WWE TLC 2017: Assessing The Potential Of All 7 Matches
3. Alexa Bliss Vs. Mickie James - RAW Women's Title Match
The build-up has stunk, not to put too fine a point on it.
Mickie James is 38 years old. That's two years younger than Brock Lesnar, Bobby Roode, and AJ Styles. Neither of those men are subjected to the same treatment. They are Conquerors. They are Glorious. They are Phenomenal. Mickie James, being a woman, is simply old - and whereas Goldust improves with age, James is cast as a past it fogey struggling to keep up with her younger, more supple, biscuit-butted successors. It's a Divas Championship match masquerading as a RAW Women's Championship match. The superficial stakes symbolise a devolution for the Women's Revolution.
To her eternal credit, James has handled the insulting, hypocritical storyline with grace, and her exchanges with Alexa Bliss on the go-home RAW were fiery and believable. Perhaps she imagined a member of the creative team as she rag-dolled Bliss around the ring. Times have changed, so the match time should stretch to a minimum of 10 minutes on what, at time of writing, is a six-match main card - hopefully sufficient to tell a tested master versus student story in which James' experience is cast as a strategic advantage, not a cheap heat device.
Maximum Star Rating Ceiling: ***1/2