Hardcore Country!!
That’s right, former three-time Knockouts Champion Mickie James made an appearance for IMPACT’s Slammiversary as she came to the ring after Deonna Purrazzo retained her title.
James was released from WWE in April and since then she has been putting in the work to highlight and create a bigger platform for women’s wrestling through the NWA promotion. She is putting together NWA’s first all-women’s pay-per-view titled Empowerrr and is looking for all the best wrestlers she can find. She came to IMPACT to invite Purrazzo to participate in that event.
Purrazzo was about to take to the mic after her victory but was interrupted by James and was not happy about it. She told James to take her trash bag and leave without answering the invitation to Empowerrr. James then slapped Purrazzo which led the champion to retreat up the ramp.
Before James came out, Purrazzo had just finished retaining her Knockouts Championship against a mystery opponent. Fans had been buzzing for who this opponent would be. Chelsea Green (who appeared earlier in the night), and James were two of the highly speculated options. It turned out to be none other than former NWA Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa.
The match was nice and fresh with a new challenger presented for The Virtuosa. Rosa was certainly a match for the champion as she had control of the match throughout. Eventually, Purrazzo would hit the Queen’s Gambit and that was what she needed to do to get the pin to retain her title.
Rosa is signed with NWA but is currently a successful talent for AEW as well. She has her own indie promotion Mission Pro Wrestling which had an event this weekend as well in Jacksonville, Fla.
With IMPACT, AEW, and NWA all seemingly working together in some capacity, it will be fun to see which women show up for NWA’s Empowerrr.
There has been nothing confirmed for how much James may appear for IMPACT, but perhaps we will see Hardcore Country vs. The Virtuosa at some point? Maybe?
What did you think of Slammiversary? Leave your thoughts below.
