Mickie James: Hall Of Fame Induction, Trish Stratus, Nick Aldis, WWE Return, Hardcore Country

Mickie James (@MickieJames) is a professional wrestler and TNA Hall of Famer. She sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Nashville, TN to discuss her recent Hall Of Fame induction at Bound For Glory, if one more match is possible, wrestling most of her career under her real name, her rivalry with Trish Stratus and the infamous spot during their WrestleMania 22 match, receiving her belongings in a trash bag after being released, if her husband Nick Aldis could return to the ring, and more!

On being inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame:

"It's crazy to even say Hall of Famer. I gotta change it in my bio. It feels amazing. I'm super humbled, and I think, you know, you spend your whole career trying to be humble and all that other stuff. And it's like the one night you can kind of pat yourself on the back, but it's super uncomfortable to do it. But still, it's always incredible, I think, when you're recognized for your contributions to the company or to any business, and for TNA to do that for me, I was incredibly honored." 

On being on the very first TNA show:

"I think for me at the time, I was so young and still new in the business, but I was starting to get really good. There weren't as many women training to be wrestlers, so as far as female wrestlers that were up and coming, I was being called one of the better ones, but I still had so much to learn. You think back, and I was like, God, I was so green. I had no idea what I was doing or could even fathom at the time an opportunity like that, what it was going to do for me now, or where we are now. And that was just kind of the first step of that journey. But I was just excited to get an opportunity to be seen. It was a lingerie battle royal, I was like, sure. I could go out there, and it's going to be on pay-per-view, and it's this young upstart company, and everybody's excited about it, because especially as an independent performer, and you're making nothing and just like that exposure, what that could do for you, but also the opportunity to have another place hopefully for us to all go and grow. And you could already feel in the building that there was so much excitement and love behind it. So, yeah, it was crazy, but I had no idea what I was doing." 

On wrestling under her real name:

"Even getting that opportunity to be able to use my real name, that's a whole other story. And when I actually debuted in WWE, because I was Alexis Laree, I got to go there, and I did The Gathering. The Gathering was another whole thing that had to be a goth character. I had to look it up. I bought Hot Topic out of every fish net they had, every skirt, t-shirt. I was like, I'll wet my hair. I guess I don't know what goth is. It wasn't my jam, but it worked." 

On being able to use her real name in WWE:

"I was Alexis Laree in OVW. I just love the name Alexis and Laree is my legit middle name, so that's how that name came about. But I'm about to debut this crazy stalker character, and Vince is like, 'What's her name? Alexis Laree? I don't like that name. It sounds like a stripper name.' And I'm like, Oh, guess it does, doesn't it? Yeah, okay. He's like, 'Well, got anything else? Got any other names?' And I was like, 'Uh, Mickie James?' [He said] 'I love it.' I didn't say, Oh, it's my real name. I was like, oh, okay, great. So I was able, and probably one of the last few people, to actually be able to use their real name. I was able to use my real name. Wow, crazy. And how grateful I am for that."

On whether she could do one more match:

"Hell, yeah! I could do 10 more. But it's also with the career that I've been so blessed to have, and the moments that I've been able to have and the people that I've been able to work with, I could retire tomorrow and be a happy woman. I don't have anything else, I think, to prove in the wrestling business, but I also love it, and there's nothing like it. I've been able to act in films. I've been able to do music and perform on stages and alongside mega names and stuff like that, which is also incredible. But there's nothing like performing in front of a live wrestling audience, especially when they're so invested in your story, in that story, because it's the emotion, that's what we live for. That's that's the art of this dance that we do."

On when she felt validated:

"I think what I was able to accomplish with The Last Rodeo solidified me. It validated me. It vindicated me. My first WWE run, I was able to have some amazing moments, but I think it was cut short. I think I had a lot more to do in WWE and the timing and my own life, and professionally and personally, I needed to go away, I think. So it was unfortunate, but I think my first tenure was cut really, really short, and especially when I look at opportunities, because we all make mistakes and we all live and learn. I think about comparatively mistakes other people perhaps were making, and when you try to compare it, and that's where I had to take my own ego and stop comparing, because you can't compare careers. You can't compare anything, because we're all individuals. So I was not satisfied. I would have been very unhappy. I think I would have been disgruntled, and I would have hated the business if I would have ended my career after my first run. I would have been all that work, all that dedication, everything, it would have been unfulfilled, and then I would have had a chip on my shoulder, because when I left, I had a chip on my shoulder because I felt like they didn't have to fire me. But that's, you know, you live and learn. I was also young and making mistakes, as we all do." 

And do you feel fulfilled now? 

