{"id":114123,"date":"2022-06-19T12:00:34","date_gmt":"2022-06-19T16:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=114123"},"modified":"2022-06-18T16:19:53","modified_gmt":"2022-06-18T20:19:53","slug":"mickie-james-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2022\/06\/19\/mickie-james-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Mickie James and 20 Years of Knockouts Wrestling"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In 2022 there are a few things that are guaranteed; death, taxes, and the <strong>IMPACT Wrestling<\/strong> Knockouts division. That isn\u2019t a slight towards IMPACT; it\u2019s high praise in a division of wrestling as a whole that has found itself floundering inside the sport. IMPACT has consistently shown that over the last 20 years they\u2019ve not only stayed at the forefront of the sport of women\u2019s wrestling but continue to push it forward. This past week, Botched Spots and Chair Shots and their host Will Gray got to sit down with a legend in the sport of wrestling, both with IMPACT and beyond in <strong>Mickie James<\/strong> for an exclusive interview.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Mickie James Interview: Knockouts Wrestling and More<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cProbably, one of the most important runs in my career honestly, at a time when I thought I was done or made to feel like I was on the tail end of my career,&#8221; said Mickie James during the interview. &#8220;I was more there to kind of help elevate talent in a sense. Now to be able to come back and do. I can\u2019t tell you what this past year has meant to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mickie James is a multi-time champion and a legend in the sport of professional wrestling. Speaking to the host about this most recent run, she says that she wasn\u2019t sure what to expect. The twilight of her career had begun but she wasn\u2019t sure what was going to be happening when <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/07\/17\/mickie-james-deonna-purrazzo-at-slammiversary\/\" target=\"_self\">she stepped foot back into an IMPACT ring<\/a>. Her return started last summer and has stretched a year plus now that has included a Knockouts title reign, an absolute banger of a match in a \u201cTexas Death Match\u201d with <strong>Deonna Purazzo<\/strong>, and kicking down the forbidden door at one of the biggest events of the year in <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2022\/01\/13\/mickie-james-royal-rumble-appearance\/\" target=\"_self\"><strong>WWE\u2019s<\/strong> Royal Rumble<\/a> this past January in St. Louis.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"Zm6MYwkNRGB1vsfs6uTVHw\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/170200766\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'Zm6MYwkNRGB1vsfs6uTVHw',sig:'OP3vZWWvhtt7eiGWmINRMRrZg3iOuEz1ExOQL0UBqG4=',w:'594px',h:'423px',items:'170200766',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe original goal was to win a championship, but the ultimate goal is to leave the business better than you found it. We weren\u2019t taken seriously,\u201d James would tell Gray about the early days of the Diva\u2019s division during her time with WWE. This was during a time when women were still fighting for equal rights and pay in a male-dominated industry. However, in 2022, women\u2019s wrestling is thriving in IMPACT. James was very emotional when discussing what the Knockouts division meant to the sport.<\/p>\n<p>When asked about what made this locker room so special, James would glowing say, \u201cWe are the same, we are equal, if not better\u201d with a slight smirk.<\/p>\n<p>James was adamant about IMPACT&#8217;s role in advancing the sport. \u201cIMPACT was giving main events and cage matches to women before everyone else&#8230; I can see the growth in the locker room.\u201d James would also discuss how the likes of Purrazzo, <strong>Jordyn Grace<\/strong>, and <strong>Tasha Steelz<\/strong> just to name a few, give young women who are interested in the sport real role models and examples of who they can look up to.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Tasha STEELZ vs MICKIE JAMES 2 | BRUTAL street fight! SHOCKING finish! | IMPACT! March 24, 2022\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/07EYHxYElaE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWomen are getting into wrestling to become wrestlers again,\u201d James would say, as she expanded on how IMPACT has continued to show equality in both their women\u2019s and men\u2019s locker rooms. IMPACT has always been groundbreaking in including women and the Knockouts division in the spotlight of its weekly TV show. Even as early as 2003, James was involved in a hardcore affair in <strong>Raven\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cA Clockwork Orange, House of Fun Match.