Championship Analysis: TNA Knockouts Champion #20 Mickie James

[Dagger Dias]

Welcome back to Dagger's Championship Analysis thread series. This second edition will be about the current title reign of TNA Knockouts Champion Mickie James. She has held the title since April 17th and it is her first run with the belt. Let's take a look at the list of reigns by length from longest to shortest:

1. Madison Rayne (10/11/2010 - 4/17/2011) 188 days
2. Awesome Kong (10/23/2008 - 4/19/2009) 178 days
3. Awesome Kong (1/7/2008 - 6/24/2008) 169 days
4. Taylor Wilde (6/24/2008 - 10/23/2008) 121 days
5. ODB (9/20/2009 - 12/20/2009) 91 days
6. Gail Kim (10/14/2007 - 1/7/2008) 85 days
7. Madison Rayne (4/18/2010 - 7/11/2010) 84 days
8. Tara (1/17/2010 - 4/5/2010) 78 days
9. Angelina Love (4/19/2009 - 6/25/2009) 67 days
10. Angelina Love (8/9/2010 - 10/10/2010) 62 days
11. Angelina Love (7/19/2009 - 8/16/2009) 28 days
12. Madison Rayne (7/13/2010 - 8/9/2010) 27 days
13. Tara (6/25/2009 - 7/19/2009) 24 days
14. Tara (12/20/2009 - 1/4/2010) 15 days
15. ODB (1/4/2010 - 1/17/2010) 13 days (tie)
15. Angelina Love (4/5/2010 - 4/18/2010) 13 days (tie)
17. ODB (8/16/2009 - 8/27/2009) 11 days
18. Mickie James (4/17/2011 - PRESENT) 8+ days
19. Angelina Love (7/11/2010 - 7/13/2010) 2 days
20. Tara (10/10/2010 - 10/11/2010) 1 day


Mickie is currently in the 18th longest reign for this belt. In a week she will be the 13th if she still holds the belt, which I highly bet she will. A lot of the reigns for this belt are short. Exactly half of them in fact. Now let's see how she looks for combined reigns from most to least:

1. Awesome Kong, 347 days
2. Madison Rayne, 299 days
3. Angelina Love, 172 days
4. Taylor Wilde, 121 days
5. Tara, 118 days
6. ODB, 115 days
7. Gail Kim, 85 days
8. Mickie James, 8+ days

Only 8 ladies have held the TNA Knockouts Championship. Mickie comes in last for this ranking, but she has only held the belt once and this reign is still new. The others have had a long reign with the belt to their name. Last we will look at the number of reigns from most to least:

1. Angelina Love, 5 times
2. Tara, 4 times
3. Madison Rayne, 3 times (tie)
3. ODB, 3 times (tie)
5. Awesome Kong, 2 times
6. Taylor Wilde, 1 time (tie)
6. Gail Kim, 1 time (tie)
6. Mickie James, 1 time+ (tie)

Mickie comes in a three-way tie for last here. However the two women she tied with are no longer with TNA, so odds are in her favor of climbing the ranks in this particular list in the future.

Now, with the analysis done here come the questions for this discussion:

1. Do you think that Mickie will eventually dethrone Awesome Kong as the wrestler who has held the TNA Knockouts Championship for the most days? Why or why not?

2. Do you think Mickie will dethrone Angelina Love at the top of the list of who has held the TNA Knockouts Championship the most times? She cannot during this reign obviously, but will she win a 5th or even 6th reign somewhere down the line? Why or why not?

3. How long do you think that this particular title reign will last? Do you think it will last longer than Madison Rayne’s 188 day reign, which is currently the longest this belt has seen? Why or why not?

4. Finally.... Who do you think will defeat Mickie James and why?

Like with my thread about Sting and the TNA World Championship, I will open up the floor for you guys to respond first and I'll chime in with my own thoughts later on. So, let's see what you all have to say!

Dicsuss!

 

[neildittmar]

Nice thread. Upon entry, I thought this post was an attempt to evaluate the reign of Mickie James as Knockouts Champion thus far, to which I would've replied that you were crazy Come to find, it's a speculation thread at it's core, which is something I'm definitely down with.

1. Do you think that Mickie will eventually dethrone Awesome Kong as the wrestler who has held the TNA Knockouts Championship for the most days? Why or why not?

Too early to tell. It seems that TNA have given Mickie a solid storyline in her push to title. They didn't throw it on her right away. In fact, although under dubious circumstances, she was beaten multiple times by the former champion. Getting run over with a motorcycle was a tad "over the top" in my opinion, but this is wrestling. The theme TNA was going for is that no matter what obstacle she has to face, Mickie will eventually get the job done... you can't keep her down.

Having said all that, Mickie's initial reign could go either way. She could be an incredibly long reigning champion since TNA took their time getting her there. By the same token, Madison Rayne could have the title back by next week... again defeating Mickie under dubious circumstances. Until we get a feel for TNA's direction for "Mickie James: Knockouts Champion", it's kind of hard to say.

