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Layla El

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Layla
File:Layla El WWE Diva.jpg
Born (1978-06-25) June 25, 1978 (age 46)
London, England
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Layla El
Layla
Billed height1.57 m (5 ft 2 in)
Billed weight54 kg (119 lb; 8.5 st)
Billed fromMiami, Florida
Trained byJesse Hernandez
PWA Staff
Dave Finlay
DebutJuly 10, 2006

Layla El (born June 25, 1978) is a British dancer, model and professional wrestler of North African heritage,[1] currently residing in the United States. She is employed by World Wrestling Entertainment as a WWE Diva and appears on the Raw brand.[2]

Before joining WWE in 2006, Layla El was a dancer for Carnival Cruise Lines,[3] the Miami Heat franchise of the NBA,[1] and also danced for Kanye West at the MTV Video Music Awards.[4]

World Wrestling Entertainment

Diva Search (2006)

Layla El (now known as Layla London) first entered the world of professional wrestling after her trainer suggested she try out for the $250,000 WWE Diva Search contest in 2006.[5] During the contest, she won a week's worth of "immunity" on the July 14 (taped July 10) edition of SmackDown! after winning Sgt. Slaughter's "Diva Boot Camp" obstacle course[6]—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.[7] She won another competition, the "Diva Search Talent Show" on the August 11 SmackDown!, when she danced dressed as a police officer.[8] She won the Diva Search, beating out JT Tinney and Jen England in the finals on August 16. Layla is the first diva with African heritage to win the WWE Diva Search.[5]

SmackDown (2006-2007)

She made her first "official" WWE appearance at the 2006 SummerSlam pay-per-view in a backstage segment with several other divas. During the segment, the other women initially taunted and teased her before revealing that "it was all in fun" and part of an "initiation" of sorts. Afterward they dragged her into the showers, fully clothed, where they proceeded to spank her while laughing.[9][10]

The week after SummerSlam, El made her debut as a member of the SmackDown! brand in an interview with Mike "The Miz" Mizanin—although he did not allow her the chance to say much, spending most of the time talking about himself.[11]view Subsequently, she was not seen on WWE TV for weeks, reappearing during the September 22 SmackDown! and getting into confrontations with both Kristal and Jillian Hall.[12] She again went missing for a number of weeks after this, resurfacing at October's No Mercy event and embarrassing the Miz by tricking him into getting a lap dance from Big Dick Johnson while he was blindfolded and expecting it to be from her as a birthday gift.[9]

Layla made her official in-ring debut, a "Diva Trick-or-Treat Battle Royal" on October 24. The match ended in controversial fashion when she was pulled from the ring apron by The Miz, causing her to lose.[13] This led to Miz and Kristal briefly teaming in a feud against Layla and the Boogeyman.

ECW (2007-2008)

On January 23, 2007, Layla was moved to the ECW brand.[14] On ECW she joined up with Brooke and Kelly Kelly as Extreme Exposé, performing a weekly dance segment with the group. Extreme Expose danced weekly on the ECW show for months,[15] until the Miz was also placed on the brand, at which point all three ladies began actively pursuing him.[16] When Kelly shifted her attentions towards the much more slovenly looking Balls Mahoney,[17] Layla, Brooke, and Miz openly mocked her. On November 1, Brooke was released from WWE,[18] and Extreme Exposé dissolved as a group, leaving Kelly and Layla to enter an ongoing rivalry with more active in-ring roles.

Raw (2008)

As part of the 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft, Layla was drafted to the Raw brand and she became the first WWE Diva to be an official superstar on all three brands.[19] On the July 7 edition of "Raw", Layla made her debut along with Jillian Hall being defeated by Mickie James and Kelly Kelly, who was revealed as the newest member of the Raw brand earlier that night. An angle between her and Jamie Noble soon began, where she started to become a fan favorite, with Noble attempting to impress her with his matches, only to be defeated or thoroughly squashed by his opponents. Noble then finally defeated William Regal, which impressed Layla. On the September 15 edition of "Raw", Layla became a heel by siding with Regal after Noble continuously tried to impress her, despite picking up a victory over Paul Burchill. She came out to the entryway, feigning that she would apologize, before calling Noble a loser and choosing to stay with Regal.

