By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Insight With Chris Van Vliet with guest Layla
Host: Chris Van Vliet
Podcast available via Podcasts.Apple.com
Your break was almost 10 years. You retired from WWE in 2015. What made you step away from everything? “If you look back, for me, I started in 2006, so I was there for nine years, and I’ve been traveling. I was never a part-time talent, I was always full-time, and we worked a lot at that time. I just was like, I’m 38, what am I gonna do? My looks, you get to the point, your looks are not the same, and I’m getting tired and worn out from just traveling all the time, stuff like that. Where was there really for me to go? I kind of did everything, and they were coming in with the new girls, younger, fresh. So I just was like, it’s just time to go. Then that’s what I did. I just made up my mind one day, I went in, and I just asked, ‘Can I have my release, please? I just want to go.'”
Had you been thinking about it for a while? “No, I just literally [decided], honestly. Vince actually signed me to a new contract, and I don’t know, I just woke up, and I was just like, it’s just time.”
What was the reaction when you asked to be released? “I had to wait because I left. I didn’t even stay that day. I was just like, guys, I’m done.”
Did you have a plan for what was next? “No. I can’t explain it. It’s just such a hard grind, and I think when you’re with WWE, the thing is always to keep going, keep striving, keep asking for more, keep reaching, keep saying, I’ve still got one more run, I can do this, because you’re always fighting for a spot, and I was just like, what am I fighting for? I literally felt like I was like a hamster on the wheel, and I was just like, yeah, I’m done, it’s fine.”
You became co-champions with Michelle McCool. How was that pitched to you? “It wasn’t. So the idea that I remember was it was going to be Vickie Guerrero. She used to come out with me and Michelle before. It was pitched that Vickie was going to win the title, just Vickie. So they needed the title to go on somebody else, but my gut was that it was Fit Finlay that fought for me. I think it was him, because the day of, about maybe two hours before the show, like, Fit comes up and he’s like, ‘Congratulations, champ.’ I’m like, ‘Congratulations, champ?’ He goes, ‘You’re going to win a title.’ He was known for always ribbing everybody and just telling everybody, playing jokes. I’m thinking, what the hell is he talking about? I didn’t even listen. We went through the whole match, stuff like that. I’m waiting this entire time for them to be like, ‘Ha ha!’ Because he would do that, like he would make jokes on us and stuff like that, and it never happened. It just never happened. Went through the match, and I won the women’s championship. What? Co-women’s Champion? It was the biggest surprise to me. But if you even look at the crowd, it was in Beth Phoenix’s hometown, and there was no reaction. It was crickets. No one expected me to win that. It was perfect.”
Did they already have the plan that they were gonna cut the title in half, like friendship bracelet style? “They didn’t know, because remember, they made up their mind that day. They made up their mind a few hours before the show. But Michelle was like, well, why don’t we do co-champions kind of thing? Because then it’s like we can have our friendship, blah, blah, blah. Michelle fought for that, and I fought for that, and that’s what happened, like nobody knew what was going to happen. Then it was actually Batista who, one day we were rehearsing, and he came up, and he was like, ‘Hey, I just told Vince, you guys just split the titles like you have with your necklaces.’ That’s how it happened.”
How did you feel about the Piggy James storyline when this is first presented to you? “When we were told about the first, like, pre-tape, and then the actual segment, I was kind of shocked, to be honest with you. I was surprised, but at the same time, I was also like, oh wow, at least they’re investing in a diva segment. So they’re giving us some time, and they were giving us a storyline. That meant a lot, regardless of what the storyline was, they were actually giving the girls a storyline. So I was grateful, but also kind of looking at Mickie, is she okay with this?”
Nobody believes that Mickie James is overweight. “No, I know that. You got to remember, I think, especially in that time, in that era, it was like women, we were always made fun of. Our weight was so important to us, and there were certain things that we could get away with in that era that you could ever get away with now. So I think it was a very touchy story to some people, but I’m very glad that it happened, because it was the first time ever that divas got heat. They wanted to beat us up at live events, like literal women wanted to beat us up, like they really believed that we were, you know. Not only that, I think that Mickie did amazing. That storyline, if you look at it, it was great, it was the first time the Divas section, especially on Smackdown, we had something.”
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