\u201d This was a match between James and fellow legend and WWE Hall of Famer <strong>Jeff Jarrett<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJeff treated me like a man out there, he respected me, and he protected me.&#8221; Mickie James would continue to discuss the match in detail, even saying, \u201cI don\u2019t fancy myself a hardcore wrestler, but I will go hardcore. I thought in my head I\u2019d go through it, but I just ricocheted off of it. A chain-link fence is a pretty sturdy thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Regarding Jarrett tossing James around during the match, she said, \u201cI\u2019m a lot smaller than the boys.\u201d The host and Mickie would chuckle as they both understand the magnitude of the fact that she was experiencing something few people have experienced let alone women in the sport. James would go on to praise both Raven and Jarrett for being geniuses of the business.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mickie James Arrives | NWA Powerrr S5E1\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FOlDb0RteeU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>IMPACT would continue to break grounds and a decade later, <strong>Daphne<\/strong>, another IMPACT Knockouts competitor, would call James up and tell her, \u201cI\u2019m doing the Clockwork House of Fun match, and no one has done it since you, sis.\u201d Even with the consistency of praise the Knockouts division would continue to get, IMPACT upped the ante even more in 2021 with the first-ever Knockout\u2019s Division Ultimate X match: a match and division reserved for the high spots and risk-taking athletes requiring the competitors to climb pillars attached to the ring posts and then maneuver themselves out to the center of the ring suspended above it to retrieve the X, claiming a future shot at the Knockouts title.<\/p>\n<p>The women of the Knockouts division jumped at the opportunity and showed the world that women can put on five-star matches like their male counterparts. When asked about her favorite moments to commemorate 20 years of IMPACT Wrestling and their homecoming of sorts to Nashville, Mickie James was flustered finding the words. \u201cComing in and being able to recreate myself as hardcore country\u2026 The cage match with <strong>Tara<\/strong>, I really wanted a chance there to re-establish myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She continued to talk about how she wasn\u2019t sure if she could still hang. She brought up Deonna Purrazzo, \u201cI put Deonna up there as one of the top talents in the world,\u201d the Texas Death Match being one of her top IMPACT moments alongside being able to work with her husband, <strong>Nick Aldis<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"8hD7dzZITCJNOx7upHCMNw\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/968727860\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'8hD7dzZITCJNOx7upHCMNw',sig:'bWqVrRF1aVtCV4NwklkLMBbdx3v1TiFZqA9HrgUYED0=',w:'394px',h:'594px',items:'968727860',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>James would give <strong>B.S.C.S.<\/strong> the exclusive at the time in saying that she has inserted herself as the special enforcer for the first-ever Queen of the Mountain Match this Sunday at <strong><em>Slammiversary<\/em><\/strong>, another first for IMPACT Wrestling. \u201cWhat is next for me and what is the next big thing for Impact wrestling,\u201d Mickie James closed the interview with those words when asked what is next for Hardcore Country. It seems like<br \/>\nMickie James and IMPACT Knockouts wrestling are synonymous with one another and they will continue to push each other into the spotlight of the sport of women\u2019s wrestling.<\/p>\n<p><em>Stay tuned to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_self\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a> for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. IMPACT Wrestling Slammiversary will air live on pay-per-view and via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fite.tv\/watch\/slammiversary-2022\/2pba3\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">FITE.tv<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2022 there are a few things that are guaranteed; death, taxes, and the IMPACT Wrestling Knockouts division. That isn\u2019t a slight towards IMPACT; it\u2019s high praise in a division of wrestling as a whole that has found itself floundering inside the sport. IMPACT has consistently shown that over the last 20 years they\u2019ve not [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4168,"featured_media":114134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,6,6504,2192,321,317,4],"tags":[333,3098],"class_list":["post-114123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-impact","category-north-america","category-nwa","category-wrestling","category-tna-knockouts","category-women","category-wwe","tag-mickie-james","tag-slammiversary"],"modified_by":"Robbie Sutter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}