Mickie James will be walking into St Louis and down the aisle at the Royal Rumble still as the Impact Knockouts champion as last night she managed to defend her title in the main event of Hard To Kill.

James beat Deonna Purrazzo in a 20-minute Texas death match to keep the title and Impact EVP Scott D’Amore already said that James has the company’s blessing to use the title at the Rumble and WWE has already acknowledged Mickie as the Impact Knockouts champion.

A promo from James aired during the pay-per-view where she talked about participating in the Royal Rumble but despite the glorious news from Friday night, what was going to be more glorious was her victory and walking out of Dallas as the Knockouts champion.

“TONIGHT its Dallas, TX, TONIGHT it's #HardToKill , TONIGHT it’s a Texas Death Match!” @MickieJames had words for @DeonnaPurrazzo after her @WWE Royal Rumble announcement last night and before #HardToKill tonight at 8PM LIVE on PPV!#IMPACTWRESTLING pic.twitter.com/m7tOVhCbGG

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) January 8, 2022