Former Women’s Champion, Mickie James will be performing live in Nashville today to celebrate the release of her debut album, ‘Strangers & Angels’. The event takes place at the Red Rooster in Nashville from 5.30pm. Click here for the address. Fans in the Nashville area can attend by RSVPing with her publicist Don. Drop an … Read more
Having already entered the top 10 yesterday, Mickie James‘ debut country album ‘Strangers & Angels’ has now broken into the top five of iTunes’ top country music albums in the UK, currently at #4. Meanwhile in the US, it is at #64 at press time. Congrats to Mickie! If the upward swing continues, she could … Read more
On its first day of release, Mickie James‘ debut country album ‘Strangers & Angels’ currently sits at #61 on the US iTunes country music chart at press time. In neighboring Canada, it charts at #34. Meanwhile in the UK, the record has zoomed into the top 10, currently sitting at #9. A pretty great start … Read more
Former WWE Diva and 5-time Women’s Champion, Mickie James has released her debut country album ‘Strangers & Angels’ worldwide today.
The album can be purchased via countryshowcase.com or digitally via iTunes for $9.99.
You can get a look at Mickie’s album cover in full by clicking here.
If anyone picks up the album and would like to send in a review, please feel free to email us at divadirt@gmail.com.
Tracklisting after the cut:
‘Are You With Me’, the first single from former WWE Women’s Champion Mickie James is now available on iTunes. You can download the track for $0.99 by clicking here. James will release her debut album, Strangers & Angels, next Tuesday.
In perhaps one of the most bizzare stories ever, earlier this week, we reported how a Mickie James ‘uber-fan’ made threatening phone calls to WWE’s offices in Stamford, saying that he would blow it up. In an interview on Busted Open Radio, James offers this rather dignified response: I have a lot of friends that … Read more
The Conneticut Post is reporting that a man was arrested and arraigned after making threatening phone calls to WWE’s offices in Stamford, CT following Mickie James‘ release from the company. The man threatened to blow up the WWE headquarters, go down there with a machete and a machine gun, and threatened to kill a WWE … Read more
You never forget the sound. Never. When your knee snaps and you know something is terribly wrong, your body immediately goes ice cold and the sound — more like a short crumble when you smash a soda can — is forever a part of your life. It can make you sick to think about even long after your knee is healed. And let me tell you, you can never, ever, ever watch a knee injury on TV without feeling physically ill. I blew out my left knee in December 2002, a complete tear of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t hear the sound. Unfortunately, now Melina can hear that sound too.
You become members of a strange fraternity. As soon as you hear somebody is recovering from knee surgery you immediately ask: “So how did you do it?”  Then you tell the person the details of your own experience. It is almost like comparing war stories. The conversation is always the same:
“Yeah, I tore my knee up pretty good last winter.”
“Complete ACL tear?”
“Yeah”
“How did they fix it?”
“Used a cadaver…”
“Huh…I blew mine out 2 summers ago…basketball injury…chose the hamstring.”
“How’s it feel now?”
“Pretty good…hurts when it rains.”
Both people chuckle.
The recent rash of injuries to female wrestlers has been jarring. Melina tore her ACL, Daffney suffered a bruised sternum, Mickie James had a serious staph infection, Angelina Love tore her ulnar collateral ligament, and SHIMMER star LuFisto suffered a stroke, all in the span of a few months. And these are just the injuries that got reported. Each and every wrestler is probably working with aches and pains that most of us would use as a reason to call in sick. There is extreme pressure to perform even when not 100%, and combined with the increased physicality of the sport (i.e. high spots, ladders, tables, etc), serious injuries are likely to occur. These are trained professionals but obviously accidents can happen. Remember, just months after her debut, Beth Phoenix broke her jaw and needed reconstructive surgery causing her to miss close to a year of action. (Hard to believe she has 12 screws in her jawbone. That surgeon deserves a medal.)
