Update On Mickie James & Deonna Purrazzo Main Eventing IMPACT Hard To Kill 2022
Did James' upcoming Royal Rumble participation influence Hard to Kill's main event?
Having only a few hours ago (as of this writing) successfully retained the IMPACT Knockouts Title against Deonna Purrazzo, there now comes an update on Mickie James being involved in this year's women's Royal Rumble match and how that, err, impacted the main event of IMPACT's Hard to Kill PPV.
As per Fightful Select, the decision to have Purrazzo vs. James main event Hard to Kill was not based on the news that Mickie would be entering the Rumble. Instead, the decision to go with that bout as the final match of Hard to Kill was reportedly made a week or more ago.
IMPACT wanted the Knockouts Title match to surprise audiences by headlining Hard to Kill, with this move compared to Unbreakable 2005 where the main event was Christopher Daniels defending the X Division Title against Samoa Joe and AJ Styles - rather than Raven defending the NWA World Championship against Rhino.
In addition to this, Fightful also noted how Mickie James doesn't have an exclusive deal with IMPACT Wrestling, meaning she can compete wherever and whenever she chooses; as recently seen by James' appearances with the National Wrestling Alliance.