YMMV / Layla

For the Wrestler:

• Audience-Alienating Era: Layla's brief alliance with A.J. Lee is something her fans would rather forget, for the laughable way the heel turn happened (see below) and the fact that the story went nowhere. She managed to redeem herself somewhat in her partnership with Fandango.
• Badass Decay: She was eventually built up as the woman who retired Michelle McCool, was able to beat Beth Phoenix clean twice in a row and only lost to Eve Torres because of the latter's manipulations (and one match where the referee counted to three not seeing Layla's foot on the bottom rope). Her kicks were also sold as powerful enough to knock out the likes of Kaitlyn and Natalya. Then all of a sudden she becomes a Jobber or valet to Fandango who gets the occasional win and is reduced to a Cat Fight with Summer Rae. By 2014, they'd pretty much forgotten she was a former Women's and Divas Champion.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: During her match against Beth Phoenix at No Way Out 2012, Beth mocked Layla. So Layla randomly stole Beth's headband and ran around the ring with it. She then busted out the Single Ladies dance. It was a truly random moment.
• Broken Base: Her face run divides a lot of fans. A lot of Diva fans preferred her hammy mean girl antics while it seems more casual fans found them corny and thus felt Layla suited face better. People seem to agree that she's at least a better wrestler as a face.
• Creator's Pet: Was attached to such an act in the Extreme Expose. Layla was voted into WWE by the fans and they never turned on her in the way they had with Christy Hemme, Ashley Massaro or even Eve Torres up until Layla joined this alleged dancing group, which was a failed attempt to get fans behind Kelly Kelly and the struggling WWE's ECW brand. After the trio were broken up, Layla had little trouble drawing intended audience reactions and did help make fans feel some sympathy for Kelly, which pretty much the entire roster at that point had failed to do, as Layla and Brooke tormented her week after week (the "ECW" brand still died, though).
• Draco in Leather Pants: As a heel with LayCool, she was still as spiteful and sadistic as Michelle, though she often brought more comedy to the proceedings, which caused the fans to love her. Fans automatically began anticipating a face turn for Layla rather than the other way around.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Layla was a big favourite among Diva fans long before she got her push in LayCool. She was particularly loved for her mean girl persona on ECW.
  • Surprisingly enough when Layla appeared at the new NXT a couple of times in 2012, she got very good reactions. In fact, she actually got cheered over Paige, the golden girl on NXT.
• Fan-Preferred Cut Content: She performed a dark match at the 2012 Tribute to the Troops event against Eve, where her kick was so stiff it split Eve open. Despite filming a backstage segment with the Muppets, the match itself never aired, but fans would have liked to see it anyway.
• Funny Moments:
  • Early in her LayCool days, she's put into a match against Beth Phoenix. She can barely do her ring entrance because she's that terrified of Beth. And of course her Big "NO!" as she's put in the Glam Slam is hysterical.
  • Another match against Beth (this one a tag) has the latter giving her an airplane spin. Layla is so dizzy from the move she goes to her corner to tag Michelle...and has instead gone to Beth's corner. Tiffany (Beth's partner) can be seen Corpsing.
  • A clip from a live event has Hornswoggle begging Layla for a peck on the cheek. Most Divas would grudgingly oblige, but Layla pounces on him and smothers him with kisses. She was too much for HORNSWOGGLE!
  • In a Superstars match against The Funkadactyls, she gives Naomi a booty bump. Naomi - whose signature move involves blasting someone with her ass - has a look that says "is that what that feels like?"
• Growing the Beard:
  • The year 2010 saw Layla really come into her own as a character and a wrestler. She began it as a Beta Bitch to Michelle McCool, and by the end of it crowds were chanting for her and people were anticipating a Heel–Face Turn. In the ring ,she stopped getting squashed and was able to control matches against Tiffany, Natalya and Melina.
  • To say nothing of her 2012 return. Her wrestling was viewed as miles ahead of what she had done before. While she had some heat to shake off for returning instead of Kharma, fan theories that she would feud with Kharma (until she left the company that is) persisted - viewing Layla as now worthy to play the underdog against her.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • It was fairly sweet of Layla to apologize for acting like such a bitch to the other Divas at Extreme Rules, where she could have possibly have been forced to leave WWE. (And it was sweet of the others to forgive her, all things considered.) It also helped Layla's Heel–Face Turn, since she received uber-Face Kelly Kelly's approval.
  • Returning from injury a year later at Extreme Rules 2012. Despite some smarks chanting "we want Kharma", there were several other fans chanting "welcome back!" and "let's go Layla!"
