Taking out a Paige from the careerbook of Mickie James?
How many divas matches do you remember that happened at Wrestlemania?
There are actually not many great memories surrounding that question. There are not many but there are a few. The Triple Threat match at Wrestlemani 18 featured a triple threat match that featured the hometown queen Trish Stratus, the queen of extreme Lita and the Women’s Champion at that time-Jazz. It was followed by the phenomenal Hogan Vs Rock clash. That stole the thunder out of this match and the subsequent main event.
After her stellar victory in the main event of Raw in 2004, Lita seemed to be heading to Wrestlemania for the second time and her feud with Trish guaranteed spot at the Show of shows. But at New Year’s Revolution Lita injured herself while trying to execute the Thesz Press on Stratus. Even though she was booked to lose that match, she was also supposed to win the title back at mania which never happened because she tore her left ACL.
That time at Wrestlemania
And now, finally here’s a match that had an effective storyline. It was the battle for the Women’s Title. This featured Trish Stratus, whose greatness at that point was set in stone. She was the longest reigning champion at that point and she was set to face Mickie James who at that point was playing an obsessive fan and then subsequently an obsessive lover of Stratus. I remember the match mostly because of how it started with the audience firmly cheering for the resident babyface Trish Stratus and then moving on to cheer on Mickie James as the match progressed.
I am trying to remember this feud precisely because of the frenemy angle that the AJ Lee- Paige feud has undertaken. While Paige goes on to exclaim that she still loves and adores AJ, starts showing the expressions traditionally called as weird or crazy and then seductively gets on top of her opponents, it just made me immediately recall the feud between James and Stratus many summers ago.
Transformation into a Femme Fatale
It might be a bit farfetched, or not, but it seems like WWE might have taken a page out of that old feud. Paige and AJ’s feud is trying to find that footing where it could be regarded as one of the greatest feuds. For the most part, these are the two women in the WWE who have tremendous screen presence but at the same time, there matches are just getting better.
While that feud from many years ago did worked tremendously for James’ character, it seems like it will only be one of the many stepping stones for Paige’s character in the WWE. She seems more confident and she has slowly but steadily made her transformation from a naïve champion to femme fatale look good.
Thinking back, the best argument is that Lita and Trish had one of the greatest rivalries ever in the WWE. This storyline with Stratus was Mickie James first storyline on the main roster. This kickstarted her career, which is in its own way very Hall Of Fame worthy. Trish and Mickie had a memorable feud. James had many other memorable feuds with Melina and Beth Phoenix.
The best thing to come out of the AJ-Paige feud is that the audience is finally reacting to a divas match. Even though there are robust ‘CM Punk’ chants, that is accompanied by several reactions to the wrestling moves they execute on one another, which by the way can get very high –risk.
So, if that storyline from 9 years ago could help James’ career, why can’t this storyline help Paige to finally kickstart her career with authority?