History YMMV / MickieJames

** Her return to WWE. Some are happy to see the return of one of the best and most over women's wrestlers WWE ever had. Others are concerned since there are so many women wrestlers in right now WWE that are just as over and talented as she is, if not moreso, meaning Mickie's presence is not really as needed or wanted as it would have been had she returned five years or so earlier. Things didn't exactly settle after Mickie's return to the main roster where she has been acting mostly as a jobber-to-the-stars and is undergoing the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor. Since she's now in her forties[[note]]Keep in mind she's only a few months younger than Wrestling/TaminaSnuka, who is also victim of start-stop pushes.[[/note]], it seems unlikely that she'll be given another big push unless it's solely to put someone else over (even though she has a '''huge''' online fanbase that are clamoring for her to be given one final title reign).

** The Piggy James storyline. Was it a shameless exploitation angle and merely an excuse to shame Mickie for not being a size zero? Or was it at least better than having no storyline at all, given that Mickie ultimately won in the end? Mickie herself called it one of the better feuds she did while in WWE. Wrestling/MariaKanellis also pointed out that one of the segments involved the women getting fifteen minutes on Smackdown - which was certainly nothing to sneer at when half the time the other matches barely clocked three minutes.

** What's definitely widely agreed upon is that she certainly shouldn't have lost the feud, which she did. Making it worse was WWE firing her a month later and then an article being put up on WWE.com implying she left due to the bullying, which may have been someone on the website [[WriterRevolt showing what they thought about it]].

* HilariousInHindsight: In BBOW, she was announced as Alexis Laree but Earl The Pearl addressed her as "Mickie". Granted, most people in the audience probably did not even hear him but then the videos were released years later when Mickie was a big draw for Monday Night Raw.

** Her return to WWE. Some are happy to see the return of one of the best and most over women's wrestlers WWE ever had. Others are concerned since there are so many women wrestlers in right now WWE that are just as over and talented as she is, if not moreso, meaning Mickie's presence is not really as needed or wanted as it would have been had she returned five years or so earlier. Things didn't exactly settle after Mickie's return to the main roster where she has been acting mostly as a jobber-to-the-stars and is undergoing the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor. Since she's pushing 40[[note]]Keep in mind she's only a few months younger than Wrestling/TaminaSnuka, who is also victim of start-stop pushes.[[/note]], it seems unlikely that she'll be given another big push unless it's solely to put someone else over (even though she has a '''huge''' online fanbase that are clamoring for her to be given one final title reign).

* EarWorm:
** Her WWE entrance music. It's a SuspiciouslySimilarSong of "Hey Mickie", which is enough of an Ear Worm itself.
** "Hardcore Country" is a pretty big EarWorm too.

* HarsherInHindsight: The Piggy James storyline could be seen as this in 2018 after James ended up becoming Wrestling/AlexaBliss' accomplice in a similar bullying angle with Nia Jax. Even before this, fans were questioning AAA's wisdom in having James join in on the bullying of Mari Apache. That case wasn't ''as'' derided because [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters the near entirety]] of La Sociedad had been tormenting The Apaches before Mickie joined in, and while they did resort to some fat jokes a Mari's expense, their primary focus was on the Apaches being "low class". Given the crowds [[DracoInLeatherPants cheered James half the time]] the wisdom of having her in La Sociedad at all could also be questioned, but again there several wrestlers shoved into La Legion Extranjera or Sociedad solely for being foreign at the time.

* HypeBacklash: Reaction to her TNA Knockouts Championship pushes was lukewarm, as her arrival came at the expense of cutting Angelina Love's momentum off at the heels. However it did help that she didn't win the title for a while - debuting in October and not winning the belt until April. Winter beat James for the belt twice in the exact same manner both times.

