Michelle McCool Had Backstage Heat For Dating The Undertaker
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Michelle McCool has become known as one of the top female wrestling stars from the Diva’s Era of WWE. Over her career she became the first ever Diva’s Champion, she was a two-time WWE Women’s Champion and a two-time Diva’s Champion, and was able to have some amazing matches within the restrictions female superstars faced at the time.
During her time in WWE, Michelle McCool began a relationship with WWE legend Mark Calloway, aka The Undertaker. This innocent union was the start of McCool’s downfall in WWE and was the cause of great backstage heat with other wrestlers at the time.
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Michelle McCool Struggles To Remember Her Accomplishments Due To Backstage Heat
McCool accomplished a lot of things during her time in WWE, she was a multi-time champion, she forged an iconic partnership with Layla to become Lay-Cool, and she had many great matches. According to The Undertaker, McCool would often have matches that were deemed “too good” and was reprimanded for it. Speaking to the Dallas Morning News, Undertaker would say, “She was one working in an era where women didn’t get nearly the opportunities that they do now, and she fought so hard for the women to kind of get more of a spotlight put on them. She was actually reprimanded once for having too good of a match with Melina. That’s a true story. But for her work ethic and what she did in the time period where they weren’t given a lot of opportunity, I think she deserves a nod.”
Of McCool’s accomplishment, however, Michelle has said she has a hard time recollecting those moments due to the heat she was suffering at the time. Speaking on Lillian Garcia’s Chasing Glory podcast, McCool said, “I’m the worst at remembering those things. And, it was a time where the business was very stressful and not as kumbaya as it is now. We fought and clawed our way onto tv screens. And it wasn’t cool to date the guys. So, I had to struggle with the heat of being with Mark [Callaway] and people thinking I was only on TV because of him. It was hard to enjoy those moments because of the stress and what felt like was taking place 100 percent of the time.”
Speaking of that backstage heat, this is a WrestlingInc report from 2008 that details the heat McCool was facing:
“In the SmackDown Divas locker room, there is a bit of resentment from some of the ladies towards reigning WWE Divas Champion Michelle McCool. Whether it’s true or not, the feeling is that McCool has some power as the star of the women’s division on SmackDown and that she comes across like the veteran leader even though she doesn’t really have that much experience in the wrestling business. This was actually the case before McCool won the WWE Divas Championship at The Great American Bash last Sunday as the belt doesn’t have anything to do with the resentment. A few weeks ago, Natalya Neidhart was reportedly upset with McCool due to a behind-the-scenes incident involving the two in which McCool tried to show her how to lock up correctly and how to work “WWE style,” which is more about telling a story in the ring than doing a bunch of random moves. Also, since McCool is involved in a real-life relationship with Undertaker, it would appear that some of the resentment and jealousy towards her is due to that. In other words, when a Diva is dating a Superstar wrestler and then gets a push, that’s obviously going to get people talking.”
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Michelle McCool Left WWE Because Of Backstage Heat
McCool even revealed that the backstage heat was the main reason she left WWE in 2011. On Chasing Glory, McCool said, “It was tough just leaving in itself was tough because it got to a point where I was dealing with so much again mostly being Undertaker’s girlfriend and why I was on TV and even having a writer throw the papers up one day and say ‘Why don’t we just call it the Michelle McCool and Undertaker show?!
It was nonstop and I went to Vince on numerous occasions and bless his heart he was wonderful, but I just said Vince, I don’t wanna hate something that I grew up loving so much and the longer I stay the more I’m like getting a sour taste in my mouth.
So making that decision to leave was as hard as it is, but more than wanting to be in WWE or be a champion I’ve always wanted to be a mom.”