Other media

Since winning the Diva Search contest El has also done some modeling work. She has been featured in the magazines King,[20] JET,[21] Smooth,[22] and was the cover-girl for the first ever issue of Liquid.[23][24] She also posed for FHM with the other members of Extreme Exposé.[25]

In April 2007, Layla, along with Kelly Kelly, Brooke, Torrie Wilson, Ashley and Maryse, were filmed for Timbaland's music video "Throw It On Me" featuring The Hives.[26]

During the week of November 5, 2007, Layla appeared on an episode of Family Feud with other WWE superstars. On February 6, 2008 she appeared on Project Runway with several WWE Divas as part of the week's challenge.[27] She also appeared on the April 13, 2008 episode of Celebrity Fit Club Boot Camp as a trainer.Layla makes her debut on the video game Smackdown vs Raw 2009.

==In wrestling==

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. ^ a b "HEAT Dancer 2005: Layla". NBA.com. Retrieved 2007-04-15.
  2. ^ "Profile". WWE. Retrieved 2007-04-15.
  3. ^ Eckinger, Helen. "Hot moves: Heat dancers' hopes for stardom". The Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 2006-06-15. Retrieved 2008-03-01. Layla, who preferred not to give her age, has been with the Heat Dancers for two years. Formerly a dancer for Carnival Cruise Lines
  4. ^ "Superstars > Divas > Diva Search > Layla El > Profile". WWE. Retrieved 2007-04-15.
  5. ^ a b c Cohen, Eric. "Interview With Layla El, Winner of the 2006 Diva Search". About.com. Retrieved 2007-04-15.
  6. ^ Zeigler, Zach. "Layla earns immunity". WWE. Retrieved 2007-04-15.
  7. ^ "SmackDown! Results - July 14, 2006". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2007-04-15. Layla El [...] was next [...]She screwed up the tires again and looked to have skipped some.
  8. ^ Medalis, Kara. "Divas show their talents". WWE. Retrieved 2007-04-15.
  9. ^ a b PWI Staff (2007). "Wrestling's historical cards". Pro Wrestling Illustrated presents: 2007 Wrestling almanac & book of facts. Kappa Publishing Group: 121–122.
  10. ^ "Girls of FHM - Extreme Exposé's Layla". FHMOnline.com. Retrieved 2007-08-31.
  11. ^ Tello, Craig. "Friday knightmare". WWE.com. Retrieved 2006-08-25.
  12. ^ "SmackDown! results - September 22, 2006". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-04-15.
  13. ^ DiFino, Lennie. "Mutiny". WWE. Retrieved 2006-10-27.
  14. ^ Tello, Craig. "Premature rumblings". WWE. Retrieved 2007-01-23.
  15. ^ "Online World of Wrestling profile". Retrieved 2008-02-09.
  16. ^ "ECW results - June 19, 2007". Online World of Wresting. Retrieved 2007-09-07.
  17. ^ "ECW results - August 7, 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-09-07.
  18. ^ "Brooke released". WWE. Retrieved 2007-11-01.
  19. ^ "Official 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft Results". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
  20. ^ "Layla El - King Magazine". Retrieved 2007-04-15.
  21. ^ "JET Beauty of the Week - Layla El". ebonyjet.com. Retrieved 2007-07-19.
  22. ^ Kara A. Medalis. "Layla gets 'Smooth' and sexy". WWE. Retrieved 2007-08-15.
  23. ^ "LIQUID Magazine main page". Retrieved 2007-04-15.
  24. ^ Medalis, Kara A. "Layla is LIQUID's premiere cover girl". WWE. Retrieved 2006-12-05.
  25. ^ Medalis, Kara A. "Diva Dish: FHM goes Extreme". WWE. Retrieved 2007-08-10. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  26. ^ Medalis, Kara A. "The Sexiest Women in L.A." WWE. Retrieved 2007-04-20.
  27. ^ Medalis, Kara A. "Diva Dish: 'Runway' Divas". WWE. Retrieved 2008-02-10. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  28. ^ "The PWI Female 50 Rankings: Who Is The Top Women's Wrestler In The World?". PWPix.net. 2008-09-18. Retrieved 2008-09-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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