It’s funny how things can change so much in just seven days, yet still remain very much the same. Since last Thursday, it’s been one bombshell after another. In the last seven days, both WWE and TNA have made, I’m sure what they consider to be ‘wise business decisions’, in releasing Mickie James and allowing Tara to slip through their fingers. It is odd to watch this as a fan, as we effectively need to readjust the way we watch women’s wrestling on national television and prepare ourselves to no longer see two women, who combined, have probably entertained us for some 12-13 years. When it rains, it pours, right?
I say that things still remain the same because though these two extremely popular women have moved on or are going to move on, the status quo remains unchanged and that status quo is that the women aren’t considered as valuable as the men. Who’d have thought that Mickie James, the heir apparent to Trish Stratus’ throne, would leave under any circumstance other than her own? James seemingly had a meal ticket for as long as she wanted and seemingly had a send-off somewhere between Trish’s and the then-Victoria’s whenever she did hang up her boots. Where did it all go wrong? I’m sure you’re reading much speculation on the Internet, but it baffles me that WWE would dismiss the fact that Mickie was the most popular Diva in the WWE with audience reaction far more than that of some of the men they seem intent on pushing to the moon. Perhaps Mickie’s release should have been foreshadowed when WWE pulled a similar stunt in February, releasing Maria Kanellis, also extremely popular as proven by the fact that she won a worldwide fan vote for ‘Diva of the Year’ in December. Are the women that expendable? Are they that interchangeable?
Speaking for the first time on a variety of subjects, Mickie James spoke with the Canadian “Fight Show with Mauro Ranallo” in her first interview since being released by the WWE. Mickie maintains a professional, optimistic stance on the subjects in question, ranging from her release to the controversial “Piggie James” storyline. In the interview, … Read more
Five time Women’s Champion, Mickie James and Celebrity Apprentice star Maria Kanellis have been added to WWE.com’s ever growing Alumni section in record time. James was released just last week while Kanellis was let go in February, meanwhile the last former Diva to make the page, Candice Michelle, was only added in March after a … Read more
A ‘We Want Mickie’ chant broke out during a Divas tag team match on tonight’s live three hour Draft episode of Raw. The episode hails from Richmond, Virginia, James’ hometown. The former five-time Women’s Champion was released last Thursday after being the top babyface Diva for the company for the past several years. Perhaps it’s … Read more
Before this Sunday’s big Women’s Championship bout between Michelle McCool and Beth Phoenix, McCool and her Simply Flawless teammates literally ironed out the details for the match on SmackDown this week. Also, who knew that this would end up being Mickie James’ final appearance on WWE television? It’s a very interesting week for the blue brand. Watch below:
First comes the announcement of an ‘Extreme Makeover’ match between Michelle and Beth for this Sunday. What is an ‘Extreme Makeover’ match? Beats me. But I guess we’ll find out Sunday. Just as long as there’s no vanity mirror with light bulbs around it and the Divas aren’t forced to dress in feathered robes like this, I’m good.
So after months of waiting for this tag team match, it’s finally here — Beth and Mickie James versus Michelle and Layla with Vickie on the outside. It seems like this match itself has been months in the making, let alone the Women’s Championship bout. I was really looking forward to seeing a relationship develop between Phoenix and James so it’s weird to think this will be their one and only appearance together as a team.
The match begins with Layla and Phoenix, Layla smartly runs around Beth and applies a side headlock on the Glamazon but is then hoisted in the air and twirled around by the forceful #1 Contender. Layla begins to find her ground, reapplying the headlock but is picked up again and dropped by Beth Phoenix. Beth runs at Layla, who kicks her in the leg, followed by a kick. Layla then irish whips herself off the ropes, as McCool blind tags herself in, and runs at Beth who catches her by the legs. Layla is locked into a giant swing by Beth but in comes Michelle who for some reason, jumps over Layla and then gets hit with a back elbow by Beth. Not even sure what’s going on here. Beth then picks up Layla in a lateral press position, hoisting her above her head but is kicked in the back of the leg by Michelle and ends up falling to her knees. McCool then works over the leg and goes for a pin but to no avail.
