10 Times WWE SmackDown Went Too Far

6. ...And Eating It Too

Dawn Marie
WWE.com

When Mickie James gained decisive redemption at the 2010 Royal Rumble as a grand payoff to the 'Piggy James' storyline with Michelle McCool and Layla, the 20 second victory was designed to be as emphatic as the heat segments that built towards it.

It failed.

After months of bullying James, a body-shaming angle located a nadir in a deeply upsetting beatdown of the babyface. The storyline had called for LayCool to conduct a campaign of abuse against Mickie as avatars for the organisation's genuine (and genuinely ludicrous) belief that she was somehow overweight.

Vignettes putting James’s face on a farmyard hog gave the arc its lifetime label, but nothing sunk as low as when McCool rammed a cake into James' face. at the climax of this humiliating scene. Mickie was left drenched in fruit punch and her own tears after having the desert and various other foodstuffs thrust upon her in a scene that might have made for great fiction had it not been tied to disgusting fact.

To a pinpoint degree, the angle masterfully captured the true horrors of bullying, it just failed to highlight who the actual offenders were.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back almost 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 60,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett