Layla Recalls WWE Writer’s Remark To Katie Lea Burchill

Layla El and Katie Lea Burchill discussed the limited opportunities they saw for women during their WWE runs in a new episode of LayTalk. Their conversation moved from Burchill’s own regrets about how she used her time in the company to Layla’s recollection of what a writer told her when she pitched ideas years later.

Burchill, who also wrestled as Winter, said she had trained on the independent scene but lost some momentum after reaching WWE. She did not put all of the blame on the company.

“Once I was at WWE, I was kind of like, well, I’m kind of I already have like the skills, you know, and other people maybe that I saw around me maybe didn’t have those same skills. And I kind of started to phone it in a little bit. And what I should have done at that time would have been what you did and got back to FCW because I was always like once they stopped like really using me and stuff. I was always trying to like pitch story lines to the writers or like think about what can what else can I do gimmick-wise … but what I should have done is what you did and gone down to FC FCW and worked and worked and worked in the ring. ”

Burchill said she still compares her choice with Layla’s and regards it as a moment when she let herself down.

Layla disagreed with Burchill’s assessment of her readiness, pointing to her training and her efforts to pitch stories.

“You were ready. You were ready. … But let’s be realistic about it. Like you said, you pitch ideas, you pitch stories, you talk to writers. … You deserved that limelight. I’m being honest with you. … You deserve that 100%.”

Burchill said that talent and effort did not always translate into the same opportunity. She also emphasized that she valued what she did get to do in WWE.

“I think too that sometimes people that really really deserve it and really have the talent and the skills and with maybe just a little bit more guidance or a little bit more push … and they just don’t get to the level that maybe they should have or got to be. And then the flip side, I also see like if you ask myself how I feel, I sometimes forget to be grateful that I even made it there, which is incredible because so many people try and they never get the opportunity and just to be able to like walk out in front of thousands of people … all kinds of things, you know, to where like sometimes I I forget all the really cool things that we actually did get to do.”

Among those opportunities, Burchill recalled wrestling at Night of Champions and cutting a promo on Mr. Kennedy.

Later, Layla recalled approaching an unnamed head writer after returning from an injury while she was Divas Champion. She placed the conversation around 2012.

“I spoke to one of the head writers at the time because … I was like pitching ideas and stuff like that … he said to me … in the production meeting they say … ‘We don’t care about the girls.’”

Layla was describing the attitude she says she encountered in production meetings. She did not claim that fans lacked interest in the women’s division, and her account is not independent confirmation of what was said in those meetings.

Layla has previously discussed the greater time and opportunities available to today’s WWE women. Here, she and Burchill described the difficulty of seeking that attention in their own era, while Burchill also acknowledged the work she was proud to have done.

Source: LayTalk interview with Katarina Severen.