In light of the shock release of five-time WWE Women’s Champion, Mickie James last night, we hand the floor over to our good friend John Canton of our partner site, TheJohnReport.net for this special guest blog. John, an avid fan of the now ex-Diva, has come to know Mickie over the past several months and now considers her a friend. So, who better to pay homage to her career?
The news of Mickie James being released by World Wrestling Entertainment has rocked a lot of people with good reason. She’s the kind of person that women wrestling fans looked up to as a role model because of the amazing work ethic that she has. She’s the kind of person that male wrestling fans wanted to watch because she’s a gorgeous woman that put on entertaining matches. The best thing about watching her is that you can see in her face that wrestling is all she ever wanted to do. Whether heel or face, whether in a good storyline or bad, she always did her best. Look at her eyes. Look at her smile. It was there for us to see. She grew up a fan of the business and it showed in her work. Week in, week out, she proved herself. Even though she’s one of the smaller girls standing at 5’2″ she showed she belonged more than any of them. Why? The combination of work ethic, passion, knowledge and desire. Not only that, but she was successful as both a heel and babyface. Her heel run in late 2005/early 2006 is still as good as any Diva in WWE history. For four years she’s been in the babyface role taking beatings, coming back and making everybody else look good. That was her job. She did it better than anybody. Now she doesn’t have that job anymore? Excuse my language here, but what the fuck?
What about Piggy James? Dear God, what a stupid idea for an angle. Mickie’s not fat. Never was. Never has been. A woman that’s 5’2″ and weighs 125 pounds is not fat. Just because Vince McMahon is a senile, old man that thinks that ogles bikini models doesn’t mean he is a judge of character. It shows that he’s vain, unrealistic and he should probably get outside of the bubble that he appears to live in. The amazing thing is it worked because the performers were good. Michelle and Layla worked well in their roles… aside from having to hear Michelle sing! You think one of the less talented Divas could pull off what MJ did? I don’t. Mickie carried it with the way she makes her comebacks, her strong promos and the way she showed her emotions when the time was right for it. How many wrestlers do you think are good enough actors to cry when they have to? Not many, I bet. It made you feel sympathy for her character. You know what else? Despite the bullshit idea of calling a woman with Mickie’s figure “fat,” she didn’t complain during the angle. She’s a wrestler. She knows the business. She knew that there’d be the payoff in the end. Then she won the Women’s Title at the Royal Rumble and everybody smiled. It was probably the best Divas angle since Trish vs. Mickie in 2006. Coincidence that Mickie was involved in both? No. It also shows how talented she was by being able to be great in both feuds while being in different roles. From crazy, psycho bitch to sympathetic woman, she can do it all.
Former WWE Diva, Maria Kanellis‘s initial reaction to Mickie James’ release was caught on tape in an interview with fansite Maria-Kanellis.org earlier today. Kanellis found out the news while chatting to the website and discusses the release of both her and Katie Lea in the clip. Listen below: [gplayer href=”http://diva-dirt.com/audio/mariamickie.mp3″][/gplayer] To listen to the full … Read more
As the dust settles on the releases of five-time Women’s Champion, Mickie James and Katie Lea, we take a look at the releases, the implications they have and what’s next for the two Divas in this special late breaking podcast. To listen to the audio directly on the website, just click on the play button … Read more
The word ‘Mickie’ is trending on Twitter in the San Antonio, Texas region tonight. Obviously, this is probably to do with Mickie James‘ release a few hours ago. Steven notes that Mickie was also trending in Canada, while Katie Lea was trending in New York City but at press time, they have fallen out of … Read more
Mickie James posted the following on her Twitter page: Awe… Thank you James Gang! I just want to say its been a beautiful journey… Wwe has been a childhood dream come true & I have loved every step… There is not a moment I would change for the world… It breaks my heart but the … Read more
WWE.com has just announced that 5 time WWE Women’s Champion, Mickie James and Katie Lea have been released. Perhaps the most shocking release in recent years has to be that of Mickie James, who is without a doubt the most popular Diva in the WWE. James signed with WWE in 2003 before making her debut … Read more
Women’s Champion, Michelle McCool and her now former rival, Mickie James dusted off their heated feud for one more outing this week on an edition of SmackDown from London. And the result was perhaps one of the best Divas matches on TV so far this year. It’s no secret that Michelle has rarely wrestled a singles match on SmackDown in the past few months but I guess an international TV taping is a good a reason as any. Watch below:
So, Mickie is back from her little hiatus due to injury and she’s back in the ring with the woman who took the Women’s Championship from her back in February. Despite having surgery and everything, Mickie was on fine form as she skipped and hopped to the ring for her match followed by McCool with Layla and Vickie Guerrero in tow.
