Layla El retires

[Tastycles]

Layla announced she was retiring from the WWE today on Twitter. I imagine a lot of this thread will be quite offensive, but I'm going to start it with compliments. Layla injected an actual heel personality into the Divas division that wasn't just "I'm really attractive", which is depressingly rare. Her on screen chemistry with Michelle McCool was really good and whilst she wasn't setting the world on fire in the ring her programmes were far more entertaining than most of the others post Trish and Lita.

In the Alicia Fox thread people are discussing that female wrestlers don't often get big time injuries - Layla suffered one of the worst sports injuries you can get with a snapped ACL and worked incredibly hard to come back from it. People bitch and whinge about Tough Enough not producing anyone good, but Layla came from the Diva Search and has had a solid and successful eight year career. I always saw something in her, particularly on the microphone, and while perhaps it is time to go, I am grateful to have seen her perform.

 

[Aquaman6686]

I'm a big Layla fan and have been since early in her career. I'm very happy that I got to see her defend the Divas Championship at a Pay-Per-View live before she retired (defeating Beth Phoenix at No Way Out 2012), and I'm sad to see her go. She's been one of my favorite Divas for years.

 

[stingray11214]

Layla retired because she is getting married. Also, she probably beat WWE to the punch by walking away. They really had nothing for her at this point. Furthermore, with TNA reportedly on the skids, the only places she had to go to were the Indies or Japan. All the best to her.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I kept wondering why the company seemed to have nothing for her to do after she returned from the ACL. Her short partnership with Fandango was done so poorly, it seemed simply a vehicle to get Layla and Summer Raye together for some reason....and once it happened, the company dropped that, too.

Did Layla put on weight? It seemed to me she did, and true to the notion that there are organizations that exploit women for their bodies, that would be professional suicide for Layla's on-screen appearances, no? (This isn't a complaint about exploitation; a woman can't be exploited by an entertainment company without her permission)

Still, although I rather enjoyed Layla's ring performances in the rare instances we got to see her, I have to admit when the three diva factions were formed, I wondered what would become of Natalya and Emma.......I totally forgot about Layla.

Could her retirement announcement coincide with the notion she went to management and asked if anything was coming for her.....and they told her 'no?'

 

[stingray11214]

Still, although I rather enjoyed Layla's ring performances in the rare instances we got to see her, I have to admit when the three diva factions were formed, I wondered what would become of Natalya and Emma.......I totally forgot about Layla.

Could her retirement announcement coincide with the notion she went to management and asked if anything was coming for her.....and they told her 'no?'

Yeah, could very well be. She probably saw the handwriting on the wall when she saw the pairings. Furthermore, after Alicia Fox got hurt, she inquired and was told "no". She probably handed in her notice then and there.

 

[Navi]

I had almost forgot about her, she is seen so rarely. As a matter of fact I thought she was already gone. There was talk a few months ago about her having something to do with Tough Enough, but never saw her on the show and thought it was because she was no longer part of the WWE.

I enjoyed Laycool when they were around, but after that she didn't really do anything of note. Managed to avoid most of the stuff with Summer Rae. That being mostly to do with the fact that when Summer Rae comes on, I tune out.

Good luck to her in the future. Can she take Cameron with her?

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I still think she could have nailed the Elizabeth part in the Meta Powers but otherwise there doesn't appear like there is much left for her to do. Beautiful woman who surprised me at times with her ability to entertain in and out of the ring. She always came off as someone who is in reality a nice, bright, and decent person.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

