On March 23rd – just one day before IMPACT’s LIVE Sacrifice event – Mickie James announced that she would be unable to compete at the event, which meant she wouldn’t be able to defend her Knockouts Title against Jordynne Grace at the event.
Jordynne announced at the Sacrifice event that she had a broken rib and is hoping it would be a quick recovery. The company did not make her relinquish her title in hopes that she will be available for their next Pay Par View, Rebellion, however, if she is unable to compete at the event then she will have to vacate the title.
When asked how she was feeling on Busted Open Radio, James replied, “I’m good. I’m grateful. It could have been a lot worse. A broken rib, that’s a couple of weeks. If I can just get healed up. It did suck. When you know when there is something wrong, it sucks and it’s painful, but I feel better now than I did when it first happened. When they first looked at it, they were thinking it was a cartilage tear between the ribcage, and that would have been three months of healing time, plus the comeback. I’m almost grateful that it was just a broken rib. That means six to eight weeks. We’ll see what the doctor says.”
James continued, “It’s frustrating, it’s very frustrating. I was really looking forward to the rematch with Jordynne. I felt like our first match was so good and she pushed me to my limits for sure, so I was excited about that, a round two, and I was excited about Multiverse United, not only because it was going to be in a four-way with four incredibly talented women, but also because it was this cross promotional thing with New Japan. To be taken out of that, you always know it’s a possibility, but you’d rather get pinned before you get hurt, because getting hurt is a whole reset.”
Grace had to be replaced by Masha Slamovich in the Multiverse United show where she was slated to defend her Knockouts Title. Jordynne Grace will automatically get her rematch for the Knockouts Title at Rebellion against the winner of the Multiverse United match, consisting of Masha, Gisele Shaw, Deonna Purrazzo, and Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling star Miyu Yamashita.
“It was a both decision,” she said when asked if it was her decision to possibility give up the title or the decision of IMPACT. “If it’s going to put me out two pay-per-views, that is too long for the Knockouts World Championship to not be defended. It’s not fair to the division or the women on the roster. I’m hoping and praying the doctor will clear me and we’ll be good, but it’s right on the window. I felt like it was the best business decision. If that’s the case, then perhaps I did need more time to heal and come back.”
Mickie did state that she will be at the Multiverse event watching to see what happens.
H/T Fightful’s Jeremy Lambert for transcription
Order IMPACTxNJPW Multiverse United on FITE here
Matches announced for Multiverse United show on 3/31:
IMPACT Wrestling World Title
-**Lio Rush vs Kushida**
IMPACT Knockouts World Title
-Masha Slamovich vs Deonna Purrazzo vs Gisele Shaw vs Miyu Yamashita
IMPACT Wrestling Tag Team Titles
-Bullet Club (c) vs TMDK vs Aussie Open vs MCMG
IMPACT Wrestling X Division Title- 6 Man Scramble
-Trey Miguel (c) vs Rich Swann vs Frankie Kazarian vs Clark Conners vs Kevin Knight vs Rocky Romero
NJPW Strong Openweight Title
-Kenta (c) vs Minoru Suzuki
8 Man Tag Team Match
-Fred Rosser/Alex Coughlin/Callihan/PCO vs Eddie Edwards/Impact Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry/Tom Lawlor/JR Kratos
**-“Speedball” Mike Bailey vs Hiroshi Tanahashi**
-Moose vs Jeff Cobb
Multiverse United Countdown
-Yuya Uemura vs Gabriel Kidd
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