CM Punk unexpectedly helped create WWE Tag Team name
CM Punk played an unexpected role in the creation of a women’s tag team name according to former WWE star Layla El.
El disclosed on Insight with Chris Van Vliet that WWE executives were pushing for a tag team name with Michelle McCool. They were brainstorming between themselves when Punk walked by and casually suggested LayCool that eventually stuck and caught on.
“Yeah, he did. He wasn’t even part of the conversation. That’s what’s so funny about it. Because Johnny or somebody, I can’t remember, was like, ‘Guys, you need a name? You’ve been together too long now, it’s getting ridiculous. You need a name.’ Punk was hanging out at the arena, and he just was like, ‘What are you guys doing?’ We had a piece of paper, and we were trying to write something. We’re like, we’re trying to think of a name. And then we were Cool-Lay, it was so stupid. And then he’s like, ‘LayCool?’ Then we’re like, yeah, that’s it. Punk just happened to be there. We were just in the corridor, I don’t know, just happened.”
El recalled that the tag team with McCool came about unexpectedly, and initially Alicia Fox was considered for the spot.
“Mickie was brought to SmackDown. Michelle and Mickie were going to go against each other; they first had Alicia Fox. If you noticed, she was out there doing matches with Michelle. They needed a filler, and they were like, Layla. So they would put me in there to be the filler so that they wouldn’t touch each other, and they’d save it for the pay-per-view. It just started like that. I was never supposed to be in LayCool, because I know that Stephanie McMahon wanted to do like a mean girl faction kind of thing, and I think it was definitely Michelle, and it was gonna be, I think, Alicia Fox, and then for some reason, me and Michelle working together, and just the chemistry, and just trust. She trusted me. She gave me so many opportunities.”
Rosanne Raphael is a wrestling writer with over three and a half years of experience covering all things related to the industry. From a kindergarten teacher to PR Associate to turning her lifelong passion for the industry into a career, Rosanne is currently writing for F4W Online where she focuses on wrestling news, analysis, and storytelling.
Rosanne previously contributed to Sportskeeda as an Assistant Content Manager.
When not consumed by wrestling, Rosanne is a musician and an aspiring artist.