"I feel so fulfilled now. I feel so fulfilled. Not only that, if I think about that now, and that was me in the moment. So I'm speaking me in the moment, 27-30 year old, Mickie James, if I hadn't even have left, not only like part of my healing journey and all that stuff, but I would have never met my husband. I would never have my beautiful son. And when I left WWE the first time and I was in this reset, trying to refine myself and redefine myself. And then I meet Nick [Aldis], and that story and that chapter opens, and then obviously, hardcore country is born in that same so that is all. And then I wouldn't be here today or sitting in front of you as a Hall of Famer if that hadn't happened, so you don't know." 

On her Hardcore Country theme:

"Do you know who that is [in the intro]? Serg Salinas. Dixie Carter's husband Serg Salinas, thank you, Serg. Thank you Dale Oliver, God, there's 1000 thank yous in that speech I didn't get to. We all sat down together and created, Dale and I wrote the song, created the song. And that is Serge hollering Hardcore Country."

On the Michelle McCool storyline:

"Especially at a time in my career where I felt like I was being kind of punished on a professional level, so I wasn't sure how much of that was does the company truly think this about me? Is someone saying this in creative and they just think it's funny, and let's see how this plays out on TV, or is this just a storyline? I think, if nothing else, that's where I had to put my ego aside and I was like, You know what? I don't care what I'm going to do, because this is powerful, and we've all been bullied, and there's been moments. There's just a story right now of this little girl, Sophia, in middle school in the town over from where we live right now, who just committed suicide over bullying, and she's 11 years old. So you think about that, and you think about the cases of suicide and all these things of like people really getting bullied, and I think it was really coming to light at that time because social media was becoming a thing, so it's really starting to come a light how this can affect people, especially affect people who weren't weren't mentally capable of deciphering, like young children."

On heat from the Piggy James storyline:

"Well, it took all of us, because for them too, they had to be the bad guys in that situation and be okay being the bad guys, which I think a lot of people still struggle with. Because as performers, you're trying to be loved and trying to be hated, to be a heel, I love it, but you have to be okay being hated. But also for them to be able to go out there, her and Layla, both, and do all of these things, and then have to take on all the hate from the fans for doing these hateful things and really embrace it. It was a lot. I think we all struggled with it, doing it in the moment. And I was like, no, what we're going to do is we're going to go out there and we're going to make it gold, and we're going to make it better than they ever expected. And it did. And not only did it really land in the hearts of a lot of people, I have people that still come to me about that whole story and how much it helped them. And I'm sure Michelle and Layla have the same but it helped launch Lay Cool. I think they were looking for something to turn them into monster heels, because there wasn't really a strong, strong heel, especially on SmackDown in the female division. And they would wanted to really get some hot steam behind them, and they chose me to do that. I should be honored that they believed in me enough to be able to help in that story. So there's a lot of conflicting things on there."

On who is her biggest rival:

"Trish, for sure, every day, all day, even still. I think about how we've not had really a chance to do a whole bunch, but even like that rumble moment where we had a chance and the people just erupted. And I think that that says it all and that was such a validation that what we did then still holds true and still connects today."

On that moment in her WrestleMania 22 match with Trish Stratus:

"[The backstage reaction] was not good. I mean, the people loved it. The reaction, in my opinion, I made the right choice, in my humble opinion. Not what I expected. So I had asked Steve Keirn. Steve Keirn was our agent. I had asked Steve Keirn, 'Can I lick my finger?' Because we had already had the crotch grab spot. We're gonna do it. So we knew we were going to do the vag grab. You think about the whole story. I have pretended to be Trish. I have accused her boyfriend of terrible crimes. I have kidnapped Ashley Massaro, I have stalked her in the shower, her home. I have done many things, tried to kiss her numerous occasions, access denied. So we're at WrestleMania, and I'm like, all the things that we've done to lead to this and they want this moment. I'm like, okay. I felt like that's what anybody would have done in that moment, after all that. Finally, you got, I don't know, I'm not going to go there. That's a little too crass, even for me. But I also thought, you know. So I had asked if I could lick my finger. Clearly, that's not what I did. He was like, 'Lick your finger?' I was like, Well, yeah. I mean, I'm grabbing [her], wouldn't I [do it]? I've been trying to get my hands on her, you know, forever. This would be my dream come true, right? And he's like, 'I will see.' I went away, and he comes back, and he goes, 'Yeah, okay, I think you can lick your fingers.' Fine, whatever. Sorry, Steve Keirn. So that's not what I did, and I did this actually, I think it was more like this. It was a double, so they made sure they saw it, because my hands aren't big enough, obviously. I thought in my heart and in my soul, I honestly believed I was going to walk back through that curtain, and I had never received a high five. I'd seen other women get high fives from Vince and thumbs up and all these things. I got thumbs up before. I got a few thumbs up. I thought I was going to get the biggest hug of a lifetime, and fist bumps, maybe even a hoist on a shoulder and out the door, something for being so brilliant. It's not what happened at all. Go back through the curtain and Vince is pissed. He's like, 'That was crass! Do you know what we're gonna have to do? How much money it's gonna cost to edit that and to pull it from everything? We're a publicly traded company! What are you thinking?' So if you can imagine the high of a lifetime and then walking through and just shanked right through the curtain, I was like, Oh. But clearly he didn't hate me too much, because I still was the champion, so maybe deep down he really loved it."

