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Layla El-Young (born 25 June 1977), simply known by her first name Layla, is a retired English dancer and professional wrestler, who worked with Wrestling/{{WWE}} from 2006 to 2015.

After some years as a South Florida dancer for Carnival Cruise Lines and [[UsefulNotes/{{Basketball}} the NBA's Miami Heat]] (her last year being the Heat's first championship season), she entered the 2006 Wrestling/WWEDivaSearch and won the competition for the prize of a $250,000 contract with WWE. She became a mainstay of the Divas division and is a former WWE Divas Champion. She is most well-known for being one half of the heel duo Wrestling/LayCool.

On July 29, 2015, Layla announced in an interview with WWE.com that she was retiring from WWE. Shortly before her departure, she clocked nine years in the WWE, making her the longest tenured woman wrestler in the company. (Though Wrestling/NatalyaNeidhart and Wrestling/AliciaFox have since surpassed her).

In 2021, she announced she was working on an autobiography.

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!!"Nasty Tropes":

* AbortedArc: Layla and Kaitlyn showed signs of tension with Layla seemingly being jealous over Kaitlyn's title win and Kaitlyn not happy about Layla blind tagging herself into a match. It never went anywhere and they were back to being friends in a few weeks. Layla actually did turn heel on Kaitlyn months later but when Kaitlyn had already lost the Divas' Championship - so it didn't make much sense.
* AlphaBitch: With Lena Yada against Wrestling/KellyKelly on ECWWE. To the entire division with Wrestling/MichelleMcCool later, though she was more like the BetaBitch then.
* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: In a bit of a possible TakeThat at Wrestling/{{TNA}}'s Wrestling/AJStyles, Layla [[InTheHood wore a hood]] during her entrance.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Wrestling/{{Melina}} was presented this way up until Layla pinned her after Michelle [=McCool=] struck Melina with a crutch, she wouldn't get a clean win though for years to come. This was also the basis of her rivalry with junior diva search winner Wrestling/EveTorres, whom Layla never did get a decisive win over, not even in arm wrestling or dance offs. It was one of her losses to Eve that actually broke up [=LayCool=].
* ArchEnemy: It ''was'' Summer Rae in early 2014, but the two later teamed up against their mutual enemy, Fandango.
* AssKicksYou: "[[CallingYourAttacks Booty Bump!]]"
* TheAtoner: Post-Wrestling/LayCool. She apologised to all the other Divas before her Loser Leaves WWE match.
* AttentionWhore: She ruined Wrestling/{{Kaitlyn}}'s chances of regaining the Divas' Championship and sided with Wrestling/AJLee because she wanted to be in the center of events. AJ being crazy and all, it did not last long.
* ButNotTooForeign: She was always billed from Miami, Florida. Even whenever WWE was in the UK. WWE rarely took notice of the fact that she was the first British Women's Champion.
* CatchPhrase: LOL is her hashtag - it stands for "Lots of Layla"[[note]]the term 'lol' initially also stood for 'lots of love' before it became short hand for 'laugh out loud'[[/note]] - and it's also the name of one of her moves.
* {{Chickification}}: In 2010-2013 Layla TookALevelInBadass to become both Women's Champion and Divas' Champion, able to defeat the likes of Wrestling/BethPhoenix and Natalya - as well as her kicks being able to knock people out. When she returned in 2014 after a brief hiatus, she was put as Fandango's dance partner, {{Cat Fight}}ing a lot more and rarely winning matches on her own. She pretty much regressed into her status from 2008-2009.
* CoolMask: She wore a Mardi Gras themed mask at ''[=WrestleMania=] 30''. She wore it again for her entrance at ''Money In The Bank'' 2014.
* DanceBattler: As a face she would do incredibly silly dances to sucker her opponents in.
* DarkActionGirl: She had the fastest jump to actual, decent competition of any diva search winner, but did not really take off till she got nasty.
* DavidVersusGoliath: During Wrestling/LayCool vs Wrestling/BethPhoenix and [[Wrestling/NatalyaNeidhart Natalya]]. Oddly, it was a heel David vs. face Goliaths. Played straight when face Layla defended her title against heel Beth in 2012.
* DirtyCoward: Often in her Lay-Cool days. She was prone to hide behind Michelle and/or Vickie.
