Trivia / Michelle McCool

• Actor Allusion: Her sexy teacher gimmick came from the fact that she had been a middle school science teacher.
• Actor-Inspired Element: It was her and Layla's idea for the segment after they lost the Divas' Championship where they'd be refused entry to Raw.
• Contractual Purity: Michelle has said this is the reason she was terrified of her old co-workers seeing her doing the sexy teacher gimmick. Likewise she turned down offers to pose for Playboy.
• Creator Backlash:
  • She wasn't too pleased with the feud LayCool had with Beth Phoenix due to disagreements over how the segments would be done. She did still enjoy some of the matches they had though.
  • She hated doing the "Piggy James" angle just as much as Mickie James did, to the point of apologizing profusely to Mickie before and after every segment they did.
  • In Lilian Garcia's podcast, she admitted that two of the four reasons she chose to retire was to avoid hating her career and wrestling due to dealing with accusations of her relationship with The Undertaker being the reason behind her successful career and the booking of the Divas' division.
  • According to Michelle, the sexy teacher gimmick she played when she re-debuted in 2006. She was apparently terrified of her old co-workers seeing that in case she wanted to get her old job back.
• Discredited Meme: Diva Dirt discredited the repeated jokes about Michelle being a former schoolteacher.
• Dye Hard: After she left wrestling, she dyed her hair brown but eventually reverted to blonde.
• Executive Meddling: She and Victoria were told to re-film one of their matches because the office felt their punches looked too brutal.
• Funny Character, Boring Actor: Particularly in her Lay-Cool persona - where she became Denser and Wackier, Evil Is Hammy and a Screaming Woman. Michelle says she's an extremely shy person out of character, and hates attention.
• Hostility on the Set:
  • Mildly with Beth Phoenix, for reasons detailed above. There was also bad blood stemming from a match where Beth botched the Glam Slam and gave Michelle a concussion - and never apologised for it afterwards. The two were able to work together multiple times afterwards however and Beth did mention Michelle in her Hall of Fame speech.
  • She talks about having a minor run-in with the Bella Twins that ended up going to Wrestlers' Court - based off something Lisa Marie Varon overheard Nikki say.
  • Developmental Diva Krissy Vaine said that there was tension between her and Michelle when they were both in DSW. Krissy had been told to act like a locker room leader - which the other Divas didn't know about. So after a match, she went up to Michelle to give her a critique of it. Michelle didn't realise what was going on and thought Krissy was just insulting her.
  • She admitted in Lilian Garcia's podcast that she was resented backstage over her relationship and marriage to The Undertaker, with people attributing her being pushed to success as the top female star of SmackDown to the relationship. It got to the point that one of the writers of the brand suggested it be renamed "The Michelle McCool & Undertaker Show". Unable to deal with the non-stop accusations, Michelle let Vince McMahon know she was retiring as she didn't want to hate the business she grew up loving so much, citing she would've had a sour taste in her mouth had she resumed her career.
• Irony as She Is Cast:
  • Michelle used to be a school teacher and so would likely have been preventing bullying every day, very ironic when you look at her LayCool gimmick.
  • Michelle also describes herself as a Tomboy who didn't even know how to put on fake eyelashes and hair extensions when she first joined the company. She ended her career playing a prissy Alpha Bitch (although she was slightly more tomboyish than Layla).
• Playing Against Type: She was primarily a face early in her career (save for a few months as a heel in 2006). She talked about Arn Anderson telling her she could never be a heel. Then after he saw her heel work, he took back what he had said immediately. She later said she preferred being a heel.
• Portmanteau Couple Name: Lay-Cool obviously. In a shoot interview, Michelle claims they went through dozens of names like that before finally picking one that worked.
• Real Life Writes the Plot:
  • Layla's title win and the co-champions angle came about because of Beth tearing her ACL. It seemed as though LayCool were beginning a side feud with Kelly Kelly separate from the title, but it was later rewritten to include the title once Beth had to drop it.
  • The stipulation, as of the Smackdown taping before Extreme Rules, was supposed to be that the loser would leave Smackdown (Read: Move to Raw). But with Michelle reportedly leaving the company, it was changed that the loser would leave WWE (You could even tell that it was dubbed in).
• Romance on the Set: Is currently married to The Undertaker.
• Throw It In!: Michelle claims that a lot of the LayCool gags came about from her and Layla goofing around backstage, and then realising they could use it on screen.
• Word of God: A rumor on the internet said of Hostility on the Set between her and Natalya over Michelle apparently trying to teach her how to wrestle. Michelle of course denied this years later, and said that when it went around both she and Natalya wondered if the other had started it for a while. They however became good friends shortly after.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Alicia Fox was originally paired with Michelle McCool after the latter's initial Face–Heel Turn. She was inexplicably drafted to Raw and Layla was eventually paired with Michelle after some random tag matches. One wonders what LayCool would have been like if Alicia had been the number 2 instead.
  • Michelle actually filled out papers to audition for the first season of WWE Tough Enough but never sent them out. Three years later, a friend saw an advert for the Diva Search and said "there's your chance, Michelle but you won't take it". The rest is history...
  • Much more was supposed to happen in the mixed tag match at WrestleMania 27 but she was told right before she went out that their time had been cut and to just "go home"^note Wrestling slang for going into the finish. so she and Trish had to abandon half the stuff they'd planned.
  • There were rumors of her featuring as a trainer on the next season of WWE Tough Enough. The sixth season of the show didn't happen until 2015, so Lita was featured as the female trainer instead.