Layla: Vince McMahon Came Up With ‘Piggy James,’ That Wasn’t Our Creation At All

Layla reflects on some of the controversial nicknames that she and Michelle McCool used to call some of the other WWE Divas. 

LayCool, the team of Layla and Michelle McCool, were the top heels of their era. This was at the peak of WWE’s switch to PG programming and once again trying to appeal mainly to children and families. As such, the duo acted as bullies and used mean-spirited nicknames to get in their opponents’ heads.

During an interview on the They Made Their Way to the Ring podcast, Layla went through some of the names that she and Michelle called talent, including “Smelly Kelly” for Kelly Kelly, “Manazon” for Beth Phoenix, “Unfed Redhead” for Maria, and “Piggy James” for Mickie James. 

Layla wouldn’t even use the nickname for Mickie James when addressing the situation. She said it was a Vince McMahon creation for which she and Michelle McCool got a lot of heat.

“The first name, which was Mickie James, is very controversial, so I’m not even going to say it. Mickie James….Vince actually came up with that. We had nothing to do with that. We got a lot of heat for it. That wasn’t our creation at all,” she said.

Layla says “Smelly Kelly” was an idea of Michelle McCool. Overall, she felt those kinds of nicknames fit the era, and they were supposed to be offensive to generate heat for their characters.

“I think that was Michelle. I want to say Michelle came up with that one. Maria, the ‘Unfed Redhead,’ I can’t recall. I didn’t even know we called her that. ‘Manazon’ (for Beth Phoenix), I’m not too sure. They fit in that era and time. They fit, they were offensive, they did their job. You guys weren’t supposed to like us. You’re supposed to hate us, but find us funny, but also take us seriously and we’re obnoxious.“

Layla says she would be honored to go into the Hall of Fame alongside Michelle McCool for their time being the quintessential mean girls for WWE’s Divas era. However, she would be at peace if it didn’t happen. 

Layla does, however, believe that Natalya should absolutely be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame and that it should happen while she is still an active competitor. Read those comments here.

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