* TheDogBitesBack: After getting dicked over by Wrestling/{{Fandango}} repeatedly (with Fandango having cheated on her with Summer and then usurping their spotlight in matches), Layla and Wrestling/SummerRae turned on him and teamed up.
* EnemyMine: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. After fighting over Fandango, Layla and Wrestling/SummerRae decided to team up and generally ruin his day, but first they resolved their issues with each other and became friends, so they weren't enemies when they teamed up.
* EvilBrit: Though was more often billed from Florida, she was frequently referred as the first British women's champion and she was a heel during this time. Also when she turned down Jamie Noble, who was being uncharacteristically nice to her, for British bully Wrestling/WilliamRegal.
* EvilIsHammy: As a heel she would often throw over the top tantrums and scream over the simplest things. And her 2013 heel turn to Kaitlyn? She ended it by leaving the ring, skipping with AJ.
* EvilWearsBlack: Layla donned a black evening gown on the night that she became a villainess and betrayed Kaitlyn.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: When she became a heel in 2007, she stopped wearing her hair curly and always had it straight. She gave herself bangs around the time she won the Women's Championship and was taken more seriously as a competitor. When she returned from injury as a {{Face}} her hair had grown to waist length, after her brief return in 2015 before her retirement, she cut it into a bob.
* FinishingMove: A back neck breaker she calls the Layout. She briefly added a flipping stunner from the turnbuckle called the Face Lift (which she stopped using after her face turn). During her title reign she won matches with a kick called the Bombshell.
* FiveMovesOfDoom: Flying clotheslines, spinning facebuster, LOL and often she'd throw a kick which the opponent would duck but she got them with a second kick.
* FriendshipMoment: After Kaitlyn lost the Divas' Championship to AJ at ''Payback'' 2013, Kaitlyn could barely make it up the ramp while in tears. Layla came out and comforted her, helping her to the back.
* FunWithAcronyms: Her CatchPhrase is LOL - Lots of Layla (a CallBack to the days when 'lol' used to stand for 'lots of love').
* GenkiGirl: Always as a face. Sometimes as a heel, depending on whether she wanted to be an AlphaBitch or a LargeHam.
* GenreSavvy: When she returned from injury, she was presented as much smarter than she had been before. She always countered Beth Phoenix's Glam Slam and didn't trust Eve Torres at all.
* GlassCannon: Poor Layla probably spent more of her career on the shelf than in the ring.
* GracefulLadiesLikePurple: Began wearing more purple gear, and having purple graphics and filters in her titantron video, around the same time she adopted the 'Simply Flawless' gimmick.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: During the feud with Summer Rae, it was sometimes unclear which of them was meant to be the face or the heel. Sometimes it seemed to switch every week. But when the Slayers formed they seemed to be faces - as they helped other face wrestlers get wins against Fandango. Further complicating matters was them facing AJ Lee and Paige who at the time were both tweeners. And they worked as faces for a 6-Diva tag on Raw - and ''the very next night'' they were heels against Wrestling/RosaMendes (who had been heel against them on Raw).
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Michelle [=McCool=]. To the point where when their relationship got rocky they went into couple's therapy.
* IAmVeryBritish: Invoked this when she was paired with William Regal. Elsewhere averted - as she's lived in America for so long, her accent has simply faded.
* IKnowKarate: She practices Muay Thai.
* ImportantHaircut: Cut her hair short in 2015, possibly foreshadowing her retirement.
* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: By the end of [=LayCool=]. Her desperate pleas for mercy whilst being crushed by Beth Phoenix/Natalya and her utter devotion to Michelle [=McCool=] got her over with the fans.
* {{Jerkass}}: Good God, yes. Especially as part of [[GirlPosse LayCool]].
* KickChick: Was using a spinning martial arts kick as early as 2008. One of her kicks was reportedly so stiff it busted Eve open at ''Tribute To The Troops''.
