killeroflegends

…you have to do it right. And it seems the WWE has finally picked up on that. Earlier this year, when Candice made her first return from injury, they dropped Mickie off of Raw completely for weeks, and only brought her back on Raw after Wrestlemania, after Candice had already been injured. The WWE received numerous complaints about the lack of Mickie, as evidenced by wrestling news sites and J.R. even writing about the lack of Mickie in his blog. It seems that the voice of the fans was listened to, as it was Ashley who was originally slated to win the title, not Mickie. For whatever specific reason, Mickie James became a 4-time WWE Women’s Champion. Trying to bury Mickie James by regulating her to only Heat and house show duty served to only fuel her fans more in complaining and it backfired on the WWE. Instead of hurting Mickie’s popularity, it illustrated it further and helped her in the long run.

This time around, whether because there is no more Heat, the WWE realizes that Candice and Kelly Kelly are incapable of being the top face divas, or perhaps the WWE has gotten smarter, they are burying Mickie in a sneakier, smarter way. Just like earlier this year, Mickie has no storylines or angles going for her, and that sure is not her fault. The feud between Regal/Layla and Noble/Mickie was on life support for weeks now, even heading into Cyber Sunday, and is pretty much done after Raw tonight. Mickie is back to being a sidekick for other face divas and Regal is getting a push which will end in him jobbing again. But the WWE is treating the burying of Mickie James smartly this time. They are giving a facade that she is the top face. They had her come out last for the tag match last week, and they had all the divas come out to her theme this week. That is the bone they are tossing her and her fans. You get to see Mickie, you get to hear her theme, but all she got to do in the match was a spear. It is enough to keep the masses content without actually giving something truly meaningful to Mickie James, or so the WWE would hope. For too many weeks now, the divas have mainly been doing tag matches. Mickie, whether tagging with other divas or Jamie Noble, is not able to shine in these tag matches where it is her partner(s) that are really meant to get the spotlight and Mickie frequently must act as the diva that needs to make the hot tag and get saved. Divas like Kelly Kelly and Candice, however, who are really not as solid as Mickie either because they are still improving or have backslided since injury, can shine more in tag matches where the amount of work is divided among more individuals. They can appear better than they really are. In singles matches, if you are not that good, you either have to count on your opponent being able to carry you well, or the match quality suffers. During Mickie’s reign, and people can complain about her usually being booked to win in singles matches, but all her matches were solid and made her opponent look very strong, and the same can be said for her tag matches. But, as I said, her current matches are made to make divas who are not yet ready shine. The WWE is dimming her bulb.

If you don’t believe Mickie is being buried, I can give a list of things I have noticed to support my claim. Point is, her whole 4th title reign, probably the only 4 months this year where she was used very well, was not supposed to happen. It was supposed to go to Candice when she returned to seek revenge against Beth, thus why Mickie disappeared the day Candice came back. When she got hurt, it was supposed to go to Ashley. The support of all the Mickie fans out there helped to sway the WWE in some degree that may never be known. It saved her career. But now the same crap is going on again, but this time the WWE is burying her more wisely. They are giving just enough Mickie here and there to content the fans, but really not pushing her. I am not saying a push has to necessarily mean being in the title picture, other divas deserve their chance, but Mickie deserves something meaningful to do, especially considering her popularity, or what is left of it, depending on how successful the WWE is. Just avoiding giving her lasting, meaningful pushes, just ignoring the fans love for her and her popularity, that is a clear desire to bury that popularity. They are not fostering it, instead trying to make the popularity of others shine. In my book, that is one way of trying to bury someone. If Mickie loses the fans support, it may ruin her career in general, and who knows what from there. Fact is, I for one will not let the WWE easily fool me with propaganda on who they believe are the top divas and deserve a push. Mickie James will not be forgotten.

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