American Region, Semi-Finals: (1) Gail Kim vs (3) Mickie James

[Bernkastel]

This is a fifth round/semi-final match in the American region. It is a standard match. It will be held at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.

#1 Gail Kim

VS.

# 3 Mickie James
​

There will be 1 day of discussion before the poll opens. It will remain open for 3 days. Spam rules will apply. In case of a tie the winner will be decided based upon how many people have made a case for them in the discussion thread. One per each poster.

Who wins the match up?

 

[Lowdown]

This is an even match if there ever was one. Both have held the WWE and TNA championships as well as sortied careers in their own right. I'm no statistician, but even if I were I can't really rely on the numbers being that they're predetermined results. I want to say that Mickie has the edge in charisma, whereas Gail is a decent technician. I'm going with Mickie since she is talented in the ring and can get the crowd into her stories and matches. At least in my opinion, anyway.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

This is very tough for me, Gail and Mickie would be my favorite female wrestlers. Gail because of her sterling work in both her times in TNA spitting in the face of the shoddy treatment in the WWe and Mickie has, pure and simple, entertained me from the moment I've clapped eyes on her.

With much deliberation, the only edge I can find here is that I'd give the nod to Mickie on character - I enjoyed her final run heel run in TNA as a sly villain every bit as much as I enjoyed her big stage debut as Trish Stratus's stalker. Mickie has always been relevant; as great a talent as she is, Gail has occasionally faded into the scenery even in TNA.

Mickie by a hair.

 

[Skairipa Matrix]

Gotta go with Mickie again. Not sure what the record for them against each other is but Mickie is probably my favorite women's wrestler ever. If she makes it past this match, I think she has the tournament won though.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Mickie has always been relevant; as great a talent as she is, Gail has occasionally faded into the scenery even in TNA.

Mickie by a hair.

I think this is exactly right. Both Mickie and Gail are two of the most talented women of their generation, but I think Mickie has the edge on charisma and has been one of my favourite performers ever since she debuted in WWE- she's such fun to watch.

Gail was mistreated in WWE and deserved more but Mickie's success across both WWE and TNA- and her consistently great performances as both face and heel make her my pick here. I'd really enjoy seeing these two wrestle again and now Mickie is back in TNA I expect we'll see it soon!

 

[BigBombB]

As much as Mickie has accomplished, in my opinion she has always fallen short of her tasks. In WWE she was meant to be the next in the line of Sunny/Sable/Trish Stratus figures but never quite made it despite every opportunity. In TNA she was thrust into relevance but didn't do anything all that significant other than show up, wrestle, and leave. Gail Kim went through a lot of rough patches in WWE but in TNA proved she is the top female athlete in wrestling today. Her feud with Awesome Kong is one of the few events from TNA that will be remembered for the entirety of wrestling history and her recent feud with Taryn Terrell put a girl no one thought anything off into a legitimate spot at the top of the card. Gail Kim is the hottest female commodity in wrestling today.

Gail Kim gets my vote.

 

[Mustang Sally]

They were both proficient in tactical wrestling, which is a rare enough thing to be able to say for women wrestlers, but Mickie had more meat on her bones (I'm not talking about fat) and in the end, I think she would out-tough Gail.

 

[nightmare]

I prefer Mickie James any day of the week. Look, ring style, energy, etc- she just is a better performer IMO & that isnt a knock against Gail, but it's my opinion. If I could only watch one of them wrestle it would be Mickie.


Unfortunately that isnt enough for me to vote for her here even though I really want to. 95% of the time I try to vote logically or with what criteria makes the most sense. Every so often I will just say fuck the rules & go with my favorite choice, but this cant be one of those times due to one big point:

Gail Kim owns Mickie James' ass in big matches. Sure Mickie has had her fair share of wins against Gail, but when the belt is on the line Gail has a fantastic winning record. She has not won them all, but more often than not Gail comes out with her hand raised.


Since this is one of those big type matches, I really think that gives Gail the edge.

 

[Papa Pillman]

This match is about as close as it gets, and its sad that it isn't the final as both women are clearly superior to their counterparts on the other side of the bracket.

Their one-on-one record favors Gail, but its close. Their head-to-head record in title matches only, as well as TV matches only, is also very close.

Mickie has held 9 major world titles for a total of nearly 700 days, while Gail has 5 which she held for about 500 days.

Mickie is the only woman to win all three of the WWE Divas, WWE Women's, and TNA KO titles. Gail is the first woman to win the WWE Women's title in her debut match. She is the first woman to ever be named TNA Knockout champion, is the longest reigning champion of that division by combined days, and also holds the longest single reign with that title.

While Mickie is actually quite good, Gail is the clearly superior in-ring talent when you consider the quality of their career matches. Mickie has never had a match in her career that reached the 3-star level, while Gail has at least ten such matches. Gail's '07/'08 program with Kong was the greatest women's wrestling feud to play out on American national television this millennium. Also the growth as in-ring competitors experienced by women like Madison Rayne and Taryn Terrell could be strongly attributed to their chance to work extensively with Gail. Mickie delivers solid matches against talented opponents, while Gail gets the absolute best out of every woman she gets in the ring with regardless of their ability level.

All of this combined with the fact that most of Gail's success came in TNA where the division had strong talent, and was treated as a serious wrestling division; while the majority of Mickie's came in WWE where the Divas division is an afterthought, often classified by many as a "piss-break" segment, really has me feeling like Gail is the most deserving woman to win this match, and therefore rightfully this tournament, BUT...

I sadly have to vote for Mickie strictly as a strategic measure. I believe Mickie has a better chance of beating Trish in the finals than Gail does, and right now I'm more focused on making sure that the least talented pro wrestler left(Trish) doesn't win, than I am on making sure that the most talented pro wrestler left(Gail) does.

So... Vote Mickie, despite Gail being better(hey, at least its close).