A WWE legend has explained their disappointment following plans for them to manage CM Punk in WWE were scrapped at the last minute.
Mickie James was introduced to the WWE Universe in October 2005 as the crazed superfan on Trish Stratus. That role propelled both women into a featured match at WrestleMania 22 that is still discussed to this day where James became WWE Women’s Champion for the first of six times.
However, her start in the company could have been very different as she explained on an episode of Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw. According to Mickie James, she was originally set to manage CM Punk and even did so for a match that ended up not airing and says it was Triple H that put a stop to the on-screen pairing:
“I was supposed to debut before and it was with CM Punk as his manager on Sunday [Night Heat]. I was so devastated at that moment when Hunter came back and said, ‘I like both you guys. I just don’t see it together.'”
“They filled that spot with some replays of something else that happened on RAW with Rhyno or something. I was so devastated at that moment, but then I went like, ‘How different would my career be if my introduction to the WWE Universe was Sunday Night Heat, a manager for CM Punk?’ Would it have been great? Probably, yeah, but it wouldn’t have been what Trish and I had which was really special and it was a game-changer.”
“I think it really started to help flip the script to say, Okay, well women can also be just two females, a main storyline driven thing because that was really one of the first ones that I can recall.”