(bell chiming)
- [Announcer] It's been
a while since we covered
a female wrestler on Bell-to-Bell,
so let's give the women of
wrestling the spotlight.
I saw that a number of you
guys had requested to look
at Michelle McCool's
first and last matches,
so here we go.
So Michelle McCool's background
is pretty fascinating.
Both her mother and father
worked in education as a teacher
and superintendent respectively.
McCool followed her parents' footsteps
and eventually became a
seventh grade science teacher
in Palatka, Florida.
At the same time,
Michelle had been a big wrestling fan
ever since she was a child,
and had an athletic
background playing sports,
and also working as a personal trainer.
This led to enter in the 2004 Diva Search
at the age of 24.
Over 7,000 women tried out
and McCool ended up
making it to the final 10.
The science teacher
didn't win the contest,
but there WWE did offer
Michelle McCool a contract
after being eliminated,
and it wouldn't be long before
she was seen on TV again.
In late 2004, Michelle
started appearing on SmackDown
where she played the role of a trainer,
who helped wrestlers
with various stretches.
McCool would continue to
appear in a non-wrestling role
until March of 2005.
During a backstage segment on SmackDown,
Dawn Marie began harassing
the Rookie Divas.
When Michelle McCool stood up to her,
Marie challenged the former educator
to a mixed tag team
match later that night.
McCool accepted,
which would make this
her debut match in WWE.
The first person to enter was Dawn Marie
who chose for Rene
Dupree to be her partner.
Once they were in the ring,
Michelle McCool made her entrance
and out came her surprise
teammate, the Big Show.
After the shock was over,
the match began with McCool and Marie
as the legal participants.
Don Marie started slapping Michelle
and pulling out on Rookie's hair.
Despite the rough start,
Michelle McCool used her athletic ability
to Mount a comeback and
take down her opponent.
Michelle kept fighting until Dawn Marie
sent her falling into the ring rope
and tagged in Rene Dupree.
While the referee's back was turned
McCool delivered a low blow
to the Canadian wrestler
and tagged in the Big Show.
The world's largest athlete
then hit a choke slam
and pinned Dupree to win the contest
in two minutes, 48 seconds.
Michelle McCool's debut match
was pretty short and simple,
her selling of Dawn
Marie's offense was good,
but when McCool went on the attack,
she looked kind of rough.
At the same time,
not only was this her first WWE match,
but her first pro wrestling match ever.
And to be fair,
Michelle's performance
wasn't awful or anything,
it just needed some work.
It did seem a little
lame that was Big Show
who actually won Michelle
McCool's first match,
but let's see where the female
star would go after this.
A few weeks after McCool's entering debut,
Michelle and Dawn Marie had
face off at a one on one match,
where McCool was defeated.
A little while later,
Michelle McCool began feuding with MNM,
when she stood up for Heidenrich
who was being verbally attacked by Melina.
The rivalry led to a match
between Michelle and Melina,
which McCool also lost
when Melina used the ropes for leverage.
From there,
Michelle McCool be taken off TV for awhile
and WWE development promotion,
Deep South wrestling for training.
It'd be about a year before McCool
will be seen on the main roster,
but she came back with a change.
In June 2006, Michelle returned as a heel
with her new character being
that of a sexy teacher.
She formed a short alliance with Krystal
and McCool pick up her first
singles victory in July,
When she beat Jillian on SmackDown.
From there,
Michelle McCool become
the valet for K.C James
and Idol Stevens
who you may know better as Damien Sandow.
The trio will began a rivalry
at the tag team champions,
Brian Kendrick and Paul
London as well as Ashley.
McCool's team was never
able to win the titles
and the feud came to an end
after they were defeated
at no mercy.
Unfortunately, Michelle's
career took a scary turn
when she was hospitalized
with a broken sternum
an enlarged kidney,
and an electrolyte imbalance.
After spending 16 days in the hospital,
McCool was released
and thankfully made her
in-ring return in March, 2007.
With the start of her
third run in the company,
Michelle McCool went back
to being a face again
by coming to the aid
of former rival Ashley.
