Why did the WWE release Mickie James?

You probably already know that yesterday the WWE did their pre-draft purge and released several wrestlers including Mickie James and Katie Lea Burchill. Many fans are upset about Mickie's release and want to know why she was released. But before I get to that, I'll briefly comment about Katie Lea. The WWE just didn't seem to know what to do with her. She's a good wrestler but why did they hire her? They used her in one crappy angle as Paul Birchill's sister. And when it predictably didn't get over, they released him and she's out the door shortly afterwards. It's a waste of talent. Though the release of Mickie James is shocking to some fans, I was not very surprised for a couple of reasons. It was about a year ago that we first heard that the WWE was not happy with Mickie's work on RAW and that's why she was moved to Smackdown. Supposedly they thought she was gaining weight too. Of course they did that Piggy James angle. I don't think she's fat but I wouldn't hire borderline anorexic models to wrestle in the first place. I would hire wrestlers who know what they're doing. And Mickie is a very good wrestler and her biggest asset is she knows how to connect with fans. But it appears that the conflict between Mickie and WWE management continued until showing up late to a couple of flights during last week's European tour was the final straw. The WWE has a corporate culture that demands conformity from the wrestlers. They will release wrestlers who they perceive as misbehaving. It was probably an accumulation of several things that led to Mickie's release. Of course the other thing is Mickie is planning to launch a country music career with her debut CD being released next month. As Maria Kanellis confirmed after her recent release, the WWE is clamping down on this kind of outside activity. Maybe they thought she was burning the candle at both ends. Will Mickie James remain in wrestling? I dunno. She did the indy circuit years ago and TNA is always interested in ex-WWE Divas. It may depend on how her CD does. I heard the single and I didn't care for it. If you look at who is popular in the country music market right now, the sound of the song doesn't really fit. It sounds a lot like someone like Gretchen Wilson who used to be popular but isn't anymore. It seems a little dated to me. I think Mickie James fans will buy it but I'm not so sure about country music fans in general. I always enjoyed watching Mickie in the WWE. Good luck to her and I think fans will miss her. But it doesn't look like WWE management will miss her.