Mickie James
Professional Debut: 1999, WWE Debut: 2005
Managed: AJ Styles (ROH), CM Punk (ROH), The Gathering (TNA), Joey Matthews (ROH), Tommy Dreamer
Debut Match: Mickie James, Ashley and Trish vs. Candice, Torrie and Victoria (RAW, 10/17/05)
Brand History: RAW (2005 - Present)
Achievements: CSWF Women's Champion (1), DCW Women's Champion (1), ICW Super Juniors Champion (1), SCW Diva Champion (1), UCW Women's Champion (1), UWF Women's Champion (2), WWE Women's Champion (4)
BREAKING INTO THE BUSINESS
Mickie James - known to others as Alexis Laree - made her professional debut as a valet in the KYDA Pro Wrestling promotion in the summer of 1999. She offered her services to established talents such as Steve Corino and Tommy Dreamer and quickly found herself as part of their feuds. This encouraged Mickie to step inside of the ring and become a wrestler herself. The KYDA Pro Wrestling promotion was lacking in female competitors and so Mickie James tangled up with its male talent, she picked up her very first win against Sean Lei of the KYDA promotion.Having learned the basics Mickie felt she needed to improve her style and so branched out to other promotions. In late 1999 she joined an all-female promotion called Beautiful Babes of Wrestling as well as Professional Girl Wrestling Association. Mickie James also appeared in Maryland Championship Wrestling where she was placed in numerous high-profile feuds. Two years later Mickie continued to work for developing women’s promotions including Dangerous Women of Wrestling and the infamous Women’s Extreme Wrestling. The WEW Promotion saw Mickie James - under the alias of Alexis Laree - feud with ‘Prime Time’ Amy Lee, Dee-Dee Venturi and also reignite feuds spanning across several independent promotions with wrestlers including Simply Luscious and Valentina Laree, whom was labelled as her ‘sister’.
TOTAL NON-STOP ALEXIS
By late 2002 Mickie James was beginning to make a name for herself amongst promoters in America and as a result was hired by a new federation known to many as TNA (then part of the NWA franchise). She appeared in a Lingerie Battle Royal which she lost and then disappeared until 2003 where she acted as an equalizer for Amazing Red who was having trouble with Kid Kash and Trinity. Two weeks after an intergender tag match Mickie James - as Alexis Laree - faced Trinity in singles action, during the match Laree was dragged away by Raven and was later revealed as a member of The Gathering.With Raven chasing the NWA World Heavyweight Champion his stable mates protected their leader. This ultimately lead to Alexis Laree become the first woman to ever compete in a Clockwork Orange match with her partner Julio Dinero (a member of The Gathering who was later joined by CM Punk) taking on the World Heavyweight Champion in Jeff Jarrett. In the match Laree was power-bombed from the top rope through a table but was ultimately on the winning end as Raven aided Dinero to a victory.
Shortly after The Gathering began feuding with James Mitchell and the Disciples of the New Church. On July 30 2003 The Gathering lost a Clockwork Orange House of Fun match - again Alexis competed in the match making her the only woman to wrestle twice under the stipulations. At the end of the match Alexis Laree was struck with a fireball from James Mitchell and was then wrote out of future storylines. The reason behind this was due to Mickie James signing a developmental contract with the WWE.
PREPARING FOR A LITTLE CRAZY
In October 2003 Mickie James debuted on OVW Television, continuing to use the ring name of Alexis Laree. She spent much time feuding with current RAW divas Melina, Jillian Hall and Beth Phoenix as well as other ladies such as Shaniqua who later debuted on SmackDown!, and Shelley Martinez who appeared on the ECW brand under the alias of Ariel. In 2005 she was re-united with CM Punk for the first time since TNA. Mickie acted as a valet to CM Punk who appeared on the July 25 broadcast of HeAT. It was rumoured that at this time WWE were planning on debuting the pair as an item, plans were clearly scrapped if this is true.Three months later Alexis Laree was called up to the RAW roster using her real name - Mickie James. The psychotic diva debuted saving her ‘idol’ Trish Stratus from a post-match beat down courtesy of Victoria. Her debut match was the very next week where she saved Trish Stratus by taking the brunt of Victoria and ultimately lost the six person tag match. From there Mickie James began imitating Trish Stratus - a Halloween Costume Contest saw Mickie appear in a Trish Stratus costume and then she later began using signature moves of the former seven-time Women’s Champion.