  • Having turned on the man they'd been fighting over, Summer Rae and Layla measure each other up for a long time before they seem to have a mini-dance off. Summer smiles and offers her hand to Layla in an offer for them to dance together, which Layla eventually takes her up on, beginning their friendship. See it here.
  • After losing the Divas' Championship to AJ, Kaitlyn is unable to make it back to the backstage area and collapses crying in the entrance way. Layla comes out and comforts her, helping her to the back. Harsher in Hindsight with her eventual heel turn, but a sweet Friendship Moment nonetheless.
  • After Aksana's unceremonious release from the company in 2014, Layla publicly tweeted a farewell saying that some of her favorite matches in WWE had been with Aksana. She was referring to live events, but they did wrestle each other a couple of times on TV.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Tiffany was suspended shortly after a Superstars match with Layla. She was later released, making that her last WWE match. So Layla technically retired two Divas. But the hilarious part is that she would use both Tiffany and Michelle's entrance themes after this. So she retired two Divas and also used their entrance themes. ^note She used Tiffany's "Instatiable" theme when she returned as a face. She reverted to Michelle's "Not Enough For Me" theme around late 2013.
  • Exactly three times in 2008, Layla wrestled on Smackdown as a Jobber to the then-rising babyface Michelle McCool. Three years later, Layla now a Face retires a heel Michelle, establishing herself as a star in the making.
  • Right before Layla's return and title win, Nikki Bella cut a promo declaring that she would be the longest reigning Divas' Champion in history - and Layla defeating her was followed by the Bellas leaving the company. Three years later, Layla leaves the company when Nikki is in her second title reign - and this time she actually does become the longest reigning Divas' Champion.
• Hollywood Homely: She herself felt insecure about being one of the oldest women on the roster in her last couple of years. Most fans however felt that she had barely aged since her 2006 debut!
• Hollywood Pudgy: Claims that by the time she turned 37 she had gained a little bit more weight and got people asking if she was suffering from health problems, when she had just been a little inactive while recovering from a torn ACL. Needless to say most fans barely noticed.
• Jerkass Woobie: Towards the end of LayCool. Sure, she's still a massive bitch, but with the way Michelle's been putting her through the wringer by then, she's been wearing this beaten-puppy expression that could made one want to give her a hug.
• Les Yay:
  • With Michelle McCool. Layla was unfailingly loyal and affectionate to Michelle, and they were compared to a couple breaking up, even attending couple's counciling together. They even have a Portmanteau Couple Name of sorts — LayCool.
  • With Summer Rae in the same vein as the above example with Michelle, starting after they both dumped Fandango and danced with each other instead of their ex-boyfriend. They, too, have a Portmanteau Couple Name, SLayers.
  • While she was in LayCool, she would sometimes apply a body scissors from the front. The way she applied the submission made it look like she was dry-humping her opponents.
• Love to Hate: Her 2008-2011 heel persona was the favourite part of her career for many.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Layla dyed her hair blonde in late 2012 shortly after Kelly Kelly's release from WWE. This led to fans joking that WWE were turning her into Kelly's Replacement Goldfish.
  • Many jokes have been made about Layla being immortal due to how little she notably aged in her time with the company (she was in fact nearly forty when she retired). When she resurfaced five years after her retirement, cue the "she doesn't age!" comments.
• Memetic Molester: Many a gif has been made about Layla apparently groping◊ or cupping her opponents in the ring. When she was a in LayCool she also would sometimes slap the bodyscissors on an opponent, and make it look like she was dry humping them. She also caused a Wardrobe Malfunction to Rosa Mendes, exposing her ass on TV.
• More Popular Replacement: She was actually the second Diva to play the Beta Bitch to heel Michelle McCool; Alicia Fox initially filled the role in 2009, and was drafted to Raw right after Michelle's championship win. It's often forgotten that Alicia was ever allied with Michelle, and Layla became more memorable as her ally - leading to the forming of LayCool.
• Narm:
  • Pretty much anything Layla did since turning heel in 2013. She tries to do what she did in LayCool - except it worked back in 2010 when Divas didn't have characters so fans were willing to accept anything from a Diva. Plus she had Michelle to offset her wackiness. But in 2013 it's just embarrassing to see a woman in her mid-30s behaving like a 12-year-old girl. It's especially glaring because she's always paired with AJ who is much better at playing an OTT character.
