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Life in and out of the ring
By ANDREA ASUAJE

Michelle McCool is a Diva, but only to the rest of the world.

“My life’s not really completely different,” McCool said.

The 30-year-old Palatka native, known internationally as half of the reigning WWE Women’s Champion team and a WWE Diva, said it’s hard for her to see the celebrity others see in her.

In McCool’s eyes, the important stuff has stuck around: Family, friends, passions and herself.

“I’m still the same person,” she said. “I just happen to be on TV now.”

McCool grew up in Palatka watching the WWE with her father and grandfather — her favorite nights of the week, she said.

“They were the only nights I was allowed to stay up late,” she said.

In school, McCool was always an athlete, participating in volleyball, softball and basketball, she said. Competition was always in her blood, she said.

“It’s in our genes,” she said of competition and the McCools.

She continued to watch the programs as she grew up, taking her interest in the industry with her to Florida State University, where she received her bachelor’s degree in exercise science, and onto her teaching career at Jenkins Middle School.

She got her master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of North Florida the first year she taught 7th grade science at the middle school.

She loved teaching, she said, describing how rewarding it is to reach out to help young people — a trait she still considers important in her new career.

All the while she was still a fan of the WWE.

And then, the competition bug struck.

‘Fish out of water’

McCool said she didn’t tell anyone she was entering the WWE Diva Search. She said she took some “unprofessional” pictures at Ravine State Gardens, and before she knew it, she was on television.

She called herself a “fish out of water” in the competition.

But despite losing the competition, she was declared a Diva.

Since 2004, McCool has participated in Smackdown, RAW and the Women’s Championship.

She’s also made an appearance on “Project Runway,” where a designer created a stage costume especially for her.

She often wears crosses on her uniform, a testament to her Christian beliefs, she said. With a worldwide audience, this is a way for McCool to spread her own religious message to her fans.

“I am a Christian,” she said. “(The WWE) is such a platform to reach out to millions and millions of people. If you can make a difference in one life…”

And she wants her fans to know that despite her sometimes playing a villain or a bad girl, she’s just a regular girl.

“I’m real,” she said. “I’m genuine.”

Life in Texas ‘private’

Putting aside the glittered costumes, the championship belts and the on-stage persona, life is not all glitz for the WWE Championship Diva.

McCool said her days consist of washing laundry, unpacking, repacking and traveling.

She spends more than 300 days a year on the road, she said.

“Most of the time I’m in the airport,” she said. “Not quite as glamorous as it seems.”

She said her life as a Texas resident is quiet and private.

Although she’s recognized on occasion, she leads a typical life, she said. And most of the time, she’s working.

Still, she said she tries to find time to return to Palatka to visit her family, who she said has supported her through her climb to stardom.

“I’ve always had my family,” she said. “They’re my biggest fans.”

And as much as she loves the spotlight and glamour of her job, McCool said that sometimes she dreams of just sitting on the beach, relaxing without a care in the world.

“Doing absolutely nothing all day,” she said.

She may be a TV superstar, but McCool still feels like a hometown girl.

“I still don’t think I’m anybody,” she said. “I’m the same old Michelle McCool.”

Her life: The ring, Project Runway, charity events

The WWE Divas are the female stars of World Wrestling Entertainment. The women wrestle, appear in WWE promotional material and often pose for Playboy, although she hasn’t.

Michelle McCool became a Diva in 2004. In 2008, McCool became the inaugural WWE Divas champion, declared at The Great American Bash. She won the WWE Women’s Championship, along with Layla El, at The Bash in 2009.

McCool also appeared alongside five other Divas in an episode of Project Runway, where the competing designers created outfits for the women to wear while wrestling. She’s also appeared with other WWE Divas and wrestlers on five episodes of Family Feud.

Aside from television appearances, McCool said she and the other Divas participate in charity events, such as Make-a-Wish projects, and reading challenges for children.

Roots run deep in Palatka

Michelle McCool isn’t the first McCool to influence young minds as a teacher and a role model.

Her mother and father, Jenny and Terry McCool, were both involved in the Putnam County school system, with her mother as a teacher and her father as the former superintendent of Putnam County schools.

