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London, England
Layla El (born June 25, 1977) is an English dancer, model, professional wrestler, valet, and actress. She currently works for WWE wrestling on it's SmackDown brand under the ring name Layla.
After attending a performing arts college, El was a dancer for Carnival Cruise Lines, the Miami Heat franchise of the National Basketball Association (NBA), where Layla received a championship ring, and also danced for P. Diddy and Kanye West at the MTV Video Music Awards. She has also appeared on several television shows, including Family Feud, Project Runway, and Celebrity Fit Club Boot Camp.
In 2006, Layla won the 2006 WWE Diva Search, earning a contract with the World Wrestling Entertainment. She appeared on the SmackDown brand, where she would enter a feud with Kristal Marshall. In January 2007, she was moved to the ECW brand, where she formed the Extreme Exposé dance troupe with Kelly Kelly and Brooke Adams. In 2008, she was drafted to the Raw brand, where she began managing William Regal. The following year, she returned to the SmackDown brand, where she formed an alliance with Michelle McCool known as LayCool. In September 2011, Layla won the WWE Divas Championship and went on to hold it for nearly five months before losing it in February 2012, making her the fourth longest Divas Champion in history. She would soon take time off to recover from a legitimate knee injury after tearing both her ACL and MCL and required surgery.
Early life[]
El was born and raised in London, England, and is of Spanish and Moroccan descent. Her father is an English-born Spaniard, and her mother was Moroccan who could speak Arabic.
Dancing career[]
El was a dancer for Carnival Cruise Lines. Following that, she began dancing for the National Basketball Association's Miami Heat franchise, where she danced for two years. As part of the Miami Heat dance troupe, she received a championship ring. During this time, she appeared on-stage with John Legend as one of his backup dancers. She also danced for P. Diddy and Kanye West at the MTV Video Music Awards.
World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE (2006–present)[]
Diva Search (2006)[]
El's first foray into professional wrestling occurred when her trainer suggested she try out for the $250,000 WWE Diva Search contest in 2006. After a casting call, she was selected as one of the finalists. During the contest, she won a week's worth of "immunity" on the July 14 episode of SmackDown! after winning Sgt. Slaughter's "Diva Boot Camp" obstacle course—despite having jumped over several tires in the tire hop section of the course and not having both of her feet cross the finish line due to her doing a split. She won another competition, the "Diva Search Talent Show" on the August 11 episode of SmackDown!, when she danced dressed as a police officer. She won the Diva Search on 16 August.
LayCool and Divas Champion (2009–2011)[]
The following year on a episode of Raw, Layla returned and formed an alliance with Michelle McCool called LayCool/Simply Flawless. Alicia Fox joined the team as well and both El and Fox were involved in Michelle's feud with fellow wrestler, Melina Perez, who accused McCool of sleeping with her husband Mark"The Undertaker"Calaway. Melina even slapped Layla in the process of the feud. This caused the team to disband with Michelle and Mark going on the road and Alicia leaving because of her losing streak and inadverdently eliminating Layla from the Queen of Raw battle royal at Wrestlemania 26.
During the LayCool period, Layla actually started a feud with Beth Phoenix, always taunting her about allegedly being a man but on a episode of Raw, Layla forced Beth to take a gender test and it was confirmed that Beth was a woman. Layla began sporadically appearing, having matches, doing backstage segments etc.
After Vickie Guerrero, Layla's close friend, was appointed the new Raw General Manager, she was told by Layla to tell the referee that Lita,who she had a match with earlier that night, had cheated during their match but she didn't want to. The following week, Layla overheard Lita talking to a girl named Joanie, who might've been Chyna, a former WWE wrestler. They got into a fight which ended with Layla getting slapped and seething for revenge. The feud had escalated on the August 23rd episode of Raw, when Layla was on commentary during the main event: Lita vs Raven Alexandria. She tried to interfere but she failed and as a result Layla physically hurt Lita so she became violent and aggressive.
Feud with Michelle McCool and Injury (2011–present)[]
Info here
Modeling[]
Since winning the Diva Search contest El has also done some modelling work. She has been featured in the magazines King, Smooth, and was the cover-girl for the first issue of Liquid. She also posed for FHM with the other members of Extreme Exposé. Layla, along with Beth Phoenix and Candice Michelle, appeared in the February 2009 issue of Flex Magazine.
Other media[]
In April 2007, Layla and other WWE Divas (Kelly Kelly, Brooke, Torrie Wilson, Ashley and Maryse) were filmed for Timbaland's music video "Throw It On Me" featuring The Hives. During the second week of November 2007, Layla appeared on five episodes a part of one of Family Feuds special weeks with other WWE Superstars. In February 2008, she appeared on Project Runway with several WWE Divas as part of the week's challenge. In April 2008, Layla also appeared on an episode of Celebrity Fit Club Boot Camp as a trainer. In 2012, Layla ranked number 95 in Maxim's Hot 100.
| Music Videos | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2007 | "Throw It On Me" | Herself | Music video by Timbaland ft. The Hives |
| Television | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2007 | Family Feud | Herself | "WWE Superstars vs Divas" (5 episodes) |
| 2008 | Project Runway | "Raw Talent" (Season 4, episode 10) | |
| 2008 | Celebrity Fit Club Boot Camp | Season 6; Trainer | |
Personal life[]
El was born and raised in England, and is of Spanish and Moroccan descent. El's mother died in August 2008 after battling two decades of breast cancer. She attended a performing arts college in London. She has previously lived in Miami, Florida, and Los Angeles, California. Layla was previously in a long-term relationship with WWE Superstar Ted DiBiase with the two eventually getting married before divorcing in 2012.
Layla also briefly dated fellow wrestler, Michael Riley in October 2012.
In wrestling[]
- Finishing moves
- Bombshell (Roundhouse kick) — 2012–present
- Facelift (Diving somersault inverted facelock jawbreaker) — 2010–2011
- Layout (Hangman's neckbreaker) — 2009–present
- Nasty Kick (Spinning roundhouse kick) — 2007–2010
- Signature moves
- Butt bump to an opponent's face
- Infinity (Arm drag reversal into a chickenwing pin)
- LOL – Lots of Layla (Springboard reverse crossbody)
- Multiple kick variations
- Back
- Front drop to a seated opponent's face, as a sunset flip counter, or to the opponent's back
- Shoot to a standing or seated opponent
- Spinning trust
- Multiple pinning varations
- Jacknife hold
- Roll-up
- Snapmare takeover
- Spinning facebuster
- Sunset flip
- Wrenching head scissors
- With Michelle McCool
- Double team finishing moves
- Double running big boot
- Leg trap (Layla) / Big boot (Michelle McCool) combination
- Double team signature moves
- Double forward Russian legsweep
- Double team finishing moves
- Nicknames
- "Sweet Little English Muffin"
- "Lay"
- "Beautiful Brit"
- Entrance themes
- "Move Along" by The All-American Rejects (July 14, 2006–September 1, 2006)
- "Nasty Girl" by Vula Malinga, Drew Milligan and Nicole Nicholson (June 2007–January 8, 2010)
- "Not Enough For Me" by Jim Johnston (July 3, 2009–June 11, 2012; also used with Michelle McCool)
- "Insatiable" by Jim Johnston and performed by Patsy Grime (June 18, 2012–present)
Championships and accomplishments[]
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked her #6 of the best 50 female singles wrestlers in the PWI Female 50 in 2012