In sports, presence also matters. And it usually has to be earned. In football, if defenders know they have to go against Tom Brady, that might make them a little worried. In baseball, if someone known as a good hitter steps up to the plate, the pitcher might pitch him very carefully, or just intentionally walk him. In basketball, a player with a great presence might draw extra defenders to him, which will open up opportunities for other guys on his team to score.
Wrestling is a funny business. Not only can you debate whether it counts as a real sport or not, the presence of a wrestler isn't just based on his own appearance, charisma, and overall greatness as a performer. How they are being pushed also has a lot to do with it. I would say how they are being pushed is even more important than their personal qualities. I have seen mediocre performers be pushed hard and connect with the fans mainly off of that big push. I have seen people that seemed to have a ton of potential be underutilized and have that hurt their success.
That brings me to Mickie James. She is obviously not connecting well with the fans. The way she has been pushed obviously has a lot to do with it. I have seen some fans think the return of Mickie James was a success a couple months ago, like this writer. He wrote that article shortly after Mickie James finally won a match since re-signing with the WWE. The fact that it took that long to give her a win was a sign that this was not a good start. And the mistake that writer makes is thinking too much in terms of in-ring value and not enough in terms of overness. I questioned even before she returned whether having her be La Luchadora and a heel was wise. She then had that poor feud with Becky Lynch. And she has been treated even worse since coming to Raw. No, the return of Mickie James to the WWE has not been a successful one. She will get pushed sooner or later. She is back for a good amount of years. But that push will likely be a mediocre, typical push that doesn't do much for her.
The WWE obviously does not care about doing anything to help Mickie James, but let me bring up something they could do to help her connection with the fans, anyway. Improve her presence. Right now, she just looks like a loser. Not only has she lost every televised match she has been in on Raw, but she has frequently been laid out in every appearance she has made in the last few weeks. The commentators can put over all the titles she won in the WWE and say she helped the women's revolution, but when she's jobbing like she is and looking so bad, the words mean nothing. Her presence does not match the empty hype. It is hard to get excited for someone like this.
I don't mean just a gimmick change. I keep on seeing fans roll their eyes at how many opportunities The Colons have gotten with various gimmicks. They have had a lot of gimmicks, but I don't know how many opportunities they have had. Their presence has never been that great. They have never been pushed as that big of a deal, especially during the title run Epico & Primo had. The WWE just sends them out there for a while, then doesn't follow through. The same thing with Brodus Clay. They gave him a dancing gimmick that no one expected and got people talking. He had a win streak for a while, but the WWE never really developed a proper feud for him when he had that momentum. His presence was that of just a gimmick. He wasn't going anywhere. And there are other examples of people with gimmicks that just didn't seem to be actually pushed properly during those gimmicks.
Right now, a lot of fans can look at Mickie James and think she's nothing special. And that is terrible. The WWE is simply not presenting her as anything special. I am going to bring up four ideas of how to present Mickie James as something special. And this is without inventing anything out of thin air. Just based on things Mickie James already has associated with her, it is possible to treat her in a unique way. Again, the WWE isn't likely to do any of these, but if they ever did have a change of heart, here are some ideas.
First, she has that music career. It isn't like she abandoned it. She came out with a new single last year. TNA obviously did a real job making something of her country music career. They could have done better with Mickie James in a lot of ways, but they did do some good things. They let her perform her theme song on Impact. They sold her second CD on their website. I also remember reading that Mickie James would sometimes do music shows right after some TNA house shows back then. Some fans got a "2 for 1" experience.
The WWE can obviously do more than just mention her music career on their website. Present her as something more than just a wrestler on Raw. That can help her get more fans interested in her. While Mickie James is out there furthering her music career, she might be able to win over people that like her music into wanting to watch Raw to see her wrestle. I am not saying she will be a huge draw, but presenting her in this way could widen her appeal. The WWE frequently brings in part-timers like The Rock and Brock Lesnar, hoping their appeal in Hollywood and the MMA community, respectively, will draw for them. I am not saying Mickie James will work out as well as them, but they have a full-time performer that has potential to at least draw some interest outside of wrestling that is not being utilized.
Second, Mickie James is married to a wrestler, Magnus. Once again, TNA did a better job with this than I expect the WWE would. Two years ago, Mickie James was involved in two big feuds for Magnus. People can roll their eyes at what TNA had done in the James Storm angle, but it still got people talking and led to a nice moment of Mickie giving her DDT to Storm. I always wanted periphery angles for Mickie James and being married to Magnus just makes for a convenient option. And they wouldn't always have to be involved with each other. Magnus can have some solo feuds against the men. Mickie can have some solo feuds against the women. But the two can then come together for some good storylines, feuds, and segments. A lot of women in the WWE became stars in the periphery, so presenting Mickie James here would not be bad for her.
Why do I not think the WWE would do a good job with Mickie and Magnus? Even if Magnus comes to the WWE, I expect him to not go that far. The two of them might end up just being a jobber couple. They might job to Miz & Maryse. Mickie and Magnus would just be treated better together in TNA. Not only were they treated well back in 2015 together, but Magnus has held multiple titles in TNA, including the TNA World Championship. I doubt TNA would put a title-reigns limit on Mickie James like the WWE might still be keeping on her. They would be willing to do some interesting things with her. And when you include her husband in the mix, there is the potential for a power couple to be presented. I don't think Mickie James would have that presence in the WWE with Magnus.
