Tag: Mickie James

Mickie James Being Replaced For Season 2 Of WWE LFG, Mickie Set For In-ring Action At WrestleCon Supershow During WrestleMania Weekend

Mickie James will not be returning for the second season of WWE LFG, as she has been replaced on the show’s judging panel by Michelle McCool. Reports indicate that The Undertaker, a host of the series and McCool’s husband, was behind the push to have his wife join the program. However, sources clarify that The Undertaker did not request James be removed—only that McCool be added.

Despite this change, fans haven’t seen the last of Mickie James in WWE-related appearances. According to Fightful Select, James still has upcoming promotional commitments with WWE, meaning she’ll continue to be involved with the company in some capacity.

James originally appeared on WWE LFG alongside The Undertaker, Booker T, and Bubba Ray Dudley, as they mentored aspiring wrestlers hoping to land a WWE contract. While her absence will be felt, McCool—a former multi-time WWE Women’s Champion—brings her own veteran experience to the role.

Mickie James vs. Maki Itoh Set for WrestleCon Supershow

Though she’s off WWE LFG, Mickie James is staying busy inside the ring. She’s set to face Maki Itoh at WrestleCon’s Mark Hitchcock Memorial Supershow during WrestleMania weekend. The match was officially announced on Sunday, adding another exciting bout to the highly anticipated event.

The updated card for the April 17th show now features:
🔹 Minoru Suzuki vs. Butterbean (Special Guest Enforcer: Dan Severn)
🔹 Mickie James vs. Maki Itoh

With James remaining active in both WWE-affiliated promotions and independent events, it’s clear she’s not slowing down anytime soon. Fans eager to see her in action won’t have to wait long, as her WrestleCon showdown with Itoh promises to be a must-see match.

Mickie James Reportedly Accepts Creative Position With OVW

While she may not be competing in the ring right now, Mickie James continues to be involved in some non-wrestling work. In addition to her ongoing duties as a co-host on “Busted Open Radio,” James has now reportedly secured a position behind the scenes at a popular independent wrestling promotion — Ohio Valley Wrestling.

According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful (via X), the former WWE Women’s Champion has come aboard as Creative Director and Head of Female Talent for OVW. James has also reportedly taken on a responsibility as Executive Producer for all of OVW’s wrestling shows.

News of James joining OVW comes on the heels of her recent return at the promotion’s 2024 Nightmare Rumble event on January 6. There, James made a special guest appearance behind the commentary desk to call the Women’s Nightmare Rumble Match alongside Bryan Kennison and current OVW Women’s Champion Freya The Slaya. Following her brief stint on OVW commentary, James noted, on X, that she was immensely impressed by all the competitors involved, and foresaw big things for OVW this year.

James is no stranger to Ohio Valley Wrestling, as she spent much of her early WWE days there, back when it was WWE’s primary developmental territory. After two years of training in OVW, James was then called up to WWE’s main roster in late 2005, where the path was laid for her memorable feud with WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus. In the present day, OVW operates under the ownership of Matt Jones, Louisville mayor Craig Greenberg, and former WWE Tag Team Champion Al Snow.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Mickie James’ In-Ring Return Revealed – Details

Mickie James has announced that she will be making her in-ring return in France next weekend for the Biterroise Wrestling Association’s International Wrestling Festival show.

The event takes place on Saturday, July 8. This will be James’ first match since she relinquished the Knockouts Title due to a rib injury earlier this year.

James will be wrestling Aurora Teves at the International Wrestling Festival show.

The former Knockouts Champion tweeted,

“I can’t wait to go to France!!! My 1st match back from injury is a real test against @aurorateves & going international!!!! Then our 1st real VACATION in a very Looooooong time. So excited babe @RealNickAldis !!!! LFG!”

James’ husband, Impact Wrestling star Nick Aldis, will also be in action at the show. Aldis will wrestle Tom La Ruffa for the ABC Ultimate Championship.

Source: eWn

Mickie James Relinquishes Impact Knockouts Title

Mickie James has relinquished the Impact Wrestling Knockouts Championship.

During this week’s episode of IMPACT! on AXS TV, Mickie James was shown in the middle of a ring inside an empty arena. She revealed that she hasn’t been cleared to compete at Rebellion and wants to do what’s right for the business and the locker room. Before leaving her title and hat in the middle of the ring, an emotional James told Deonna Purrazzo and Jordynne Grace that it was their time now.

Grace vs. Purrazzo will now face off at Sunday night’s Impact Wrestling Rebellion pay-per-view event for the vacant championship.

Source: eWrestlingNews

Mickie James Injured, Pulled From Impact’s Sacrifice Pay-Per-View Event, Sacrifice Card 3/24/2023

Mickie James has suffered an injury.

On Thursday night, Impact Wrestling took to Twitter to announce that Mickie James is dealing with an injury and will no longer be able to defend her Knockouts Championship against Jordynne Grace at tonight’s Sacrifice pay-per-view event.

You can check out the official announcement below:

“Due to an injury, @MickieJames will be unable to compete at Sacrifice. We will give an update and address the Knockouts World Title situation tomorrow night at Sacrifice.”