* RootingForTheEmpire: Her Wrestlemania 22 women's championship match with Wrestling/TrishStratus. Trish was the face and Mickie was the heel. The fans in attendance were actually cheering for Mickie and booing Trish, because, among other things, Trish had been women's champion for over a year and not defending it for most of that time, while Mickie James was the only new "diva" on Raw who fans could buy as champion(Trish injured, to be fair to her, but WWE had done such a poor job of handling its female talent Raw didn't have a functional women's division until Mickie debuted a few weeks after Trish returned). When Mickie won the match, she got a huge pop (positive crowd reaction), her grabbing Trish's privates and performing a crotch lick didn't hurt.
* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: While the matches hold up, it's a little difficult for later viewers to understand her popularity (nor her contemporary's) if they didn't know how much more rarely fans in the USA got to see women wrestling good matches from 1995-2002. Internet streaming hadn't caught on yet, the most mainstream female promotion (Women of Wrestling) was a train wreck that wouldn't be back for another decade, the Wrestling/{{WCW}} women's divisions were confined to Japan, the WWF's flat out stopped existing at some point, then came back and was frequently centered around minimally trained wrestlers often portrayed in the most cowardly ways possible in gimmick matches that just barely resembled pro wrestling, there was nothing providing as many cards WSU since it wasn't a women's promotion yet...it was a good time for "the big three" but not for anyone else and if the big three weren't featuring something, well it lead to people driving miles to see Alexis Laree vs Simply Luscious and such, a fan base she retained in some form or another for over two decades.

* HarsherInHindsight: The Piggy James storyline could be seen as this in 2018 after James ended up becoming Wrestling/AlexaBliss' accomplice in a similar bullying angle with Nia Jax. Even before this, fans were questioning AAA's wisdom in having James join in on the bullying of Mari Apache. That case wasn't ''as'' derided because [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters the near entirety]] of La Sociedad had been tormenting The Apaches before Mickie joined in, and while they did resort to some fat jokes a Mari's expense, their primary focus was on the Apaches being "low class".

* HarsherInHindsight: The Piggy James storyline could be seen as this in 2018 after James ended up becoming Wrestling/AlexaBliss' accomplice in a similar bullying angle with Nia Jax.

* HypeBacklash: Reaction to her TNA Knockouts Championship pushes was lukewarm, as her arrival came at the expense of cutting Angelina Love's momentum off at the heels. However it did help that she didn't win the title for a while - debuting in October and not winning the belt until April.

* IronWoobie: Mickie was the most emotional diva but after reconciling with Trish, Alicia Fox was the closest she had to a recurring opponent she ''just'' wrestled. Lita had one sided stipulations, Melina was made worse by Victoria and Beth Phoenix, [[Wrestling/KatarinaWaters Katie Lea]] spread rumors of an affair and thrashed Mickie while she hugged her dad (then went on to feud with her again in TNA as Winter). Beth gave Mickie almost the exact same thrashing the very next week and her rematch clause for Jillian's title was immediately nullified. Beth competed with Wrestling/{{Natalya| Neidhart}} over beating Mickie then while Laycool broke into her locker and destroyed her clothes. Till Melina's change of heart, her allies were only good for [[WouldntHitAGirl fighting men]] or [[TheLoad failing]] and [[PutOnABus Melina went to another brand]]. [[SympathyForTheHero Finally Beth eased up]] but Mickie left soon after.

* RootingForTheEmpire: Her Wrestlemania 22 women's championship match with Wrestling/TrishStratus. Trish was the face and Mickie was the heel. The fans in attendance were actually cheering for Mickie and booing Trish, because Trish had been women's champion for over a year and fans were getting tired. When Mickie won the match, she got a huge pop (positive crowd reaction), probably because of her grabbing Trish's privates and performing a crotch lick.

** Her return to WWE. Some are happy to see the return of one of the best and most over women's wrestlers WWE ever had. Others are concerned since there are so many women wrestlers in right now WWE that are just as over and talented as she is, if not moreso, meaning Mickie's presence is not really as needed or wanted as it would have been had she returned five years or so earlier. Things didn't exactly settle after Mickie's return to the main roster where she has been acting mostly as a jobber-to-the-stars and is undergoing the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor. Since she's pushing 40[[note]]Keep in mind she's only a few months younger than Wrestling/TaminaSnuka, who is also victim of start-stop pushes.[[/note]], it seems unlikely that she'll be given another big push unless it's solely to put someone else over.

** Her return to WWE. Some are happy to see the return of one of the best and most over women's wrestlers WWE ever had. Others are concerned since there are so many women wrestlers in right now WWE that are just as over and talented as she is, if not moreso, meaning Mickie's presence is not really as needed or wanted as it would have been had she returned five years or so earlier. Things didn't exactly settle after Mickie's return to the main roster where she has more or less been lost in the shuffle and undergoing a HeelFaceRevolvingDoor, making it clear that WWE have no idea what to do with her. Since she's pushing 40[[note]]Keep in mind she's only a few months younger than Wrestling/TaminaSnuka, who is also victim of start-stop pushes.[[/note]], it seems unlikely that she'll be given another big push unless it's solely to put someone else over.