As a good guy again,
McCool would feud with the
likes of Jillian and Victoria
and suffered her fair share
of losses as well as wins.
This would actually lead to
Michelle's next story line
when she teamed up with Chuck Palumbo
in a mixed tag team match against Victoria
and Kenny Dykstra.
They then began an on screen relationship,
which turned into a love triangle,
when Jamie Noble tried
making advances on McCool.
Ironically, Noble was the good guy
as Chuck Palumbo but became more and more
abusive towards McCool,
until she ultimately left him in 2008.
She spent a short amount
of time with Noble,
but that relationship was
quickly ended as well.
Once the love storylines were over,
Michelle McCool began focusing
on her singles career again.
She earned an opportunity
of facing Natalia
at the Great American Bash
for the newly unveiled
Divas championship and won,
making McCool the first
woman to hold the title.
Michelle McCool remain
champion for most of the year,
but her reign came to an end
on the final smackdown of 2008.
McCool lost the divas title to Maryse
in a match where Maria was
the special guest referee.
Afterward, Michelle attacked Maria,
blaming her for the loss.
In this cause McCool to
once again become a heel.
This change in attitude paid
off as with some assistance
from our new ally, Alicia Fox,
Michelle defeated Melina to win
the women's championship
at the bash in June of 2009
During her run as champion,
Michelle McCool formed a team with Layla,
which became known as LayCool.
They formed an Alliance
based on that two women
having a common enemy, Mickie James.
LayCool would try to bully
James into leaving SmackDown,
and yes,
this is where the infamous
piggy James segments came from.
In addition to harassing Mickie James,
Layla assisted Michelle in
her championship matches,
allowing McCool onto hold
onto the women's championship
for the rest of the year.
However, McCool's dastardly
ways only got her so far,
and at the 2010 Royal Rumble,
Mickie James beat Michelle
for the title in 20 seconds.
Luckily for the former champion,
the gold would be back
around her waist soon.
Shortly after losing the championship,
SmackDown consulted Vickie Guerrero
who joined LayCool as manager.
Using her power, Guerrero
made herself the referee
and Michelle McCool's
championship rematch,
which allowed McCool to
reclaim the women's title.
Even though she had the belt back,
Michelle would now have
to deal with Beth Phoenix,
someone who LayCool managed
to tick off a while earlier.
Similar to Mickie James,
Michelle and Layla would
mock Phoenix for her look
and not fitting their version of a diva.
This led to an extreme
makeover match at extreme rules
where cosmetic products
could be used as weapons.
Yes, this was the state of
women's wrestling at one point.
Beth Phoenix ended up
defeating Michelle McCool
and winning the title.
A few weeks after that,
the two women would have
a rematch for the belt
with Layla added in as well.
Layla got the pin on Beth,
causing her to become the new champion.
While Michelle McCool wouldn't
technically be considered
the women's champion,
she and Layla would literally
split the title at half
and referred to themselves
as co-champions.
They eventually challenged
the divas champion Melina,
to a unification match
at night of champions.
McCool wrestled that match,
and with some help,
she beat Melina and
retired the women's title
and became the unified divas champion.
Like before, while LayCool
consider themselves
to be co-champions,
Michelle McCool is the one who
technically held the title.
McCool remain a two time divas champion,
until survivor series where she and Layla
were defeated by Natalia
in a handicap match.
LayCool got their rematch
at the 2011 Royal rumble
in a fatal four way,
also involving Eve Torres.
Despite McCool rolling up Natalia,
Eve got the pin fall over Layla,
causing Michelle McCool
to lose her opportunity
at the divas championship.
This created tension in layCool
and fuels add to the fire,
when both women lost
the WrestleMania match
a couple of months later.
On the SmackDown after mania,
Michelle refused to tag out Layla
during a match against Kelly
Kelly and Beth Phoenix.
Layla would try to
repair the relationship,
but McCool refused.
Because of this,
the two underwent couples therapy
on the April 22nd, 2011
episode of SmackDown.
It seemed like the two had made up,
but Michelle ended up
attacking her partner
and officially brought LayCool to an end.