Friday night’s Impact Wrestling Sacrifice pay-per-view event in Canada that will air at 8:00 PM EST on Impact Plus and FITE.tv.

Sacrifice Card

*Future of the Knockouts Championship will be addressed
*Busted Open Match: Bully Ray vs. Tommy Dreamer
*Josh Alexander, Rich Swann & Frankie Kazarian vs. Time Machine (Motor City Machine Guns & KUSHIDA)
*Digital Media Championship: Joe Hendry © vs. Brian Myers
*X Division Championship: Trey Miguel © vs. Lince Dorado
*Tag-Team Titles: Ace Austin & Chris Bey © vs. Bad Dude Tito & Shane Haste
*PCO vs. Kenny King
*Speedball Mike Bailey vs. Jonathan Gresham
*Deonna Purrazzo vs. Gisele Shaw

Mickie James Plans To Be In Attendance At WrestleMania 39 Night 2 As A Fan

In a recent interview with Denise Salcedo on the “Instinct Culture” podcast, Impact Wrestling Knockouts Champion Mickie James touched on the current state of women’s wrestling, as well as her plans to attend WrestleMania 39 as a fan for the very first-time next month.

Citing Lita and Trish Stratus competing at WrestleMania 39, Saraya’s (Paige) recent in-ring return in AEW, and Impact Wrestling’s thriving women’s division, James said,

“How amazing, how exciting of a time is it in 2023 when we are looking at Lita as a Tag Team Champion with Becky? Now looking at Team Bestie going to be at WrestleMania, two women who I’ve shared a lot of history with, and who I admire, look up to, find hella inspiring, and I just adore. You see that happening there. You see, in IMPACT, I’m the Champion in 2023, and our tag team division is shining so bright, and the women in that locker room. Then you see over at AEW, Saraya comes back from a career-ending injury. Someone who they said, ‘Oh, she’s never going to wrestle again.’ What a freakin magical time in professional wrestling and not just in women’s professional wrestling, just in professional wrestling across the board,” James continued. “For a long time, it used to be like, ‘Oh, well, they’re retired,’ or ‘they’re this,’ and it would all be about this whole new — and it was never that way about the men as much as it was for the women.”

James also discussed her plans for WrestleMania 39 weekend, revealing that she plans to attend Night Two of WrestleMania as a spectator.

“I’m going to be there for WrestleCon. I’m going to be out there in LA. I’m really hoping — because we’re doing DressleMania this year and one of the things that we’re auctioning off is — I’ve already texted both of them, ‘I really hope you guys are wrestling on night two,’ because I’m actually going to be in a suite that we’re auctioning off for one of the winners for DressleMania and they’re watching. It is my first time ever watching WrestleMania as a spectator. I’ve never been. I could never go when we were kids. We didn’t have the money. Never went as a child have only been as a talent. For my first time ever, in the history of the world, in the history of Mickie James, I’m going to be going to WrestleMania as a spectator. I’m just praying that my friends are wrestling night two, so I can watch it there live, in-person, because I really would love to see it live in person.”

Mickie James is also slated to be a part of WrestleCon as she defends her Impact Knockouts World Championship in a four-way match at IMPACT x NJPW Multiverse United: Only The STRONG Survive, against Deonna Purrazzo, Gisele Shaw, and Miyu Yamashita.

Source: eWrestlingNews

Mickie James, Nick Aldis, And Conrad Thompson Announce Australian Endeavor

Since his stint with the NWA came to a sudden, and very acrimonious conclusion, many have been wondering what Nick Aldis’ next move would be. Could the former NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion wind up in AEW? WWE? World of Sport’s latest revival? Elsewhere? Regardless of what people expected, few, if any, would’ve predicted Aldis’ next project would be in the land down under.

In a press release unveiled Tuesday afternoon, Aldis, along with his wife, Mickie James, were announced as executive producers for Oceania Pro Wrestling’s 2023 Oceanic Wrestling Event. Scheduled for the latter stages of 2023, the event will see James in charge of the women’s content related to the show, which will be co-promoted by wrestling podcaster and occasional event promoter Conrad Thompson and Australian executive Cam Vale, who serves as COO of the North Melbourne Football Club of the Australian Football League.

The release revealed that the Oeanic Wrestling Event is looking to be a cross between “a major sporting event and a major cultural event like a Comic-Con.” The event was also compared to Starrcast, the wrestling fan convention that Thompson has promoted several times in the US, most recently this past summer. It is expected to take place over the course of four days, and work to locate a venue able to accommodate at least 5,000 fans is expected to begin imminently. While this project would seem to preclude Aldis from signing with a major US promotion, it should be noted that comments from Vale in the press release suggest they are seeking the involvement of several wrestling companies, including AEW, Impact, New Japan, Lucha Libre AAA, CMLL, and even Aldis’ old promotion the NWA. Aldis’ NWA deal is set to officially expire in January.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Last Rodeo For Mickie James

Mickie James returned to the Impact Zone on Thursday night for an announcement regarding her future. Signs pointed toward retirement, but that wasn’t the case. James announced she’s saddling up for one last rodeo to chase the Knockouts Championship, however, there is a catch.

