for the Elimination Chamber event to crown the first-ever WWE Women's Tag Team Champions, but the long-time allies lost their tag team match to Nia Jax and Tamina. James would later compete in the second-annual WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal at WrestleMania 35 for the trophy, eliminating Mandy Rose from the match before subsequently being eliminated by Sonya Deville. Brand switches and departure (2019–2021) As part of the 2019 Superstar Shake-up, James was drafted back to the SmackDown brand. During a live event on June 1, it was reported that James had suffered a torn ACL. On July 16, James underwent successful knee surgery and would be out of action for seven to nine months. During her recovery from injury, James would become a commentator for Main Event. After 14 months of injury, James returned on the August 10, 2020 episode of Raw as a face, only to have her interview interrupted by Natalya and Lana. This set up a singles match against Natalya the following week, which saw James lose by countout thanks to interference from Lana. On the August 31 episode of Raw, James confronted the Raw Women's Champion Asuka, stating her intentions of going after the title. During this exchange, Lana and Natalya interrupted staking their claims, leading to a singles match between James and Lana in which James defeated her via pinfall. On the September 14 episode of Raw, James challenged Asuka for the Raw Women's Championship, but lost after a botched finish due to the referee believing that James could no longer compete. In the 2020 WWE Draft in October, James went undrafted. Her first post-draft appearance occurred on January 4, 2021, during the special "Legends Night" episode of Raw, appearing alongside several other WWE legends. That same month, James competed in the women's Royal Rumble match entering at No. 19, but was eliminated by Lacey Evans. In April, she appeared on stage during the opening of WrestleMania 37 alongside the rest of the active roster. On April 15, 2021, WWE announced that they had released Mickie James along with several other talent. Prior, she had participated in commentary on shows such as Main Event and NXT. Her release was met with some controversy, as she claimed her belongings were sent to her in a trash bag. Several other former talent such as Jillian Hall, Maria Kanellis and Gail Kim voiced similar experiences when they were