The former Women’s Champion gives McCool a little sly wink as she steps onto the ring apron for her signature pose, suggesting that she has not forgotten any of the animosity between them. As the bell rings and the match begins, the two Divas lock up but it’s Michelle who gets the better of the exchange, using her leverage to hit sort of an overhead throw on her. The arrogant champion then segues into press ups which become one-legged press ups, as Layla and Vickie cheer her on. Much to her surprise though, Mickie drops down opposite her and struts her stuff too leading to a nice showdown. Michelle looks surprised and confused as she says, “I didn’t know she could do that” to the crowd. Best to keep your eyes on your opponent Michelle, as James hit a great low dropkick on the champ and goes for the pin but no three count. Mickie goes for another pin attempt, this time sweeping the legs and jumping into a bridge but Michelle kicks out yet again.
Now, that title may sound like I actually enjoyed the action from last night’s Raw, but anyone who watched the show would know that that just isn’t possible, unless you enjoy watching acute forms of torture. What I mean by the title is that, like last week, we always claim that the WWE’s treatment of the Raw Divas cannot possibly get any worse. I mean, we go from a 1-minute match to a 50-second match and many of us jokingly suggested that the WWE can do better than that–they can get the matches EVEN shorter! Needless to say, they met that challenge head on and delivered a match that somehow, by the grace of Zeus (who, by the way, I picture looking like Liam Neeson dressed in shimmering armor) was even shorter, more pointless, and an even greater waste of talent and time. Like I said, I’ll never underestimate the WWE again!
Now, getting into the specifics, we started the show with what was obviously an omen for how things were going to go. We are told that tonight, in keeping with the theme of the show, which was hosted by Rob Corddry and Clark Duke from “Hot Tub Time Machine”, we would be treated punished with a hot tub “match”. As it turns out, it was more of a hot tub contest, with the winner being the one who stayed in the hot tub the longest. Tiffany, Rosa Mendes, Brie Bella, and Nikki Bella are sporting bikinis and seated in a rather unhygienic looking hot tub with the night’s hosts.
Now, I know as well as you that the punchline is coming from a mile away–unattractive person enters the hot tub and chases the men away. But still, someone suggests that the winner get a shot at the Divas Championship. Great, because that’s just what we need! It’s been about a year since a man won a Divas-only distinction. We’re due, yes? Obviously, that was not meant to be taken seriously because, as you see, we’d then have Mark Henry challenging Maryse, and I don’t think anyone’s holding their breath in anticipation for that. Oh sorry, did I spoil the ending for you? Sorry. Watch the “contest” below and try to enjoy it regardless:
PART 1 
Thankfully, we went into this year’s WrestleMania with rock-bottom expectations for the Divas and thus, you couldn’t exactly be disappointed. For the second year in a row, the Divas match centered around an outlandish character and ‘comedy’ rather than giving the Divas a showcase. It’s not as though this match didn’t have some talented girls in it that could have wrestled for 3-5 minutes which seems to be all the time they had for the girls, instead this became the ‘signature move melee’ that often plagues these multi-Diva tag team matches. Lazy booking to get a cheap pop. The end, with Vickie Guerrero going over with what WWE refers to as the ‘hog splash’ on Kelly Kelly, pretty much echoed what happened last year in the Miss WrestleMania battle royal. Even with fans, critics, the Divas past and present and company officials within WWE scolding last year’s trainwreck, they evidently still haven’t learnt from their mistakes.