James took center stage for her announcement. November will be 24 years since first stepping into a wrestling ring with a prayer and a dream. Over half her life has been living, breathing, bleeding, and crying for this business that she loves so much.

The last few years were a whirlwind journey. When she was released from WWE to feel like being thrown out with garbage, negative criticism flooded her mind. It was the fans that brought her back to be empowered for the greatest run of her career returning to Impact. James won the Knockouts Championship for the fourth time and was in a PPV main event for a Texas Deathmatch.

Then, James lost the title to Tasha Steelz. Protege and friend Chelsea Green betrayed her and beat her twice in the ring. That sent James back to negative thoughts that she couldn’t hang anymore with the new crop of talent.

James went home to do some soul searching. What more does she need to prove? James only wanted to make the business a better place for women, where they could be seen as equals.

James never wanted to hang on too long to be a shell of her former self. She doesn’t know if she can compete with the best anymore, but she has to find out. James will not be retiring. She is going to test herself in a quest to be the best. James isn’t asking for a title shot. She wants to earn it the same way she earned everything in life, with dirt in her eyes and grit in her teeth.

James issued an open challenge to anyone and everyone in the Knockouts division. She will build her way back to the top. James is coming for the Knockouts Championship.

Even though James is not retiring at this time, there is a catch. If she loses on this journey, then that’s it. This is James’ last rodeo. She’ll either end as champion or go home for good. James can’t promise it will be a long ride, but she can promise it will be a hell of a ride. Hardcore country!

https://twitter.com/IMPACTWRESTLING/status/1565507556809887754

Source: SB Nation

Mickie James Addresses What Is Next For Her

Earlier this month, former WWE Women’s Champion Mickie James dropped a bombshell by expressing on Twitter that she was “done in wrestling.” After seemingly bringing the curtain down on her near 23-year career — with her last match taking place in July at the ABC 12eme Festival International in France — James has now opened up about what might be next. 

“I think I’ll always do stuff with wrestling in some capacity,” James said to MyTV26 at StocktonCon 2022. “I enjoy doing things like this [conventions] as a way to reconnect with the fans and, um, I don’t really know what’s next, that’s the beauty of it.”

While continuing to appear at wrestling conventions around the world — with her next major convention appearance taking place during WWE’s Clash at the Castle weekend in Cardiff, Wales, for WrestleFest UK — James is a regular weekly guest on Sirius XM’s “Busted Open Radio” show, discussing the world of pro wrestling with fans who call in and with personalities within the business. James is also currently a co-host on “GAW TV,” alongside Lisa Marie Varon (fka Victoria) and So Cal Val. 

James’ last televised match took place on July 14 during an episode of “Impact Wrestling,” where the former Knockouts Champion was defeated by Chelsea Green. James reigned as Knockouts Champion earlier this year before losing the title to Tasha Steelz in March. Prior to losing to Steelz, James surprisingly entered the 2022 WWE Women’s Royal Rumble match while carrying the Knockouts Championship. In addition to those aforementioned promotions, the 42-year-old has also stepped inside the squared circle for the National Wrestling Alliance and Game Changer Wrestling this year. 

Source: Wrestling Inc. with credit to MyTV26

WWE Announcers Were Not Allowed To Say Impact Wrestling Or Knockouts During Royal Rumble

In case you haven’t heard, wrestling has a forbidden door and apparently, it’s wide open. AEW wrestlers are competing in New Japan, Impact stars are showing up in WWE, and pretty much everyone is appearing for GCW. The most shocking of all was that middle one. Mickie James returning to WWE for one night only even though she is currently the Impact Knockouts World Champion.

James made an appearance in the women’s Royal Rumble and even though she isn’t a WWE Superstar, she had quite a good showing. She was even allowed to wear her Knockouts Title to the ring. However, eagle-eyed fans might have noticed the bottom third referred to the championship as the Impact Women’s Title. Not what it’s called, and this was no accident.

During a recent episode of Fightful’s Grapsody, which you can check out below, Will Washington reveals a few of the words WWE’s announcers were not allowed to say when discussing James during the Rumble. The big one was the ability to say Impact, but not Impact Wrestling. Not a slight on the rival wrestling company, but rather the hang-up Vince McMahon has with the word wrestling. It’s sports entertainment.

The title being given an entirely different name is also linked to words WWE didn’t want said on the air. Knockouts was one, and world was another. Unclear what WWE’s problem is with the word knockouts. Perhaps it doesn’t want fans to think wrestlers might get legitimately knocked out. As for the word world, maybe since its own Women’s Titles don’t have the word world in them, McMahon feared fans would think the Knockouts Title would be thought of as better than by more casual fans.

The ban on those words for Royal Rumble also extended to the social media team. As for the announcers, dodging words and phrases McMahon doesn’t like being said on his TV shows is an almost untraversable minefield at this point. The longer the list gets, the more respect we should all have for Michael Cole. The man gets a lot of stick from fans, but to be doing that job as long as he has with McMahon constantly in his ear, he deserves more credit than he gets.

Source: TheSportster