On receiving her stuff in a trash bag:

"I wasn't as offended as the fans were when it happened, because I don't think you realize how many times we've been offended. I'm so numb to getting my feelings hurt, or I'm so used to, Oh, you got to separate your ego from it, and don't take it personal. It's just business. So I posted, because I'm a sarcastic person, and if I was to be honest, I got two boxes with two trash bags. I still have the trash bags because I'm keeping them, receipts. But I think it was important for a couple reasons. Well, one, because I'm a smart ass, and it was sarcastic, and I remembered in 2010 when I got my stuff back and I got it the same way, and 2010 me was devastated. 2010 me was like, Oh, my God. They think I'm trash. They hate me, they're throwing me out with the trash, nothing I did mattered. I took it real personal. This time, I didn't take it personal. I'm like, of course. It's more about the lack of thought of how you're so disposable, and I was on par of sometimes how this game makes you feel. So I kind of posted it like that. I was literally excited to get the box, only because it had all my jackets in there and I'm getting ready to walk out the door to do this photo shoot with Chapel Hart for our single that's coming out, and do all this other stuff. And so I'm like, Oh, my jackets! I'm so excited. And I open it, of course. Then as I'm driving, I posted it, there! Then Hunter called me, Stephanie text me, Johnny called me. Everybody called me. I still feel bad for Mark Carano, who got fired for it, because Mark was always good to me. Mark took care of me when I was there. He was probably one of my dear, actual friends sometimes there, and so he's the one who got fired. But it was just a testament to that was like a company thing of like, they just didn't really think you know of how that would affect [you], especially if you are already in a bad place when you talk about mental health and all these things. Worst day of your life, whatever career, for sure, totally, especially if it's like the first time you lost, you know, now you're on the, oh there's always an opportunity to have a second time or a third time. Then the other people came out. Oh, of course it did, because that was just like how it was done. We have these massive drawers full of all of our stuff for the road. We got lots of just-in-case outfits. I don't think anybody else will get their stuff that way anymore. So that's fine. I don't think they come in Gucci bags, but they certainly don't come in hefty bags. It was crazy to see. And then as the fans are responding and like, whatever, because I'm halfway through the shoot, and then all sudden, I look at my phone, my phone's blown up, and I'm doing all this. I'm like, what? I was like, Oh my God. I didn't even realize I should have been offended. I'm so used to being like, suck it up buttercup, that I didn't even think about that side of how offensive it actually was. And not compare, I don't know, would they have done that to someone that they thought highly of? So I was like, Oh, I guess I should be offended, I kind of did it out of sarcasm, but you're right. This is bullsh*t. But, yeah, Vince called me and I spoke to him on the phone, and so that was what I was getting to as I ramble on. Vince called me and we spoke on the phone. He was the one person I actually did call back in the middle of that shoot. Because I was like, Vince has never called me before, so left me a voicemail or a voice note, actually, where he's like, because my voicemail box was full. And he was like, 'Your voicemail box is full, by the way.' I was like, Oh, no. I can't win with this man, yeah, but he was genuine. He was like, 'You know I've never thought that of you, and I've always thought highly of you, and I'm so sorry that happened and that person is not here anymore.' And then I was like, Oh no. Felt bad for Mark Carrano. I was like, oh God. I was even honest with him, I was like, I don't think that you ever felt that way and I don't think it was you personally, he was always good to me, gave me more opportunities, gave me my dream and all that stuff. But I also didn't think he was sometimes aware of the other things or how we feel in those moments, because you can't just go run into Vince and talk about how you feel."

On whether Nick Aldis has another run in him:

"Oh, my God, yes. Oh, he's far from done. I mean, I think if he was ever given, and I would pray for the perfect opportunity and story or whatever, but I think that if he's ever given an opportunity to put on his boots and get out in that ring, I know it would be a dream come true for him."

What is Mickie James grateful for?

"I get to wake up, to be a mom, and to make it to the other side."

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