The show opened this year more positively than last year with Vickie and company getting a backstage promo which eventually featured cameos from Jillian and an injured Melina, the first time she’s appeared on WWE TV in 2010. I can’t recall the last time, if ever, that the Divas got to cut a promo at WrestleMania but I liked that they were given some extra attention this year. I absolutely loved the facial expressions from Alicia and Maryse in the background as Jillian was singing and my eyes were totally focused on those two. It was really lovely to see Melina get to be part of ‘Mania — I had an inkling she would somehow make a cameo because Candice did last year while she was injured. There was a nice reaction when she popped up on screen too, so nice to know she hasn’t been forgotten. Let’s not even discuss Mae Young…
Next up, it was time for the Divas bout. Watch below:
First of all, out comes Team Vickie to Michelle McCool‘s music. I’m one of those people that finds entrances interesting as I believe it tells you what WWE thinks of its Divas — who the current flavour is etc. Seeing the Divas come out to McCool’s music and seeing her front and center in the lineup was no surprise. Usually, the Diva who is announced last is the one that is the ‘star’ of the team; her being announced last as the Women’s Champ, taking precedent over the Divas Champ Maryse, was again no surprise but I still found it interesting. We know WWE loves Maryse but in the long run, McCool really is becoming top dog for the Divas roster entirely. Next out are the babyfaces and anyone who listened to the After Show last night will know that I was bewildered that the babyface team came out to Eve Torres‘ music. I know she’s the current flavour of the month over on Raw but going by the fact that Beth Phoenix was the one that was front and center and announced last, which are my two tell-tale signs, why did they come out to Eve’s music? Surely they should’ve come out to Beth’s music? Nit-picking, I know and it’s hardly a big deal but still, this kind of stuff interests me and in this case, baffles me.
Tonight at WrestleMania, 10 Divas will be showcased at the grandest stage of them all. The team of Beth Phoenix, Eve Torres, Gail Kim, Kelly Kelly & Mickie James will take on the team of Women’s Champion Michelle McCool, Divas Champion Maryse, Alicia Fox, Layla and Vickie Guerrero. Who will come out on top? The … Read more
Divas beware, we judge what you wear! Welcome to the Diva Dirt Style Jury. We compile the looks from the week gone by and mark each look on a scale of 1-10. At the end of the scoring, we work out the combined score for each look and the Diva with the highest combined score is our winner and the Diva with the lowest combined score is our loser.
A few rules: We only judge outfits/ring attire that we haven’t judged before or we have already seen several times on TV before. If a Diva is seen in more than one outfit in any given week, we mark them as ‘#1’, ‘#2’ and so forth.
So, let the proverbial runway show begin!
ALICIA FOX
Cryssi: Hmm, I’m torn on this. It’s one of those outfits that I can’t decide if I like or not. I think that on someone else, this might be an epic fail. But Alicia is so naturally gorgeous that she pulls off the top better than almost anyone could. It’s actually a simple look, but that’s never a bad thing I suppose. Love her hair this week as well. 6.5/10
Melanie: I really, really love this top on Alicia. It’s a little complicated looking but Alicia is slender and model-esque enough to pull it off. I love the colours and the detailing. The neckline just avoids being trashy. My only gripe would be Alicia’s hair, the braids don’t look great. 8/10
Steven: Not usually a fan of the big, billowy top, but manages to make it work. I love the color as well. Also, props to Alicia for getting a half decent weave, but the braids across the forehead have got to go. 7/10
EVE TORRES
Cryssi: Eve can rock silver and it’s not really a color for everyone. I don’t like this one as much as some of her other outfits, but it isn’t bad. The black detailing is what’s throwing me off, but what else can really go with silver? Don’t really like her boots either with this outfit. Of course, if not for the black accents she’d probably end up looking like the Silver Surfer so I’ll just stop and give a rating. 5/10
Melanie: I don’t know what it is but something about this particular ring attire captivates me. The silver looks amazing on Eve. 7/10
Steven: Eve’s ring gear has always been rather hit or miss for me, but I’m absolutely loving this one. I’m particularly partial to powder blue, so that’s definitely one of my favorite things about this outfit. My only complaint is the silver shorts. This look could have been so much better if the shorts matched the top. 8/10
Read on for more of this week’s outfits and to see who’s been branded our winner and loser.
