First, it was obviously not Mickie James last week. Fans have already pointed out that it was a woman with tanner skin than Mickie James has. It would be kind of insulting to fans' intelligence to still sell Mickie James as the woman all the time. The WWE might have been more likely to pull this kind of thing years ago, but this is an era where they pay attention to what fans are saying on social media and acknowledge certain things. They have acknowledged that Ariya Daivari is related to the Daivari that was in the WWE a decade ago. Of course, they're not ruining Bray Wyatt's character by pointing out every day that he was Husky Harris. But it would be really stupid of the WWE to sell Mickie James as the woman that cost Becky Lynch the title last week.
Second, it is just a stupid way to have Mickie James return in general. People know who she is and she is one of the most respected women in women's wrestling. People know that she has re-signed. They know she was in NXT just a couple months ago. Why this dumb angle to bring her in? Just have her go out there and say that she proved herself against Asuka that she can still hang with the best women's wrestling has to offer. Don't even have her say anything at all. Just have her show up and save Becky Lynch from a beating. The whole "La Luchadora" gimmick is just dumb for her to have. Treat her with a little more respect.
Another thing to consider, this whole angle would mean Mickie James would be coming back as a heel. Becky Lynch, a face, was screwed by the masked woman last week. I would say bringing Mickie James back as a heel is another reason this whole direction would be stupid. And I have two reasons why.
First, Mickie James is one of the most popular women the WWE ever had, especially after Lita and Trish retired. She had what it took to get over with wrestling fans and the general audience. Even before the smark revolution of recent years, she was over. It is true that smarks tend to prefer heels over faces, and it is also true that Mickie James has played entertaining heel characters in the WWE and TNA, but why would you bring her back to the main roster and expect her to get booed? She left the WWE in 2010 as a popular face. What has she done since then to get fans to want to boo her? People say Vince McMahon was out of touch for thinking fans would love Batista when he returned a few years ago. I think the WWE might be out of touch again if they think Mickie James would automatically be a hated heel.
Second reason I find a potential heel debut for Mickie James dumb, it is just not practical. Look at Smackdown's women's roster. Natalya, Carmella, and Alexa Bliss are heels. Nikki Bella and Becky Lynch are the only faces. You might think that's not so bad. The faces are only outnumbered by one. Bring in Mickie James as a heel, the faces are outnumbered by two. With Naomi having injury issues, you have to wonder how reliable she might be as an in-ring performer for a while. It is the second time in a year she has had to take time off due to injuries. Speaking of injury issues, Nikki Bella came back from a serious injury just a few months ago. When Eva Marie comes back, she will obviously be a heel. Why would the WWE want to put themselves in this position where the heels outnumber the faces and some of the faces have had injury issues in the last year? As it stands now, the face depth is terrible. With both Becky Lynch and Nikki Bella getting featured in storylines, there is no free face to be a sidekick/jobber. I am not saying Mickie James deserves to be a sidekick/jobber, but they need to improve that face depth.
I am not saying Mickie James should never turn heel. If a face run should ever go stale, then turn her heel. If the heel depth was weak, then you could turn her heel. But right now, there is no reason to want her to be a heel. It is the face depth that is weak. And Mickie James is the type of performer wrestling fans would anticipate seeing. She's not someone the fans will sour on fast, like Batista during Daniel Bryan's rise.
What I am hoping the WWE will do is reveal that the masked woman was someone else, like Deonna Purrazzo. While Becky Lynch is being beaten down by Alexa Bliss and her partner in crime, Mickie James would return to make the save. That sets up a tag-team feud for a little while. It would just avoid a lot of problems that debuting Mickie James as the heel under the mask would create.
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