* OddFriendship:
** She and [=McCool=] with the serious, no-nonsense [[Wrestling/LowKi Kaval]], especially considering that they were heels while he was a face. Despite having him hold their Women's Championship belts and not treating him with much respect, they did care about him and were genuinely happy when he won NXT Season 2. Kaval reciprocated and was protective of them.
** When in the middle of the latest of a series of fights, Layla and Wrestling/SummerRae seem to come to the simultaneous realization that Wrestling/{{Fandango}} is a spotlight-hogging {{jerkass}} who has wronged them both. After they team up to attack him, Summer wordlessly invites Layla to come dance with her in the ring, and they become fast friends, even forming a TagTeam.
* OlderHeroVersusYoungerVillain: In her 2012 storyline with Eve, Layla at that point was 37 and one of the oldest women on the roster. As a result, she was always suspicious of the younger Eve (who had just turned 28).
* OlderThanTheyLook: She is nearly forty but still looks like she did in her twenties. As if to hammer it in, Layla, with the departures of Wrestling/KellyKelly and Wrestling/BethPhoenix back in 2012, was the longest-tenured active diva on the roster, having been in the WWE since ''2006'', up until her retirement in 2015[[note]]With the new longest-tenured Diva being Natalya, who has been in WWE since May 2008[[/note]]. Yet she hasn't aged a day since she's first arrived in the WWE. [[https://twitter.com/mslayel/status/617737088104972288 Some say she looks even better]]. How ironic is it that her last name is "Young" now that she's married?
* PutOnABus: Injured her knee (tore the ac and mc ligaments) in May 2011 during Extreme Rules, and was written off TV with an Implant Buster from Kharma. She returned a year later to win the Divas Championship.
* RetiredBadass: She hung up the boots in 2015 and has been known to respond to questions about a return with a BluntNo and black heart emoji.
* ReligiousBruiser: She mentions God frequently in her social media posts.
* RickyMorton: Frequently as a face (except when she was champion). Presumably since she's one of the smaller Divas and is very good at selling.
* TheRival:
** She and Wrestling/KellyKelly were frequently on opposite sides of the ring for most of their careers. Notably when Layla tried to apologise to the face Divas after her own face turn, it was Kelly who spoke for them.
** Also, Wrestling/{{Aksana}} in 2012 and 2013. They faced each other in a lot of house show matches, complete with promos on Tout to hype them up. When Aksana was released, Layla tweeted ''"I had some of my fav and best matches with @[=WWEAksana=] that never made TV...blessed to have worked with you"''
* TheRunnerUpTakesItAll: {{Subverted|trope}}. Layla is one of the only two Diva Search winners who had any success in the company -- the other being succeeding winner Wrestling/EveTorres.
* SignatureMove: An arm drag into a chain of holds she calls infinity (always ended in a pin but what kind of pin varied on how long she decided to keep it going), also a triple jump crossbody she called LOL (Lots Of Layla). A spinning facebuster once she turned face.
* SmallNameBigEgo: As a heel, especially when part of [=LayCool=].
* TagTeam:
** Most famously with Wrestling/MichelleMcCool, as Wrestling/LayCool.
** Later with Wrestling/SummerRae as the [=SLayers=].
* TrailersAlwaysLie: The promo for ''Wrestling/SummerSlam 2014'' showed Layla playing with [[EverythingsBetterWithSparkles sparkles]] and blowing them at the viewer with a kiss. You'd think that that meant she would be a player at ''[=SummerSlam=]'', or at least that she would show up at the event in ''some'' capacity at some point, right? Nope. Turned out that she didn't appear at all in the actual pay-per-view.
* TraitorShot: Displayed during her {{Revealing Hug}} to Kaitlyn, before Layla turned heel and betrayed her.
* TwoferTokenMinority: She's a woman of Moroccan and Spanish decent. She's also British, adding another flavour to the mix.
* WearingAFlagOnYourHead: For WWE's 2012 and 2013 tours to the UK, Layla wrestled in gear with the Union Jack pattern on it.
* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: She's English but has spent a considerable time living in the U.S., resulting in a hybrid accent of American, Cockney and RP.
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