Five time WWE Women’s Champion, Mickie James performed last night at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville in Phoenix and a whole band of fellow Divas showed up to lend support. James performed her debut single ‘Are You With Me’ as well as other tracks from her album, ‘Strangers & Angels’. Divas that were there to support Mickie … Read more
This week’s Raw brought up a lot of questions, none of which relate to anticipation towards WrestleMania or the future of the Divas division. The questions were more akin to “Why did I watch all of Raw for a 50 second match?” and “What’s on HBO? (Answer: Spider-Man)“. Needless to say, tonight’s events were a bit of a mind boggling clusterfuck, and not just because there were approximately 34 Divas at ringside for the match of varying brand loyalty. After last week’s 1-minute long match, I jokingly suggested on Twitter that this week’s match try and beat that “record”. Sadly, I believe they did, and in quite an embarrassing fashion, too. Behold:
We begin in a promising, though confusing fashion, with Gail Kim, Beth Phoenix, and Eve Torres in the ring with Mickie James (welcome back!) and Kelly Kelly at ringside. It’s pretty interesting to see Beth alongside the “good girls”, not to mention in the mix of Raw at all. Then come Maryse, Michelle McCool, and Layla, flanked by Vickie Guerrero and Alicia Fox. It’s a bit confusing, this brand crossover, especially since they haven’t even explained why it’s happening yet. This specific scenario seems like way too many “cooks in the kitchen”, in a manner of speaking, but if they were putting so many Divas at ringside at once, something interesting has to happen, right? Or so you’d think..
Gail and Michelle start off the match for their teams, Michelle kicking things off with a kick (*rimshot*), wrenching Gail’s arm. Gail twists is back and nails Michelle with the back of her elbow. She leaps up and hits a frankensteiner, nailing Michelle in the corner, trading blows with her through the ropes. She leaps over the ropes and nails Michelle with a clothesline, going for the pin and getting a 2-count. Gail preps for the Eat Defeat but Layla distracts her, allowing Michelle to go for a leg sweep. Gail counters it into a pin, but Michelle flips the pin into one of her own, but instead holding Gail and switching into a standing position, nailing the Faith Breaker in a clever reversal. She gets the pin and the win for her team.
And just like that, it’s over. Lasting a whopping 50 seconds (Beating last week’s speed record by 10 seconds; what is this, a luge race?), this is apparently what we get when we have 10 women at ringside in a cross-brand exchange on the very last Raw before WrestleMania. Was it a victim of poor time management by the WWE or just a resounding lack of effort by the bookers? It really felt like a segment with ambitions of taking up 10 minutes that was snipped down to a 1 measly minute. Either way, it’s embarrassing and makes you wonder why they even tried. It’s embarrassing and awkward for all the Divas to mosey on out to the ring, only to be worthy of a minute of screen time. I mean, what was the point of putting them all out there, besides getting some meager face time? And, by the way, why haven’t they even EXPLAINED what the SmackDown girls are fucking doing on Raw in the first place??
What message does that send when the promos building up to the John Cena/Batista “face off” lasted longer than this whole segment? Clearly, like we’ve been saying for what seems like forever, the Divas are on a whole different level of priority to the WWE’s writers. That is to say, Cena and Dave are on the top floor, and the Divas are somewhere underneath the floorboards.