21 Years Of WWE SmackDown Mistakes

10. 2010 - Piggy's Picnic

Two weeks out from Mickie James' ultimate redemption at the 2010 Royal Rumble, the divisive 'Piggy James' storyline pitting her against wicked heels Michelle McCool and Layla reached its tasteless nadir in a deeply upsetting beatdown of the babyface by the mean girls and their accomplice Beth Phoenix.

The company's real-life fat-shaming of James had been abhorrent, with the storyline calling for 'LayCool' to conduct a campaign of abuse against Mickie as avatars for the organisation's ludicrous belief that she was somehow overweight. The segment masterfully captured the potential horrors of bullying, but troublingly did so from an organisation with a rich history of doing it for real.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 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 over 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 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana 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