It looks like Impact Wrestling Knockouts World Champion Mickie James may not have to relinquish her title.
As noted, Impact announced after Thursday’s Sacrifice go-home show that James was dealing with an undisclosed injury, and would not be able to defend against Jordynne Grace at Sacrifice. James issued a statement and promised to address the situation at Sacrifice.
In an update, James appeared backstage at tonight’s Sacrifice event in Winnipeg with Gia Miller and Santino Marella. It was announced that she has a broken rib, and that she won’t miss a lot of time in the ring, but she will miss some.
The storyline reason for the injury is the Spear from Grace on Impact, and James was hurt at the last tapings, possibly in that same segment.
James was also pulled from her Fatal 4 Way title defense at Impact x NJPW Multiverse United, where she was to defend against Deonna Purrazzo, Miyu Yamashita and Gisele Shaw. Next Thursday’s Multiverse United pay-per-view will now feature Purrazzo, Yamashita, Shaw and GCW World Champion Masha Slamovich.
It was announced that if James if able to defend the title at Impact’s Rebellion pay-per-view on April 16, then she will defend in a Triple Threat against Grace and the winner of the Fatal 4 Way at Multiverse United.
However, if James is unable to compete at Rebellion on April 16, she will be forced to relinquish the Knockouts World Title. Rebellion will then feature a singles match for the vacant title, with Grace vs. the winner of the Multiverse United Fatal 4 Way.
James said she hopes to be ready for Rebellion, adding that she will be at the pay-per-view for one reason or the other – to defend the title with everything she has, or to honorably hand over the title to the new champion.
James’ injury was announced just hours before Impact announced a torn triceps for Josh Alexander, which forced an end to his record-breaking Impact World Title reign. You can click here
for details on the injury, match changes, how a new champion will be crowned and more, or you can click here for comments from Alexander.Below is footage of tonight’s Sacrifice segment:
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