Layla Says She Wasn’t Originally Set To Win WWE Womens Title, Recalls Reaction To Win

Layla won the WWE Women’s Championship back in 2010, and she recently looked back on the win and how it almost didn’t happen. The WWE alumna won the title from Beth Phoenix on the May 11th episode of Smackdown that year in a two-on-one handicap match alongside Michelle McCool. Layla was the official champion, though McCool was an unofficial co-champion and defended it from time to time.

Layla would go on to hold the title for 127 days until McCool unified it with the Divas Championship at Night of Champions 2010. She spoke with Wombreezy for a new interview and talked about the original plans for the title change, her reaction to being told and more. You can see the highlights below:

On Not Originally Being Planned To Win:

“Oh my god. I’ll always remember that day, because they didn’t decide who was going to win that title. Because I guess Beth was injured, right? She got injured the week before, and then Michelle was not on the road as much. So she wasn’t doing the live events, but I was always on the live events. And that was at a time when we had Vickie Guerrero with us. So the actual pitch was to have Vickie Guerrero win the title, and we were going to go from there.

“And then Fit Finley, who I have so much respect for. Basically trained me, like literally. I wouldn’t have had a career without Fitz Finley. So I have to say that. And he came up and he’s like, ‘Hey Leyla, you’re winning the title tonight.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, okay.’ Because he’s always he’s a jokester, he’s always joking around. So I was like, ‘Okay, fair enough.’ The whole time, I never reacted. I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘It’s not going to happen.’ And I was still in the ring waiting for it, waiting for the ref or someone to say, ‘Not really. Step out the ring or something,’ I was just waiting for to happen.”

On the Reaction To Her Win:

“Then when it actually happened and I pinned Beth, the crowd was like — if you look back, it was like crickets. It was in her hometown, too. Nobody expected me. It was just such a moment that is like, I’m so happy and ecstatic for. And even if people are like, ‘Oh, but nobody cared that Lea won.’ that was the best thing that ever happened to me. Because nobody cared, I was the underdog. Nobody expected me to have any kind of career in wrestling to that level.

“So, it was like, ‘This is great.’ This is a moment for me. WWE trusts me, they put the title on me. I’m the first British WWE uh Women’s champion. The first Arab Women’s champion.”

On How She Felt About The Win:

“So, it was just like so much stuff that I was just trying to take in. At the same time though, knowing that that was pretty much the beginning of my true WWE career. Like that was the moment where I was like, ‘Now I get to really shine, and get to prove and show what I can do.’ And also to show WWE, ‘Thank you for putting that faith, that trust in me. Now we’re going to really have some fun.’ Which we did. I had the best time ever after that.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Wombreezy with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.