Mickie James was a part of a time in WWE when women were known more for their size than their wrestling ability. She belongs to the Divas Era when they had few prospects and were seen as nothing more than eye candy. The matches were short and the opportunities low. When James saw a new WWE trainee follow that strategy, she couldn’t help but rant about those times. As usual, the clip shook the internet.
Mickie James was critical of rookie Zena Sterling’s gear
Mickie James is presently a coach for WWE’s Legends & Future Greats show, which features WWE hopefuls competing for an NXT contract under the tutelage of great trainers.
On tonight’s program, Zena Sterling faced Tyra Mae Steele in a one-on-one match for ladies. They asked Zena to demonstrate a new side of herself, and she did. The coaches were pleased with that. On the other hand, Mickie targeted Zena for her new gear, which she disliked.
I did like that we saw a different side of you today, Zena. I like your new gear, can I talk to you about your gear? I lived during the divas era and we fought very, very hard to not have to wrestle in lingerie anymore. Since I’m a female I can speak on this, it’s very frustrating when women go out there and wrestle and all I see is their ass.
She continued,
And I can’t look past it, it’s all I see. It’s very distracting. So, you want to be taken serious as a wrestler, but you’re wrestling in pretty much jazzed up lingerie. And that’s my opinion. And that’s coming from someone who’s had her ass on TV a lot.
Mickie James’ statements elicited a strong response from fans online, and she also praised Zena’s wrestling ability.
Fans did not like Mickie’s remark
According to fans, it is not unusual to see people wearing lingerie as gear. Rhea Ripley does it, and so do a lot of other women.
To them, the Divas had no choice but to appeal to men and be the eye candy. Today, they have a choice. They can either dress conservatively or be more risque if they want to.
These are some of the comments that got traction on X(formerly Twitter):
Ehhh zena can wear whatever she wants.
The difference between the divas era and now is that women now CHOOSE to wear that with their OWN will
Maybe im too woke https://t.co/0XhYV240em— anya☆ (@ICONRIPLEY) March 31, 2025
i also really don’t like the “we fought for women to not have to wrestle in lingerie” part of this bc 1) calling this lingerie is very dramatic and 2) part of winning that fight should mean that women can still choose to wear whatever they want in ring, even if it’s scandalous https://t.co/MDh8Si6v5T
— peach (@peach4peeps) March 31, 2025
“all i see is their ass i can’t look past it that’s all i see” girl that sounds like a personal problem that you need to address within yourself bc if you can’t look past what a woman is wearing and see her for her wrestling skills then you’re no better than #those types of men https://t.co/mpp1uSPUrk
— kris ᥫ᭡ (@ROLLREIGNS) March 31, 2025
yall ripping her apart for her opinion and none of you are womens wrestlers. she’s saying there’s historical reasons behind why it would bother someone from her generation and yall are calling her misogynistic https://t.co/0cWQsjk8d7
— El♱ (minion #3136010) (@EL3DOLO) March 31, 2025
I think this is a lot more nuanced than people are making it. I don’t think Mickie is being misogynistic or w/e. She was subjected to a lot during that era and she’s very fairly still hurt by it.
Everyone should be allowed to wear what they want, though. It’s about agency https://t.co/a6O6H6ZCSn
— Vel (@CosmicAngelVel) March 31, 2025
Fans haven’t been very kind, to say the least. Then again, some are defending her, saying that she lived through an era that was very tough on women wrestlers in the WWE.
The Divas Era was not great for women like Mickie James
The era that Mickie James was a part of, was not great for women wrestlers. There was a period between 2007 to 2015 when women wrestlers(known as “Divas” then) only got a combined screen time of just 10 minutes (a lot of the times, even lower).
The highest prize was the Divas Championship. The belt was criticized heavily for looking like a “toy”. It wasn’t a period that was very productive for women’s wrestling in WWE.
During this time, TNA’s women’s division was ‘knocking it out of the park’. They had talents like Gail Kim, Awesome Kong, Madison Rayne, Daffney, and eventually Mickie James as well. It made WWE’s non-focus on women’s talent more stark.
James left in 2010 after a horrible storyline with Michelle McCool where they made fun of her weight, calling her “Piggy” James. It was very controversial and didn’t make sense to James. It was very unnecessary but very on-brand for an era that focused on these things.
It was the potential of NXT’s women’s division and fan outrage with wrestlers like AJ Lee, Kaitlyn, Nikki Bella, Naomi, etc., that made things change. From 2015 onwards, you saw the “Women’s Revolution,” and that led to increased match times for women and more screen time.
The retirement of the “Divas Championship” officially brought that era to an end. The women’s triple threat match at Wrestlemania 32 between Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, and Sasha Banks for the new WWE Women’s Championship brought a new era into the company for women wrestlers.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
