A couple of weeks back, I wrote in this space that WWE Uncreative was making a big mistake taking what was supposed to be a 1-shot gimmick, La Luchadora, and turning it into an angle. At the time, I pinned the blame on WWE CEO/Chairman Vince McMahon, since he has the last word on all things creative anyway, as this was a case of McMahon not knowing when to leave well enough alone.
It was also known that former Women's (& Divas) champion Mickie James was returning to the main roster after a 1-shot in NXT, where she put over Asuka in Toronto, such that it should've been given a requisite amount of hype and promotion. In fact, Mickie was returning to the same brand from whence she was cut nearly 7 years ago, Smackdown. Where one of her ex-boyfriends, John Cena, is on the roster, along with his current flame, Nikki Bella.
Ok, you're thinking, that's a storyline that writes itself. Nikki could transition from her current feud with Natalya to Mickie when the time was right, as Mickie likely would've had some axes to grind with Cena dating back to their aborted relationship back in '08, when both were on Raw.
Uncreative has never been known to do the smart thing and let something like that develop organically. Then again, McMahon figured that would be too easy for a first storyline for Mickie if enough people knew the backstory between her and Cena, and how Cena supposedly "stole" Mickie from Ken Doane all those years ago.
So he decides that Mickie would become La Luchadora, even though a "stunt double" (Deonna Purrazzo) was under the hood the last couple of weeks, save for Alexa Bliss donning a spare costume in a losing effort against the woman who started the whole La Luchadora angle, Becky Lynch.
In a way, that's the usual twisted form of "tough love" punishment that the insane chairman doles out to the prodigals who return to WWE, as Mickie has, from TNA (see also Christian, circa 2009).
The whole idea is to get Alexa over as much as possible, because in McMahon's eyes, she isn't, and the tired heel reams (distraction finishes, outside interference, etc.) aren't helping. Using Mickie in this spot wasn't the first choice, in this writer's opinion, but remember, this is Vince McMahon we're dealing with here, who is to wrestling what Donald Trump is to politics AND business in general, out of touch with reality.
As Becky herself admitted in speaking with Daniel Bryan last week, Eva Marie as La Luchadora wouldn't work, because Eva is "too vain". Personally, I'd have used Maryse, since she isn't wrestling much, if at all, since returning, perhaps because Miz doesn't want her to, but the reveal would've definitely been something no one saw coming. Unfortunately for Uncreative, McMahon and his sledgehammer of plot made sure that there wouldn't be a triumphant return for Mickie. They used that up in NXT.
Will we still see Mickie vs. Nikki? Definitely. The way I look at it, Mickie will put Becky over, just like she did Asuka. She'll split with and put Alexa over, then move on to Nikki, which I think will happen during the spring and summer. I just can't see Mickie feuding with Becky for very long. Alexa's likely to open her mouth and say something she'll regret that will force the split with Mickie. Predictable? Yep, but inevitable, too.
Now we'll see if WWE goes for the daily double and signs Mickie's husband, Nick "Magnus" Aldis, away from Global Force Wrestling......