** Her return to WWE. Some are happy to see the return of one of the best and most over women's wrestlers WWE ever had. Others aren't so pleased since there are so many women wrestlers in right now WWE that are just as over and talented as she is, if not moreso, meaning Mickie's presence is not really as needed or wanted as it would have been had she returned five years or so earlier. Things didn't exactly settle after Mickie's return to the main roster where she has more or less been lost in the shuffle and it's clear that WWE have no idea what to do with her. Since she's pushing 40[[note]]Keep in mind she's only a few months younger than Wrestling/TaminaSnuka, who is also victim of start-stop pushes.[[/note]], it seems unlikely that she'll be given another big push unless it's solely to put someone else over.

* HarsherInHindsight: The Piggy James angle could be seen as this in 2018 after James ended up becoming Wrestling/AlexaBliss' accomplice in a similar bullying angle with Nia Jax.

* HarsherInHindsight: The Piggy James angle could be seen as this in 2018 after James ended up becoming Wrestling/AlexaBliss' accomplice in a similar bullying angle with Wrestling/NiaJax.

* BestKnownForTheFanservice: Even though her feud with Trish Stratus was enjoyed and respected by fans, expect them to always mention either the crotch grab/finger lick from ''[=WrestleMania=] 22'' or the famous kiss under the mistletoe.

** To a lesser extent, the famous crotch lick from her match with Trish. Some felt it was perfectly in character and a good bit of cheap heat. Others found it too vulgar and rather shameless {{Fanservice}}.

* BestKnownForTheFanservice: Even though her feud with Trish Stratus was enjoyed and respected by fans, expect them to always mention either the crotch lick from ''[=WrestleMania=] 22'' or the famous kiss under the mistletoe.

** Her return to WWE. Some are happy to see the return of one of the best and most over women's wrestlers WWE ever had. Others aren't so pleased since there are so many women wrestlers in right now WWE that are just as over and talented as she is, if not moreso, meaning Mickie's presence is not really as needed or wanted as it would have been had she returned five years or so earlier. Things didn't exactly settle after Mickie's return to the main roster where she has more or less been lost in the shuffle and since she's pushing 40[[note]]Keep in mind she's only a few months younger than Wrestling/TaminaSnuka, who is also victim of start-stop pushes.[[/note]], it seems unlikely that WWE will give her another big push unless it's solely to put someone else over.

* ValuesResonance: Mickie's promo defending herself against Wrestling/LayCool. Notably she did not fall into the trap that numerous other females did when they went against them - such as Natalya and Beth Phoenix - with hypocritical thin-shaming. Her promo said that a woman was beautiful no matter what her body size - which was very telling considering Michelle [=McCool=] faced almost as many body shaming taunts as Mickie from internet fans, even being nicknamed 'Skeletor' over her thinness and being accused of having an eating disorder by Brian Alvarez. Mickie's promo is a shining example of how to defend oneself from persecution without sinking to the other person's level - and WWE has often had a history of their {{Face}}s resorting to mean-spirited bullying (including John Cena fat-shaming Vickie Guerrero only a few months later).

** Her return to WWE. Some are happy to see the return of one of the best and most over women's wrestlers WWE ever had. Others aren't so pleased since there are so many women wrestlers in right now WWE that are just as over and talented as she is, if not moreso, meaning Mickie's presence is not really as needed or wanted as it would have been had she returned five years or so earlier. Things didn't exactly settle after Mickie's return to the main roster where she has more or less been lost in the shuffle and since she's pushing 40[[note]]Keep in mind she's only a few months younger than Wrestling/TaminaSnuka, who's barely a step above {{jobber}} status.[[/note]], it seems unlikely that WWE will give her another big push unless it's solely to put someone else over.

** Her return to WWE. Some are happy to see the return of one of the best and most over women's wrestlers WWE ever had, while other aren't so pleased since there are so many women wrestlers in WWE that are just as over and talented as she is, if not moreso, meaning Mickie's presence is not really as needed or wanted as she would have been had she returned five years earlier. Things didn't exactly settle after Mickie's return to the main roster where she has more or less been lost in the shuffle and since she's pushing 40[[note]]Keep in mind she's only a few months younger than Wrestling/TaminaSnuka[[/note]], it seems unlikely that WWE will give her another big push unless it's solely to put someone else over.

