This Former WWE Women's Champion Was Meant To Manage CM Punk
This star's WWE debut could have been so very, very different.
Prior to debuting in the company in October 2005 as an obsessed Trish Stratus fan, there was at one point a very different plan on how to introduce Mickie James to the WWE audience.
Speaking during an appearance on Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw (as per WrestlingNews.co), James revealed that she was meant to debut as CM Punk's manager before plans were changed.
"I was supposed to debut before and it was with CM Punk, as his manager on Sunday [Night Heat]. I was so devastated at that moment when Hunter came back and said, 'I like both you guys, I just don't see it together'."
The five-time Women's Champion continued:
"They filled that spot with some replays of something else that happened on Raw with Rhyno or something. I was so devastated at that moment, but then I went like, 'How different would my career be if my introduction to the WWE Universe was Sunday Night Heat, a manager for CM Punk? Would it have been great? Probably, yeah, but it wouldn't have been what Trish and I had, which was really special and it was a game changer. I think it really started to help flip the script, 'Okay, well women can also be just two females, a main storyline-driven thing', because that was really one of the first ones that I can recall."
For those wondering, James actually did manage the Second City Saint for a Heat taping, but that segment was cut from the show and never actually aired. Likewise, the two were also briefly intertwined as members of Raven's Gathering in TNA in 2003.
As mentioned, Mickie would instead make her WWE debut on the 10 October 2005 episode of Raw, portraying a crazed fan of Trish Stratus. Skipping ahead just six months later, James would topple Stratus at WrestleMania 22 to become the WWE Women's Champion.
Currently, Hardcore Country largely splits her time between IMPACT Wrestling and the NWA, and she also made her GCW debut this past March, where she picked up a win over Allie Katch at Joey Janela's Spring Break 6 Part 1.