the old WWE Women's Championship after Trish Stratus, who has had 7 reigns. Over the following couple of weeks, SmackDown consultant Vickie Guerrero was introduced into the rivalry, choosing to side with LayCool over James. On the February 26 episode of SmackDown, McCool used her rematch clause to face James for the Women's Championship, with Guerrero acting as special guest referee. After Guerrero slapped James, McCool pinned her to regain the title. On March, James was diagnosed with a staph infection on her right knee, putting her out of action for three weeks. She returned on the March 22 episode of Raw, where alongside Kelly Kelly, she accompanied Eve Torres, Beth Phoenix, and Gail Kim in their losing effort against McCool, Maryse and Layla, who had Vickie Guerrero and Alicia Fox in their corner. This set up a 10-Diva tag team match at WrestleMania XXVI, in which James made an unsuccessful in-ring return after Vickie pinned Kelly. James made her last appearance on Raw during a rematch, where her team was victorious. James' final match in WWE aired on the April 23 episode of SmackDown where she teamed with former long-time rival Beth Phoenix against LayCool in a losing effort when she was pinned by Layla. James was released from WWE one day earlier on April 22, having pre-taped her SmackDown match. According to James, WWE explained the decision as due to desiring to "move in a new direction with their women's division". Sporadic appearances (2013) In November 2013, James served as guest trainer at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida for a week, training NXT's female wrestlers. James also attended that week's NXT live event in Tampa, Florida. Return to the independent circuit (2010–2016) James made her return to the independent circuit in April 2010, as part of World Wrestling Council (WWC), teaming with Carlito to defeat the team of ODB and Christopher Daniels. James won the bout after pinning Daniels. On July 11, as part of their Anniversary weekend, she defeated ODB in a singles match. On the last day of that month, James returned to one of her early promotions, Maryland Championship Wrestling (MCW), to wrestle Mia Yim in a winning effort. The following month, she contested for the Women Superstars Uncensored (WSU) Championship against Mercedes Martinez, but she was unsuccessful. She also returned to Dory Funk's promotion, recording a tag team match for !Bang! TV.