** Her return to WWE. Some are happy to see the return of one of the best and most over women's wrestlers WWE ever had, while other aren't so pleased since there are so many women wrestlers in WWE that are just as over and talented as she is, if not moreso, meaning Mickie's presence is not really as needed or wanted as she would have been had she returned five years earlier. Things didn't exactly settle after Mickie's return to the main roster where she has more or less been lost in the shuffle and since she's pushing 40, it's unlikely that WWE will give her another big push unless it's solely to put someone else over.

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Downplayed but Mickie's return to TNA was met with lukewarm reactions from internet fans, especially those who didn't like the fact that a former WWE talent was once again getting priority over the established Knockouts (as Angelina Love was suddenly dropped from the top face spot in favour of Mickie). Simply through consistently good work in the ring, Mickie won people over (not to mention that she's actually a TNA original, having worked their for about a year as "Alexis Laree").

** Her return to WWE. Some are happy to see the return of one of the best and most over women's wrestlers WWE ever had, while other aren't so pleased since there are so many women in WWE that are just as over and talented as she is, meaning she's not really as needed or wanted as she would have been had she returned five years earlier. This was exemplified after her return to the main roster where she has more or less been lost in the shuffle and since she's pushing 40, it's unlikely that WWE will give her another big push unless it's solely to put someone else over.

** Her return to WWE. Some are happy to see the return of one of the best and most over women's wrestlers WWE ever had, while other aren't so pleased since there are so many women in WWE that are just as over and talented as she is, meaning she's not really as needed or wanted as she would have been five years ago. This was exemplified after her return to the main roster where she has more or less been lost in the shuffle and since she's pushing 40, it's unlikely that WWE will give her another big push unless it's solely to put someone over.

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Downplayed but Mickie's return to TNA was met with lukewarm reactions from internet fans, especially those who didn't like the fact that a former WWE talent was once again getting priority over the established Knockouts (as Angelina Love was suddenly dropped from the top face spot in favour of Mickie). Simply through consistently good work in the ring, Mickie won people over.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: One of the few women in wrestling that is both attractive and almost universally liked by both casual fans and smart marks. She was never able to be booed in WWE and the crowd sided with her over Trish Stratus in their famous ''[=WrestleMania=]'' match. She was so popular that when she was released, there were "We want Mickie!" chants audible on TV. Several fans also threatened to riot over the matter. When she was announced as Asuka's opponent for NXT Takeover - there were still thunderous pops. Mickie had not appeared in WWE for ''six years'' at that point.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: While the matches hold up, it's a little difficult for later viewers to understand her popularity (nor her contemporary's) if they didn't know how much more rarely fans in the USA got to see women wrestling good matches from 1995-2002. Internet streaming hadn't caught on yet, the most mainstream female promotion (Women of Wrestling) was a train wreck that wouldn't be back for another decade, the Wrestling/{{WCW}} women's divisions were confined to Japan, the WWF's flat out stopped existing at some point, WWF's was frequently centered around minimally trained wrestlers often portrayed in the most cowardly ways possible in gimmick matches that just barely resembled pro wrestling, there was nothing providing as many cards WSU since it wasn't a women's promotion yet...it was a good time for "the big three" but not for anyone else and if the big three weren't featuring something, well it lead to people driving miles to see Alexis Laree vs Simply Luscious and such, a fan base she retained in some form or another for over two decades.

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Downplayed but Mickie's arrival in TNA was met with lukewarm reactions from internet fans, especially those who didn't like the fact that a former WWE talent was once again getting priority over the established Knockouts (as Angelina Love was suddenly dropped from the top face spot in favour of Mickie). Simply through consistently good work in the ring, Mickie won people over.
* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: While the matches hold up, it's a little difficult for later viewers to understand her popularity(nor her contemporary's) if they didn't know how much more rarely fans in the USA got to see women wrestling good matches from 1995-2002. Internet streaming hadn't caught on yet, the most mainstream female promotion (Women Of Wrestling) was a train wreck that wouldn't be back for another decade, the Wrestling/{{WCW}} women's divisions were confined to Japan, the WWF's flat out stopped existing at some point, WWF's was frequently centered around minimally trained wrestlers often portrayed in the most cowardly ways possible in gimmick matches that just barely resembled pro wrestling, there was nothing providing as many cards WSU since it wasn't a women's promotion yet...it was a good time for "the big three" but not for anyone else and if the big three weren't featuring something, well it lead to people driving miles to see Alexis Laree vs Simply Luscious and such, a fan base she retained in some form or another for over two decades.