WWE Trades Ruthless Aggression For PG | Wrestling Timelines

January 22, 2010 | “Goodbye” Piggy James

Mickie James Piggy James WWE 2009
WWE

Pro wrestling in the U.S. is a simple morality play. A baddie cheats, the goodie loses unfairly, the goodie gets the baddie where they want them on a level playing field, the good guy wins. This isn’t how it needs to go, necessarily. As was the case with Bret Hart in 1997 and Hangman Page in 2021, a great artist is capable of playing a complex character. In the 21st century, the increased influence of puroresu shapes a storytelling trend in which dream matches are fought over the idea of who has best mastered the craft. But what wrestling can’t do, almost invariably, is handle sensitive material in any kind of unifying or progressive way.

In late 2009, Mickie James is relentlessly bullied by the LayCool team of Layla and Michelle McCool. Because you are not able to see Mickie’s ribs through her skin, the impressively athletic woman meets WWE’s definition of fat, for which she is ridiculed in various segments. On the January 22, 2010 SmackDown, LayCool throw a “goodbye” party for James. It’s the usual, nasty fare. After beating her up alongside Layla and Beth Phoenix, McCool says “Looks like it’s feeding time, Piggie James!”

A cake, which is decorated in the shape of a pig, is smeared over Mickie’s face. Her head is then doused in jelly as hundreds of thousands of young women, tortured by constant projections of what a good body is meant to look like, look at their own with a pang of terror and disgust. WWE might be able to justify this, if, for example, Mickie James is launched into a prominent spot, or if the company from this point forward reimagines its approach to presenting women. Neither of these things happen; while James wins the WWE Women’s title at McCool’s expense at the Royal Rumble on January 31, she loses it a month later on February 23.

WWE actually throws a shoot goodbye segment for James on the edition of SmackDown taped on April 22, on which she is pinned by Layla in a tag team match. James does not become a new positive role model for young girls suffering from body image issues. She is released from her contract that very day.

The storyline is horrendous, and it feels like WWE is having far too much fun telling it.

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Michael Sidgwick (Creative Writing BA Hons) is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over a decade of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential UK institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!