See, thats one of the problems I have with Divas Division in WWE: after a while you just get forgoten if they dont have anything for you. And that is pretty common in enviroment with just 1 or 2 matches with Divas participation. So you got Layla who was Divas Champion on multiple occasion and is not even that bad comparing to other Divas(like Summer Rae or Rosa Mendes or even Naomi "BigButt"). But still after a while you dont have even vallet thing for her to be exposed even a little bit. And then you need some "Divas Revolution" because you cant utilise the likes of Layla or for example Natalya(who is nowhere to be seen also) or Emma but have time to fit in Summer Rae or Naomi. And then after few months, for example, Natty is gone, Charlotte plays the role of Natty(gets good matches but not title), Sasha Banks is Champion and feuds with Paige after Nikki crushes AJ record and is gone while after that, and third one(Becky Lynch) is back on NXT because there is nothing for her to do. And then you realise that so called "Revolution" is nothing if you dont acctually make it relevant and do something meaningfull with that talents you had on roster. Because you had same thing in past and you didnt do anything different and thats why you had problem. Not saying that would happen but can totally see same patern after all this "look we maked Divas relevant and they had "Revolution"" part.

In that kind of environment its no wonder why you have once top talent(Layla) to just go out and quit. Maybe its not because of that(she had nasty injury at the begining of the year) but am certain that if they had anything for her to do, she will still be there.

 

[TJ Matics]

Though it wasn't surprising, I was sad to hear about her retirement. I've been patiently waiting for her to do something of note after that Fandango...thing, maybe become a regular on Total Divas to at least get some buzz around her. However after how the "revolution" has paired out I completely understand her reasoning and wish her all the best.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

I honestly didn't think she was still around. Shows how much I paid attention to any storyline she was involved in. The only thing I can think of that made her memorable was LayCool.

 

[Bernkastel]

Sad day indeed. Layla was always one of my favorites. Even years ago when I couldn't admit it due to my own smarkish stupidity. Laycool had some low spots but I felt that was more attributed to the WWE's terrible writing, as opposed to the talents of Layla and Michelle. They had several good matches as a team and as rivals. And Layla herself had several good runs as a champion. She should be proud of her career. Layla was just one of those talents that "got it." So as a fan I'll always be grateful to her for that.

I was really hoping that she'd take a similar role that Ivory did in the mid 2000's. As enhancement talent that could have good matches with anyone no matter the circumstances. Damn.

 

[Slash-LN]

At 38 she's up there in age for a Diva. She's had a range of injuries over the past few years.
She was a positive to come out of the Divas search competition though.

I guess I got to witness one of her last matches live because I just saw her at a live event on the 18th where she took the pin after a botched scissor kick from Alicia Fox that I thought actually had hurt Layla for real at first.

This ended up not being the case.

But good luck to her in her post WWE life.

 

[Messiah]

I liked Layla, but she won't be missed simply because she hasn't been used properly in year's. She's been forgotten about by most people... If divas like Layla and AJ keep retiring. It makes things a lot easier for WWE to get rid of all the dead weight, now that the revolution is happening a lot of these woman will never be seen.

 

[TheBadGuy92]

Layla hasnt entertained me since Exteme Expose. So. My honest opinion.

 

[d_henderson1810]

Oh, has Layla retired? I didn't even notice.

Look, this isn't a criticism of Layla as such. But the fact is, she has hardly done anything for years. She usually is just standing around with other Divas in backstage segments, or is used when they want someone to job to the Diva they are pushing at the time.

Layla's problem was that she didn't bring anything unique to the table. Everything she did, another Diva could do, and be noticed for it. She was bettered in most areas by other Divas. She wasn't the worst, but there always seemed to be someone better looking, a better worker or with more personality or attention. Layla seemed just there, part of the furniture.

Name me one significant storyline Layla has had in the last three years. She isn't in the current story with the Bellas and Fox, B.A.D. and Paige, Charlotte and Becky, or being used like Lana or Summer are. So what do they have for her to do?

I'd like to say that I miss Layla, but the fact is, I will probably forget that she is gone before long.

 

[d_henderson1810]

I still think she could have nailed the Elizabeth part in the Meta Powers but otherwise there doesn't appear like there is much left for her to do. Beautiful woman who surprised me at times with her ability to entertain in and out of the ring. She always came off as someone who is in reality a nice, bright, and decent person.

