Layla talks about auditioning for WWE's Diva's Search in 2006.
Speaking with DS Shin of Ring the Belle, the former Women's Champion gave her first interview since stepping away from the ring. She went through the top-5 fan-voted moments of her career, which began with her Diva's Search victory in 2006. Layla says that it changed her life, but she almost didn't go to her audition.
"I remember crossing my finger, I really thought that I was not going to win that. It still tears me up, it still makes me cry because it changed my life.
I was a Heat dancer, which I think a lot of people already knew. A lady called Allison reached out to me when we had Myspace... so she reached out to me on Myspace and was like, "Hey, we have tryouts in your area, would you like to come along?" The day of the actual audition I was laying in bed, it was storming outside, and I'm like, "I'm just going to lay in bed all day." Then something just told me to get up, go answer that message, get the address and go. I did and I ended up being two hours late because of the hurricane that was happening and everything. Jane, who was one of the casting ladies there, waited for me, took my interview, and I will always be thankful to Allison and Jane because they actually got me my first opportunity to be seen and to get onto the Diva's Search. Changed my life. Changed my life completely."
On July 29, 2015, WWE announced that Layla had decided to retire from professional wrestling. During her decade with the company, she won the Diva's Championship, Women's Championship, and was a part of the successful LayCool tag team with Michelle McCool, which WWE ranked as #36 on their "50 Greatest Tag Teams" list.
Recently, McCool announced that she had tested positive for COVID-19.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit Ring the Belle with a h/t to Fightful for the transcription.