The two would have a match
on the following week
of SmackDown, which went to a no contest.
Layla then challenged Michelle McCool,
to a no disqualification
match at extreme rules
to which McCool accepted
under the condition
that the loser would leave WWE.
Layla agreed, and she'd go
on to defeat Michelle McCool
at the PPV forcing her to retire.
If that wasn't bad enough,
karma would also debut
immediately after LayCool's match
and attack Michelle.
However, this is not how
Michelle McCool's WWE career
would end.
Over six years after retiring,
Michelle McCool made her in-ring return
during the first ever women's
Royal rumble match in 2018.
She entered at number 14
and made a total of five
eliminations.
The most of anybody in the match.
Well, Michelle McCool was
ultimately unsuccessful
that night,
she had another opportunity
later in the year
at the first all WWE PPV evolution.
McCool along with 19 other
persons and present stars,
competed in a battle Royal to win
a women's championship match.
Slight spoilers,
but this would be Michelle
McCool's final WWE match.
So let's check it out.
Before the match started,
Ilconics got on the mic
and mocked the veterans
competing in the battle Royal,
including Michelle McCool.
After the bell was run,
McCool and fellow legends
immediately got together
and eliminate Peyton Royce
and Billie Kay from the match.
Once that was done,
the current WWE stars started
surrounding Michelle McCool
and her fellow veterans.
After the standoff,
McCool went after Carmella and Nia Jax.
She held her own for a while,
but the two stars were
eventually able to overpower her.
After a bit of brawling,
Carmela changed her mind and
she and Michelle began trying
to eliminate Nia Jax.
The irresistible force
proved to be too much
and fought off both of them
and sent McCool down to the mat.
If that wasn't bad enough,
Carmella changed her mind again
and began attacking McCool.
Luckily Ember Moon began
targeting Carmella,
leaving Michelle McCool
with only Nia to deal with.
McCool, briefly got some
assistance from Lana,
but Mandy Rose would
breakup their partnership.
In the chaos,
Nia Jax walked away from Michelle,
so the first ever divas champion,
decided to help Carmella with Ember moon.
Their plan didn't work out
and McCool ended up receiving
a baseball slide by Naomi.
Michelle fought back and
attempted to eliminate Naomi,
but the green clothed wrestler,
laid her out.
Once she was back on her feet,
Michelle McCool went right back to Naomi
but was then quickly clobbered by Tamina.
When she recovered, McCool joined Nia Jax,
Dana Brooke, and Mandy Rose,
and hit a quadruple suplex.
Despite being the one executing the move,
Michelle McCool decide
to lay low for a bit.
When she got back to the action,
McCool immediately targeted Carmella.
Michelle literally had
her opponent on the ropes,
but gave up when she locked
eyes with Ember moon,
The veteran knocked Moon
down with a huge big boot,
and then went for the elimination.
Ember quickly recovered
and sent Michelle McCool
over the top rope and
eliminated her with a kick.
Battle Royals aren't usually
the ideal place for last match,
and this is a prime example of that.
McCool got very little solo
time until she got eliminated.
And the only notable moments,
were when she was a part
of the quadruple suplex
and the big boot.
Granted, battle rules don't
really allow for someone
to get a lot of individual time,
but it would have been
nice if Michelle McCool
at least got to do a cool spot on her own.
With that said,
it was great to have her in the match
and as a part of a historic
moment in women's wrestling.
Even though she's retired from a ring,
Michelle McCool is still seen in WWE.
She's appeared in some network shows
and was prominently featured
in the documentary series
about her husband,
Undertaker The Last Ride.
Speaking of which McCool and
dead man have been married
since 2010 and 2012, the two
had their first daughter.
While I think it's unlikely
we'll see Michelle McCool
back in WWE on a full time basis,
I don't think she's done
with wrestling just yet.
But what do you think of Michelle McCool?
Even answering the comments
and to see more female
wrestlers first and last matches
in WWE,
check out the playlist in the center.
With that, I'm Zach from Tap Out Corner,
and that was Bell to Bell.