Athletics also run in the family, with her older brother Jeff McCool as a former football player for the University of Cincinnati and her uncle Jim McCool as the former head football coach of Palatka High School.

Her aunt is also the supervisor of elections for Putnam County.

♥ “Life in and out of the ring” by Andrea Asuaje

Short little segment on SmackDown, but it definitely brought on the LOLz! We see Michelle and Layla backstage celebrating the glorious victory from this past PPV, Money in the Bank, where Layla defeated Kelly Kelly to retain the Women’s Championship. The girls are so excited, they decide to their bubbly on! Bottoms up!

Michelle and Layla go on to discuss how good they are for one-another, which Michelle ended up getting Layla a gift – and, wait a minute! So did Layla! Gift Exchange! ZOMG, their enthusiasm is just too much for us! What’d they get?! Michelle got something that says “Be-Fri” while Layla’s says “St-Ends”! The cameras then zooms up as the girls decide to put them together, in which they’re holding “Best Friends” necklace. So cute! Wait a minute; we’re distracted by something rather large and rather sparkly in the camera shot. Woah!! Check it out, Michelle’s wearing… our favorite accessory this week, the bangle!

Enter: Teddy Long. While the girls are going on about how excited they are about their matching necklaces, Teddy goes on to congratulate Layla on her victory for defending her title. Michelle chimes in and reminds him that it’s HER title, too. Teddy warns Layla to enjoy it while it lasts, because next week, she’ll be defending her women’s title – Michelle chimes in once more and says it’s THEIR title – against Tiffany. Skirt Tiffany? Michelle questions… Teddy tells them now that is “Real Talk.” As he walks off, the girls go on about how offended they are that she’d even be considered. Furthermore, how dare Teddy goes ahead and uses their lingo – and not even properly! They mock his “Hollah, Player, and Keep it pushing” and even give us a goofy dance. Oh, how we heart thee. So corny, yet oh, so adorable!

On the fashion front (and boy was this a GREAT week for Michelle), right off the bat we notice Layla wearing one of our favorite dresses to have draped Michelle’s flawless body. As much as we love Layla, Michelle definitely wears it better. Than again, we are a little biased, as Michelle dished out that dress in early 2008 when she reveled her “GaGa” bangs. Ah, the memories. But enough about Layla, can we get to Michelle? SHE FREAKIN’ KILLED IT! While she does have on the jeans that have been passed around the locker room more times than (enter your least favorite Diva’s name here), she still wears them well – and better than Maria or Nikki Bella ever did! Michelle’s hair was fiiiiiiiierce! Love, love, love! It’s about time she changed up her golden locks. As for her pleather jacket displaying her envious abs? A very nice touch! We’re absolutely hoping she got a photo shoot out of this outfit, sure would hate for all of that fabulous fabooshness to go to waste!

Remember our little warning to Barbie a few month back when it was announced that Michelle will be apart of the fall 2010 Mattel/WWE lineup? Well, truer words have never been spoken written! Thanks to ToyNewsI.Com, we’ve got our first look of Michelle’s new action figure, and we love how flawless the First Lady of SmackDown looks! Fierce curly hair? Check! Stunning figure? Oh, yes — check! Our second favorite wrestling attire (behind the black sequins) – badabing, that’s a check! We’re pretty excited about adding this to our growing collection of Michelle McCool memorabilia. Someday, we’ll become millionaires at the estimated net worth Allen Greenspan has quoted the McCruel stock. Just go with us here.

Okay, so maybe there are a couple of imperfections on Ms. Flawless in the form of plastic, but it’s still looking pretty darn good for Michelle’s second figure. Leaps and bounds ahead of her first figure, the Lilian Garcia look-a-like, that’s for sure. Again, her face is just a little off, and her thighs sorta look like they were borrowed from Randy Orton’s figure collection, BUT, she’s once again immortalized and it’s pretty darn hard to duplicate perfection in the flesh.

Sorry, Dolph!

We’re looking forward to having our own little dream match of Michelle McCool & Dolph Ziggler taking on Barbie & Ken. No holds barred, pink corvette and dream house on the line. Oh yeah, someone’s getting their asses handed to them!