2. Do you think Mickie will dethrone Angelina Love at the top of the list of who has held the TNA Knockouts Championship the most times? She cannot during this reign obviously, but will she win a 5th or even 6th reign somewhere down the line? Why or why not?

Again, it's a little too early to tell. Along with being the current Knockouts Champion, Mickie James also holds a distinction that most WWE defectors do regardless of gender. That is, right now James is a former long-time WWE talent that is currently under contract by and wrestling for TNA. Only time and continued dedication to the brand will translate her into a TNA wrestler who formerly competed in WWE. Make note, there is a critical difference between the two.

Personally, I think Mickie's first reign will be relatively short. She's still fairly new on the TNA scene and I simply don't think TNA creative are done with Madison Rayne being the "queen bee" just yet. Even though I wasn't initially on board with Rayne being separated from the BP's, repackaged, and pushed as the top heel Knockout, I have to admit I was wrong in hindsight. Madison's character has really grown on me and she plays her spot to absolute perfection. I predict by the next PPV, Rayne will either come close or in fact become the TNA Knockouts Champion once again.

3. How long do you think that this particular title reign will last? Do you think it will last longer than Madison Rayne’s 188 day reign, which is currently the longest this belt has seen? Why or why not?

I sort of answered this in question two but to clarify, I say relatively short. I predict by the next PPV (or possibly the following one) we'll see Madison Rayne in serious title contention once again, if not fully having the strap back by then, despite her current issue with Tara. The outcome will ultimately be determined by how creative and fans view Mickie's current reign though. Is she better being the champion or better chasing after Madison Rayne with the odds stacked against her? I personally think the latter.

4. Finally.... Who do you think will defeat Mickie James and why?

Refer to the above Given how quickly Rayne was defeated at Lockdown and how good her "queen bee" persona has come off, I think Madison Rayne will beat Mickie James for the title in relatively short order (ie; 1-2 months). I suppose it could take a little longer depending on how the Tara situation plays out, but I see Tara being Rayne's next challenger for the title as opposed to an interim feud while James remains champion. I mean, who does Mickie really have to face in the meantime?

 

[AntiChristDeicide]

She's still fairly new on the TNA scene and I simply don't think TNA creative are done with Madison Rayne being the "queen bee" just yet.

neildittmar, She was in TNA before she went to WWE, remember Alexis Laree? Aside from that little fact you are right.

 

[neildittmar]

neildittmar, She was in TNA before she went to WWE, remember Alexis Laree? Aside from that little fact you are right.

Good correction. To be honest, when I wrote what you quoted, I had forgotten she had a short TNA run... it was in the promotions infancy, right? I think a year or so later she was in WWE developmental, with her RAW debut being a year or two after that. So says Wikipedia anyway.

I wasn't watching TNA (or much wrestling at all) at the time and am admittedly a relatively new fan of the promotion. I do remember seeing some of Alexis Laree's promo work on Youtube a little while back. Pretty different character than who she is now I think. Her current persona is closer to that of her WWE character in general.

 

[JJohns]

1. Do you think that Mickie will eventually dethrone Awesome Kong as the wrestler who has held the TNA Knockouts Championship for the most days? Why or why not?

No. The difference between when Awesome Kong had her reigns and Mickie James having her reign is that Awesome Kong is a legitimately dominant female worker. Look at who was on the TNA roster during Kong's time there, and there was not one knockout that was more consistently dominant. Eventually, Kong got too big (no pun intended) for the title, and it no longer benefited her to be the Knockouts Champion.

2. Do you think Mickie will dethrone Angelina Love at the top of the list of who has held the TNA Knockouts Championship the most times? She cannot during this reign obviously, but will she win a 5th or even 6th reign somewhere down the line? Why or why not?
Again, this is probably going to be a no. Unlike male wrestlers that typically wrestle into their 40s, this generation of women's wrestlers tend to leave the business by their mid 30s. Sure, there are some exceptions to this, but those are few and far between. It's not like wrestling is even Mickie's number one priority anymore. I remember when she was "in limbo" that she was seriously looking at only getting into TNA if they would work her wrestling schedule around her "budding" music career.

3. How long do you think that this particular title reign will last? Do you think it will last longer than Madison Rayne’s 188 day reign, which is currently the longest this belt has seen? Why or why not?
In this day and age, anything is possible when it comes to a single reign. It really all depends on what TNA wants to do creatively with her. If the only reason that she won the strap was because of her legacy from WWE, then hell no. Now, if they want to try to build the division around her, it's possible.

4. Finally.... Who do you think will defeat Mickie James and why?
More than likely, she will either drop the belt back to Madison or to Angelina. If they are looking to build the division around her, than Madison would be the obvious pick, because it is an established feud. But, if they book things half-assed like they've done in the past, Angelina will win it only to drop it to Winter.