Mickie James returning to the main roster

[KaiserGlider]

Multiple WWE sources have confirmed that Mickie James has signed a multi-year deal with the company.

Currently, the plan is for James to appear on the Smackdown brand, likely debuting in January 2017.

[Str8Shooter]

Interesting that she's going to Smackdown if true. My first instinct was for her to go there because of all the young women their and having a chance to work with a vet like her can really help them. But on the other hand Raw feels like it's a 3 person division and they feel like they desperately need someone else.

[Hanley!]

I'm pretty sure the divisions are the same size, Raw has just been utilising less of theirs. Which makes Smackdown's need greater when you think about it. Raw had the two most over women and managed to not burn through a lot of programs by concentrating just on them for all this time. The feud might be getting a bit long in the tooth by now, but in terms of conserving resources in a tiny division, it made sense to wring everything possible out of the Charlotte/Sasha feud.

Smackdown has used all of its women to try and get more of them over, and it's worked well so far. But they're going to run out of feuds a lot quicker. Plus, there's only so much you can do with the likes of Carmella.


Raw: Charlotte, Sasha, Bayley, Nia Jax, Alicia Fox, Dana Brooke & (soon) Emmalina
Smackdown: Becky, Bliss, Nattie, Naomi, Carmella, Nikki Bella & (soon) Mickie James

That makes things dead even, unless I'm forgetting someone.

[Candyman44]

I'm pretty sure the divisions are the same size, Raw has just been utilising less of theirs. Which makes Smackdown's need greater when you think about it. Raw had the two most over women and managed to not burn through a lot of programs by concentrating just on them for all this time. The feud might be getting a bit long in the tooth by now, but in terms of conserving resources in a tiny division, it made sense to wring everything possible out of the Charlotte/Sasha feud.

Smackdown has used all of its women to try and get more of them over, and it's worked well so far. But they're going to run out of feuds a lot quicker. Plus, there's only so much you can do with the likes of Carmella.


Raw: Charlotte, Sasha, Bayley, Nia Jax, Alicia Fox, Dana Brooke & (soon) Emmalina
Smackdown: Becky, Bliss, Nattie, Naomi, Carmella, Nikki Bella & (soon) Mickie James

That makes things dead even, unless I'm forgetting someone.

Eva Marie on Smackdown and technically Lana on Raw, who has wrestled before and might very well again. That leaves it dead even as you said tho.

Mickie looked good in her match with Asuka and could be great on Smackdown. She will help the younger superstars but she can also still go, so she should be a useful addition, especially with the way the females have been used on SD since the draft. I'd assume she would come in as a face, but I always enjoyed her as a heel so hopefully at some point she'll turn.

[Hanley!]

Personally, I'd rather Mickie go to NXT and for Asuka to move up to the main roster. Asuka is probably the best female worker in the entire company and could be an awesome addition to the Smackdown roster. A real difference maker. If I were booking the company, it'd be Becky vs Asuka at Wrestlemania 33.

On NXT however, Asuka has been built up so strong that all the rookies and nobodies that she's facing off against look completely inconsequential next to her. It feels completely unrealistic that she could ever lose to any of them. So I think Mickie might serve better as the veteran down there for a while. At least some of the new girls could look competitive against her. And given she's a fluent English speaker, she can participate in some more intricate angles that help to close the gap in star power between her and her opponents.