen Kaitlyn and I apologized. I really did. I said I'm so sorry like that. I know I was wrong. I was out of line and the beef Kaitlyn and I had actually, like, opened the door for her because when her and Eve had that mishap at the Royal Rumble, right, I think something Kaitlyn said I heard, like, offended me kind of thing and it, like, was messing up our storyline.
So, I think I was mad at the time, but my reaction to that basically opened the door for Kaitlyn's career. So, I believe everything happens for a reason. Do I look back and go, "Oh, why'd you act like that?" Yes, absolutely. I didn't deserve to be there. Kaitlyn is a great talent. She's a great woman. So, I dare to explain it.
I'm so happy that we got to speak it out and just let it be. And, it was so silly. So silly, when you look back at it, but at that time that's how I felt, and I think how she felt it too. Yeah, completely understand that.
No, I didn't get that call. Do I think it's easier for the guys to get that call to Hollywood? No. No, I don't.
Like, you start when you're WWE, you start like you're a name, but you have to prove yourself. And I think every WWE, like, star who's now a movie star worked for that, and they were given an opportunity, and they were able to make it successful for themselves.
So, I don't think they get it easier. I just think maybe in the Diva era yes, you're right. I don't think they were looking at girls like that.
I remember I did get called when Jay-Z was going to come back after his retirement for that the movie with Denzel Washington. They wanted to do a music video for that, and they'd called and asked for me and, in the end like, WWE couldn't get an agreement.
They didn't let me have. I was always sad about that because I always wanted to be like a video vixen, but, so, there were calls for girls but, I don't think it was movies and I wasn't called for movies. I don't think. No.
We (Ricky Ortiz and Layla El) are divorced since 2025. And, that's all I'm going to say about it. I don't want to talk anything else about it. That's it.
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