  • The heel turn itself was also laughable. Layla prevents Kaitlyn from attacking AJ by getting between them and throwing her hands up in a ridiculously OTT manner. Diva Dirt writers mocked it by comparing it to a traffic warden stopping children from crossing the road. Capping off the corniness was AJ and Layla leaving the ring by skipping together, holding hands. When Layla was shown a video of it years later, she burst out laughing.
  "I can't believe I said 'no!' like that. Why did I say 'no' instead of 'stop'?"
• Nightmare Fuel: Watch Layla's match with Beth Phoenix at Over the Limit 2012. The part where Beth has Layla in the Boston Crab and Layla is screaming "please stop!" is quite disturbing to see, especially considering Beth is actually working Layla's surgically repaired leg (it's the right leg and in wrestling they normally work the left limbs) and that Layla is selling it more realistically than the theatrical way it's typically done.^note The Boston crab is actually a lower back submission but will sometimes be treated as a leg one anyway
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: While not exactly a Scrappy to Diva fans (see above), Layla won over a good number of casual fans during her time in LayCool. When she returned from her ACL injury, she won over even more with how she had improved in the ring.
• Tear Jerker: In the Breast Cancer Awareness campaign of 2012, Layla got a confessional where she revealed her mother had suffered from it three times before passing away in her forties. She gets very choked up as she says that her mother never lived to see her wrestle or become Women's or Divas' Champion.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • She returned from injury in 2012 vastly improved in the ring and could potentially have gotten over. WWE were in need of a new top babyface since Kelly Kelly was on her way out. Yet Layla sits on the sidelines doing absolutely nothing, while occasionally having good matches on Superstars. Unsurprisingly she didn't get over (or rather didn't get the chance to) and her first actual storyline involving the title had her dropping it.
  • When she teamed with Summer Rae to form the Slayers, people took note of their rather good chemistry as a team in the ring. After only a few matches Layla was Put on a Bus and the team was dropped with no fanfare.
  • A few fans wish that Layla had been the third member of Team BAD, given that she was a little more capable in the ring than Tamina Snuka - who was visibly out of her depth against everyone else.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • While the LayCool break-up did produce a good match at Extreme Rules, the whole thing was quite rushed (allegedly due to Michelle wanting to retire). Michelle reportedly wanted the break-up to happen for WrestleMania, but Executive Meddling led to Snooki being featured in their segment.
  • A rumoured return storyline for her was to team with Zack Ryder in order to face the newly heel Eve Torres and a male Superstar in a mixed tag match at WrestleMania 28. With Ryder being at the height of his popularity, and Eve betraying him got her insane heel heat, Layla being the one to help him out could have set her up nicely as a Face with the fans. It also would have given Ryder some form of payback over Eve, who became a Karma Houdini for her actions against him.
  • In mid-2015, when Layla decided to retire quietly, she was the longest tenured woman in the company and Nikki Bella was the Divas' Champion. Layla had made her return from injury to defeat Nikki for the title, ending her first reign at only six days, and Nikki was attempting to break AJ Lee's record for the longest reigning Divas' Championship reign. She also hadn't defended the belt in a while, and wouldn't do so until the summer was over. They could have set up a retirement storyline for Nikki to defeat Layla in her last match and give her an actual exit as opposed to a quiet departure after being Demoted to Extra for months.
• Took the Bad Film Seriously: Diva Dirt noted this about the 'Smelly Kelly' feud of 2010 - where LayCool made fun of Kelly Kelly for apparently smelling bad. The concept was moronic, but Layla hammed it up and stepped her game up in the ring as Women's Champion - coming across as a genuinely nasty Alpha Bitch in the making. This in turn helped build Kelly up as a potential title contender (as this was her first feud over the title).
• Vindicated by History: Her 2012-2013 face run and Divas' Championship reign was seen as a disappointment, and the majority of fans were clamouring for her to turn back heel. When the heel turn eventually happened...the result was a massive disappointment and marked the start of Layla's fall from the spotlight. Years later, appreciation has grown for just how good Layla was as a face and it's felt that she suffered from WWE's poor booking and lack of interest, despite her efforts in the ring.

For the Video Game:

• Demonic Spiders: Space blobs appearing near the end of the game. They move around a sinusoidal pattern, much like Castlevania's infamous Medusa Heads.
• Scrappy Mechanic: Two mechanics which were removed in The Iris Missions.
  • Falling into bottomless pits and switching between levels will reduce your inventory by half.
  • The game forces you to move on by spawning a nearly-invincible tornado if you didn't move the screen for about 30 seconds. The tornado can be destroyed with a hand grenade if you're lucky, which will net you full health, but this is very risky to pull off.