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Mickie James Wins Impact Wrestling Knockouts Title At Hard To Kill PPV With Career On The Line

By John Canton • Published 14th January 2023
mickie james impact knockouts champion 2023

With her career on the line, Mickie James came up big by winning the Knockouts Championship one more time at Impact Wrestling’s Hard to Kill pay-per-view event.

It was in September 2022 when Mickie James announced The Last Rodeo in Impact Wrestling. It was a concept that would see her compete against many different women in Impact Wrestling in a storyline where if she lost just one more match, she would retire. However, if she kept on winning and earned a shot at the Knockouts Title, she would keep on wrestling if she was able to win the championship.

At the Impact Wrestling Hard to Kill pay-per-view in Atlanta, Mickie James defeated Jordynne Grace to become the new Knockouts Champion in the main event of Hard to Kill. It was a tough match that went just under 20 minutes with many pinfalls for each woman. In the end, Mickie planted Grace with a Mick-DT for the pinfall.

After the match, Mickie was joined in the ring by her good friend and GAW TV co-host Lisa Marie Varie aka Victoria in WWE/Tara in Impact. Mickie’s son Donovan also joined the celebration along with her parents.

In a post-match interview posted on Impact Wrestling’s Twitter account, Mickie said:

“I knew it was going to be a battle. I knew the odds were stacked against me. I wanted to say thank you Jordynne…thank you for bringing out the best in me. The Last Rodeo may be over, but there’s a new champ in the house. Let’s ride.”

During her pro wrestling career, Mickie has won the Knockouts Title five times. In addition to that, she was a six-time Women’s Champion in WWE (five times with the Women’s Title, one time with the Divas Title), which makes her an 11-time Women’s Champion between her WWE and TNA/Impact Wrestling career. This is her 24th year as a professional wrestler. While retirement may be around the corner, it’s not here yet.

The other championship matches at Hard To Kill saw Josh Alexander retain the Impact World Title over Bully Ray, Motor City Machine Guns retain the Impact Tag Team Titles over three other teams, Joe Hendry retained the Digital Media Title over Moose and Trey Miguel kept the X-Division Title over Black Taurus on the pre-show.