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?

by Andrew Pollard
IMPACT Hard to Kill 2022 Mickie James
IMPACT Wrestling

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.

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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.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.