The WWE is finally giving fans a rivalry between Mickie James and Alexa Bliss, and James certainly delivered when the two met face-to-face in the ring for a promo on this past week’s episode of Raw.
Alexa Bliss and Mickie James seemed to have a program going on SmackDown Live early in the year. Bliss said she brought James back to the WWE out of respect for the six-time women’s champion, but she really just used her in order to conclusively defeat Becky Lynch in order to retain her SmackDown Women’s Championship. Realizing Bliss’s master plan, James turned babyface, but she was never successful in capturing the title from “Five Feet Of Fury”; she was never really given a shot at it either.
When Bliss and James were both shipped to Raw together in the “Superstar Shakeup”, it seemed like they would be destined to finish what they started on Shane McMahon’s brand. Instead, they went their separate ways, with James toiling backstage and Bliss winning the title from Bayley and Sasha Banks in separate feuds.
But the two have converged paths, as Bliss decided to call James an “old lady” and dissed her after he victory in a Fatal Five-Way at No Mercy. James heard what Bliss said on Raw Talk, and it led to a fantastic promo between both superstars on the following episode of Raw.
James took issue with Bliss’s remarks, as well as the Raw Women’s Champion’s gloating that she “cleaned out the entire women’s division” at No Mercy. As Renee Young brought up on Raw Talk, James wasn’t in the match, and, as we all know, she is one of the most decorated superstars in WWE history.
Her “training bra” remark proved that she can be just as savage as Bliss on the mic, and this is the first time we’ve seen someone on Raw hang toe-to-toe with Bliss in a promo. Heck, even though Bliss was excellent, such as her “back when Mickie James and MySpace were relevant”, I’d argue that James won this back-and-forth as the confident, experience babyface.
“I know who I am honey. I’m Mickie James. I have broken bones, I have broken hearts, and I have broken barriers for women in the WWE all before you were wearing a training bra.”
Next: Should Baron Corbin Win The US Championship?
That should go down as one of the best lines of the year in WWE, and James followed it up with a slap and a kick to send Bliss sprawling out of the ring.
I can’t wait to see how this feud builds, and hopefully we get a fun match out of it in the end. Sami Zayn and others had great promos this week, but James and Bliss pulled off the most entertaining segment, hands down.