Mickie James was released from WWE on April 15th, but that is not how she wanted to go out. James wanted to continue wrestling, but WWE continued to put her on the sidelines. Releasing Mickie James hit a crescendo when her trash bag care package tweet made headlines and eventually caused Mark Carrano’s firing.
During the Grown Ass Women podcast, Mickie James spoke about all of the ideas she had in WWE. She made tons of pitches, but nothing was ever green lit by the powers that be.
One idea that she spoke about in detail would have seen an all-female brand start in Vince McMahon’s company. They have tons of talented women who aren’t being used and this would have been a way to provide a larger spotlight for them.
“Anything I’ve pitched, they weren’t into it. I wanted to find a balance in between. There was this moment where I said, ‘What if we do an all-female brand?’ If I could help lead up that and have an awesome team of women….we have the talent, tools, and facilities. It would really help all the girls who are not getting television time.”
“This one person says to me, ‘They’re never going to do it. Ever. Women’s wrestling doesn’t make money. WWE Evolution was the lowest-rated PPV ever in WWE. I get what you’re trying to do, but I don’t understand why you’re fighting so hard for it. You should play the cards you’re dealt and see if there’s a way to incorporate that within a show rather than fight for it to be its own show.’ I just realized that every decision they do, a lot of it is business and how it falls in line with business.”
“I’m just disappointed as a whole with being made to feel old with Depends and a walker and the whole ageism thing. I think we missed out on a lot of moments, whether it was me tying Trish’s record and Charlotte tied that and beat me or the Chelsea Green angle (working on Twitter).”
“I originally pitched (that angle) for Liv (Morgan in 2019) because I love Liv. There have been several moments we could have done and should’ve done that we missed the boat on,”
Many fans obviously disagree with WWE’s apparent viewpoint of women’s wrestling. Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair main evented the first night of WrestleMania 37 for a reason. Plenty of people were there to sing their praises. We’ll have to see what’s in the future of the Women’s Evolution, but they lost a great player when Mickie James was released.
Thanks to Fightful for the quote