The fact that WWE want nothing to do with Hogan makes me think that they will scrap the Meta Powers anyway (as Axel imitating Hogan won't happen anymore) , so Layla would no longer be needed in that storyline either.

 

[Navi]

The fact that WWE want nothing to do with Hogan makes me think that they will scrap the Meta Powers anyway (as Axel imitating Hogan won't happen anymore) , so Layla would no longer be needed in that storyline either.

They have already scrapped it just in case you didn't know. It was announced the other day that all the Axelmania product was pulled from wwe.shop.com, Also they're being announced as just Axle and Sandow at house shows now.

 

[kumarjtk]

she is been out for more months due to injury. I think wwe release her when her contract expire. So she decide to retire.
Actually i am the fan of laycool. I also remember her fued with melina, beth, eve torres title fueds.
All the best to her future.

 

[NSL]

I have to admit when the three diva factions were formed, I wondered what would become of Natalya and Emma.......I totally forgot about Layla.

Could her retirement announcement coincide with the notion she went to management and asked if anything was coming for her.....and they told her 'no?'

I can't imagine it being any other reason. And, with them doing a changing of the guard in the division, it's smarter to walk away, and re-appear in the future for one-offs and anniversary shows, where she'll undoubtedly still be gorgeous, and get a huge pop.

She could also move into a training role with NXT. Who knows?

 

[yourdamnluck]

Laycool was the best thing in diva's division since Trish & Lita. Layla despite her age was perhaps the most resilient and the hottest diva in wwe. They should have given her a proper send off.

 

[WorstWrestlingExcrement]

Layla will be in TNA soon they all say that and end up elsewhere , see you in TNA's knockout division

 

[Slash-LN]

Oh, has Layla retired? I didn't even notice.

Look, this isn't a criticism of Layla as such. But the fact is, she has hardly done anything for years. She usually is just standing around with other Divas in backstage segments, or is used when they want someone to job to the Diva they are pushing at the time.

Layla's problem was that she didn't bring anything unique to the table. Everything she did, another Diva could do, and be noticed for it. She was bettered in most areas by other Divas. She wasn't the worst, but there always seemed to be someone better looking, a better worker or with more personality or attention. Layla seemed just there, part of the furniture.

Name me one significant storyline Layla has had in the last three years. She isn't in the current story with the Bellas and Fox, B.A.D. and Paige, Charlotte and Becky, or being used like Lana or Summer are. So what do they have for her to do?

I'd like to say that I miss Layla, but the fact is, I will probably forget that she is gone before long.

There was that story line with Fandango and Summer Rae last year when Layla became Fandango's new dancer, but I honestly couldn't tell you how that all ended. Or if it even had a proper end to it.

 

[TJ Matics]

There was that story line with Fandango and Summer Rae last year when Layla became Fandango's new dancer, but I honestly couldn't tell you how that all ended. Or if it even had a proper end to it.

It ended with them both turning on Fandango and leaving him together. They were both next to irrelevant for awhile, then Summer joined Total Divas and had a few matches with Natalya as a result. Now she's with Rusev. Nothing groundbreaking but enough to keep her relevant, I wish the same could have happened for Layla. But if, like someone said on here, she's getting married then again I wish her all the best.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Fairly worthless outside of Laycool, though comparitavely, that makes her still better than most. Easily one of the best looking on the roster since she showed up.


Some fun times, wont be missed. Im sure she will catch on somewere. Too attractive and charismatic to not be hosting a show on the travel channel or something of the sort.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

At the end of the day, you have to remember this. She was a Diva Search winner who was a Diva for basically a decade. She has stayed employed longer than ALL winners of Tough Enough, many of the male counterparts on the roster and it looks as if she just got engaged to Ricky Ortiz.

So she's probably retiring for the same reasons Beth Pheonix and Michelle McCool did, to have kids - hell she might already be pregnant. Whatever your thoughts on her "value", how many people do stay in the WWE if they have none for a decade? Much less women?

As a fellow Brit, she did us proud, hope she still works for them on and off.