8 Times WWE Punished Divas On-Air

6. Piggy James

Okay, let's just consider something for a second here. WWE actually thought that this woman was 'fat'...

That's a promo shot of Mickie James, circa 2009. Does she look fat to you? Nope, me neither. She's not stick-thin like the majority of WWE divas before her, but she's not exactly Big Show's kid sister, is she? No, Mickie had a natural, athletic physique that, for some reason, WWE felt was not befitting of a WWE diva and definitely not of a Divas Champion.

In order to punish her/send a message, they booked the horribly insensitive 'Piggy James' storyline, where LayCool (Michelle McCool and Layla) would chastise her for her supposed weight gain, comparing her to a pig. Reflecting on the storyline to WrestlingNewz.com in 2013, James said:

That storyline, I think, was an attempt to address bullying and tell a story with it. Michelle and Layla had already been playing the role of the "mean girls", but I don't know where exactly that storyline came from.

And honestly, I feel like it was one of the most difficult storylines to take, as I found it difficult to take my personal feelings and emotions out of it. But I can see how it may have resonated, because at some point most of us have been bullied or picked on, so most of us can relate to it in some aspect.

Because you're going to have sympathy for the character and understand where she's coming from, impacted from the perils of bullying.

I'll tell you where it came from, Mickie: it came from either the mind of a WWE writer or from Vince himself, and it was booked because they felt you had gotten a little soft around the midsection.

Piggy James ranks as one of the most obvious and mean-spirited on-screen punishments WWE have ever scripted. James won the title from McCool, yes, but then lost it pretty much straight away. As James says, 'After six months of embarrassment and ridicule, that€™s the payoff? I had to swallow my pride'.