Layla El
Layla El (born 25 June 1977) is an English retired professional wrestler, dancer and model. She is best known for her tenure in WWE from 2006 to 2015, where she performed under the mononymous ring name Layla. She danced for Carnival Cruise Lines, the Miami Heat franchise of the National Basketball Association, and Kanye West during his performance at the MTV Video Music Awards before becoming a contestant on the 2006 edition of WWE's Diva Search, which she won to earn a contract with the company.
| Layla | |
|---|---|
Layla in 2014 | |
| Birth name | Layla El |
| Born | 25 June 1977 London, England, United Kingdom |
| Spouse(s) |
Richard Young (m. 2015) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Layla Layla El |
| Billed height | 5 ft 2 in (157 cm) |
| Billed weight | 119 lb (54 kg) |
| Billed from | Miami, Florida |
| Trained by | Jesse Hernandez Dave Finlay |
| Debut | 16 August 2006 |
| Retired | 29 July 2015 |
Initially appearing on the SmackDown brand, El moved to ECW in January 2007. There, 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 SmackDown and formed an alliance with Michelle McCool known as LayCool. In May 2010, she won the WWE Women's Championship for the first time. She is the first British woman and the first Diva Search winner to hold the championship, and was the final champion when the title was retired in 2010. In April 2012, she won the WWE Divas Championship upon her return from a year-long absence due to injury, and held it until September that year. She then wrestled for the next three years until her retirement in 2015.