The third idea for presenting Mickie James as something special has to do with her title reigns. Look at Ric Flair. This guy has been retired for almost a decade, ignoring the fact that he actually came out of that retirement to wrestle in TNA. But he still has a presence. He does not even need to show up for that presence to be felt. Whenever someone talks about breaking the record for most World Championship reigns, the number is 16 and the name is Ric Flair. Ric Flair won multiple titles in various promotions, not just the WWE. Years after he has retired, fans can still know he is a big deal and know other wrestlers are trying to chase his legacy. John Cena will break the record, but Ric Flair still saying he is a 16-time World Champion is something to be proud of.
Mickie James has won more major female titles than any other woman. But it means nothing. The WWE will not acknowledge her TNA reigns. Women like Charlotte are not chasing Mickie James. They are chasing Trish Stratus. If her true title legacy was acknowledged, that would help to present her as someone a lot more important. It is not going to happen in the WWE. The WWE knows TNA exists and will often play chess with them, but they will not acknowledge her titles there. Her title reigns become just something for her to be proud of and her fans to talk about.
Lastly, how about the impact Mickie James had on the status quo? During the diva era, she took a career in which she was being used to put over other women and being used as filler and overcame that to get more over than the women being pushed as stars. She never got the career she earned and the WWE continued to try to force the diva status quo. Back then, the WWE could not stop her. Obviously, today is a different story. But can being an enemy to the status quo help a worker stand out? Look at what it did for Daniel Bryan. He looks like a hero. CM Punk said what fans wanted to hear and became a rebel. He's a hero to smarks. To some degree, even Zack Ryder is still looked on as a guy that beat the status quo. And before all these guys did what they did, Mickie James did what she did and no one understands it and no one gives her credit for it.
How would you present Mickie James as this woman that beat the status quo? Have her go out and say it. Call it a pipebomb. Instead of having her go out there and give a bitter promo about women of today not giving her respect, which does not match reality or anything Mickie James said in sincerity in an interview, have her stand up for herself and shoot on the reality of her career. If nothing else, smarks will love it and she will definitely improve her overness. But the WWE will never acknowledge just how much the mistreated female wrestlers in the diva era. And if the diva era is sneaking back in, the WWE will not want fans to catch on that women like Bayley are just being used to put over the eye-candy centerpiece, then getting tossed aside. But if Mickie James ever was allowed to do this kind of promo, she would gain the kind of presence as men like Daniel Bryan and CM Punk.
One thing I would not say is that Mickie James screwed her own presence. Back in the day, Lita had that affair with Edge and that hurt her presence. A lot of fans turned on her. She has since regained some of that respectability. Mickie James has had to deal with sour dirtsheet reports and other garbage since 2009. But that didn't hurt her overness. Fans still were upset when she got released. She worked as a face in TNA and the indies. A lot of fans were excited when she was coming back to the WWE.
I would say it is just the era. A lot of men, women, tag teams, cruiserweights and whatever else that you would expect wrestling fans to eat up just do not get good, consistent reactions. You need to be pushed hard to get that kind of reaction, like Roman Reigns, for better or worse. You need a huge gimmick, like New Day. Fads help, just as Chris Jericho. When it comes to the women, fans are once again getting drawn to the eye-candy, like Lana. Sadly, the WWE just gets lazy and sloppy with a lot of things.
But it is starting to look like the WWE's mistreatment of Mickie James is more deliberate than a botch. They have made her look needlessly bad recently. I remember having a conversation with someone somewhere on the Internet a long time ago. I told that person that the WWE would love to turn Mickie James into the next Victoria. This was during the end of Victoria's WWE career when she was essentially just a lame duck. That's what happens to credible jobbers. They don't win an infinite number of title reigns. And because they are not priorities, they do not get moved to great spots in the periphery. Beyond not winning too many title reigns, another reason they get treated so poorly is that younger, fresher credible jobbers are around. These older credible jobbers just get shuffled around until they get released, their contracts expire, or they leave on their own. That person I was talking to said that wouldn't happen to Mickie James because she was more over than Victoria and better than her. It is true that Mickie James was more over back then and was a better choice to be the centerpiece then over the divas that were failing than Victoria ever was in her career over Trish Stratus. But the WWE still viewed Mickie James as a credible jobber.
The WWE career of Mickie James has picked up right where it left off. Back in 2010, Mickie James had gotten 6 title runs. A lame duck credible jobber is not going to win as many as Trish Status, not to mention continue to be in the way of the chosen successor to Trish Stratus. Everyone talks like the WWE releasing Mickie James was the worst thing ever for her. It might have been the best thing for her. She was not going to accomplish much else in the WWE, if anything. Now that she is back, she seems to be immediately back to being the lame duck she was just becoming when they released her. Even if she will never win another title, I do think they can at least improve her presence to help her connect with the fans better. Moreover, some of these ideas can lead to angles that can have an impact in putting over other women and creating situations that sometimes draw. John Cena sometimes gives these promos where he makes it seem like his opponent's accomplishments mean nothing. Smarks usually hate that. Well, if all these accomplishments of Mickie James, whether you are talking her title legacy or her impact on the status quo, never get used to create the same drama that you have with Ric Flair's title legacy or storylines with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, what do they become? Nothing but things for Mickie James and her fans to be proud of and talking points. Her career does not have to go out with a whimper like this. There are still ways to present her as something better for the rest of her years in the WWE.
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