Eventually Mickie James earned herself a title match against Trish Stratus after beating Victoria on the December 12 edition of RAW. The relationship between Mickie James and Trish Stratus got much more personal when Mickie James ended up kissing a shocked Stratus under the mistletoe on a Christmas edition of RAW. The sexual innuendos continued after New Year’s Revolution and eventually Mickie James began turning heel when she attacked Ashley Massaro (an ally of Trish Stratus) in a tag team match. At the Royal Rumble in 2006 Mickie James confessed her love for the Special Guest Referee - Trish Stratus - after winning the match James began celebrating with Trish Stratus who ended up leaving.
Trish Stratus, clearly uncomfortable, introduced her ‘boyfriend’ Jack. Mickie James quickly got jealous of the relationship and staged a scene that would make Jack appear to have abused Mickie James. Trish Stratus, surprised by the events, ended her relationship with Jack - something that pleased Mickie James. At the return show of Saturday Night’s Main Event Mickie James subbed for Torrie Wilson in a tag match where her partner was Trish Stratus. After beating Candice Michelle and Victoria the psychotic Mickie James agreed to give Trish Stratus the space she wanted, however as Trish went to leave Mickie planted her ‘idol’ with a Mick Kick signifying her heel turn.
Wrestlemania 22 set the stage for Mickie James to challenge Trish Stratus for the Women’s Championship. Fortunately for
Mickie James she was able to capture her first title after knocking Trish Stratus to the mat with a Mick Kick. Just as the
chapter seemed to have ended the mind games increased as Mickie James appeared dressed in Stratus ring attire, complete
with blonde hair! Trish Stratus responded by dressing like Mickie James. The two met at Backlash where Mickie James got
herself disqualified - the ending of the match came when Trish Stratus was dropped over the top rope, the fall caused Trish
to suffer a dislocated shoulder, upon her return to the ring Mickie James choked the challenger for longer than the legal
five count.
WHO IS THAT?!
With Trish Stratus sidelined a new face appeared on RAW - Beth Phoenix! After beating Maria an unknown woman rushed the ring and began pounding away at the Women’s Champion. Security intervened and dragged the invader away. The attacks continued for several weeks and eventually Trish Stratus unveiled the identity of the attacker; Beth Phoenix. It was later revealed that Beth Phoenix and Mickie James had a lot of history between each other, so much so that Phoenix promised Mickie that she was “not going to let you (Mickie James) get away with what you did to me (Beth Phoenix)!” The feud though was ended abruptly when Beth Phoenix injured her jaw in a match with Victoria.FIGHTING FOR GOLD
Mickie James held her first Championship for approximately four months before dropping it to Lita on an episode of RAW. At this time Trish Stratus was preparing for retirement and as a result faced Mickie James in her final RAW match - Stratus
scored the victory and shook hands with her former nemesis after the match. Trish Stratus’ retirement led to the Women’s
Championship being vacated, Mickie James advanced to the finals of the tournament knocking out competition such as Victoria
and Melina. Lita though picked up the belt at Cyber Sunday and then soon after announced her retirement from WWE. At
Survivor Series Mickie James beat a retiring Lita to get her second Women’s Championship.
With the loss of Trish Stratus and Lita the competition began focusing around RAW divas such as Mickie James, Melina and Victoria. A #1 Contender’s battle royal occurred on the November 27 edition of RAW, Victoria won the bout and got herself a title match at New Year’s Revolution. Mickie James retained in the title match and went on to feud with Melina. On the February 19 edition of RAW Melina beat Mickie James for the Women’s Championship. Two weeks later the two ladies locked up in a re-match but this time became the first WWE Divas to compete under Falls Count Anywhere rules. Melina retained the Championship after Mickie James failed to connect a painful looking frankensteiner.
The two re-ignited their feud shortly after Wrestlemania 23 after Mickie James planted Melina with a DDT during her Photo-Op. On April 24 at a live event in Paris, France Mickie James picked up her third Women’s Championship in a triple threat involving Melina and Victoria. Jonathon Coachman through ordered the match to continue in spite of James’ victory. Melina managed to get her gold back making Mickie James’ third title reign incredibly short. Since then Mickie James has spent time tagging with former Women’s Champion Candice Michelle. She engaged momentarily in a feud with the ‘Singing Sensation’ Jillian Hall and has continued to wrestle on both RAW and HeAT.
Mickie James has found herself standing across the ring from Beth Phoenix, all in the hopes of becoming Women's Champion once again. Mickie has had several attempts to score the win over Phoenix but has come up short every time. Recently Mickie James broke down on television, explaining to Maria that she doesn't know why she can't beat Beth.
It took many months after the tears but on April 14 2008, in London, England, Mickie James pinned Beth Phoenix to capture her fourth Women's Championship!
