Mickie James was ready to walk away from the 2022 WWE Royal Rumble on the day of the show if the company went back on one major part of their deal. James had agreed to return on the condition that she could represent TNA as its Knockouts World Champion, and when WWE suddenly questioned the belt, she refused to budge.
While speaking to Ben Veal, James admitted she wasn’t even particularly interested in returning to WWE when the Royal Rumble opportunity first came up. She was still angry about how her previous run ended and initially leaned toward turning it down altogether.
“Even when I was first asked to come in, I was so—I was still angry, you know. I was still upset. I kind of no’d it at first. I was like, ‘I’m not interested,’ or whatever.
And thank God, like, Scott didn’t go back, or I didn’t just, you know, say, ‘No, no thank you,’ straight out of the gate because I really had to think back and sit and pray on it and think about it.”
James eventually reconsidered, but she wasn’t interested in returning as the same version of Mickie James WWE fans had seen before. She was the reigning TNA Knockouts World Champion at the time and wanted WWE to present the person she had become outside the company.
“So, at that point, I kind of—my ego, I suppose, among other things—but I was like, ‘If I’m going to do this, I’m not going to be happy-skippy, bell-bottomy Mickie James coming out to some Toni Basil ripoff song. I’m going to be Hardcore Country because that’s who I am now.’”
That meant bringing the entire Hardcore Country presentation with her. James wanted her own music and, most importantly, the Knockouts World Championship around her waist when she walked into WWE.
“I said, ‘I’ve had—every time I come back, you know, TNA’s treated me so well.’ But I was Knockouts World Champion at the time, and I’m like, ‘If I’m going to do it, I want to be Hardcore Country Mickie James, and I want to come out to my own music, and I want to come out with the Knockouts World Championship.’ And so, if we can do that, then I’m interested.”
James actually expected WWE to tell her no. Instead, the company accepted her conditions, and everything appeared settled heading into the Rumble.
“I didn’t expect them to say, ‘Okay.’ I thought they were going back like, ‘You’re out of your mind, kid,’ like whatever, ‘Okay, never mind. Moving on.’ But they didn’t, you know. It was like, ‘Okay, all right.’ And then they did that.”
Then came the day of the show. James said WWE suddenly raised concerns about her carrying the TNA title during her entrance. Charlotte Flair was entering the Rumble as SmackDown Women’s Champion, and James was told there were concerns that another woman entering with a championship, especially one belonging to another promotion, could take away from Charlotte.
“There was like a little moment, or a moment, that I thought it wasn’t going to happen even that day because I always—I’m always like, ‘I don’t believe it until it’s actually happening in real life,’ because everything can change. Card subject to change.
So even kind of leading up to there, there was this moment where they were like, ‘Oh, we don’t think we want you to come out with the belt.’
Because, you know, Charlotte’s coming out with the belt. It’s the first time a champion has ever entered the thing, and we don’t want to take away from the fact that she’s the champion coming out with her belt and you’re coming out with a TNA belt that’s not even our belt. Like, I don’t know.”
James wasn’t interested in renegotiating at that point. Carrying the Knockouts World Championship had been one of the conditions she set before agreeing to appear, so she told WWE she would either enter with it or not enter at all.
“And I was like, ‘It was part of the deal.’ I’m either coming out with the belt or I’m not coming out. Like, that’s kind of part—it’s part of the deal. We already agreed to that, and that’s—I’m sticking to it.”
According to James, the matter then went directly to Vince McMahon. Once he was consulted, the answer came back in her favor: “And he went and talked to Vince and he came back and goes, ‘Okay.’ Wow. Okay.”
James ultimately entered the 2022 Royal Rumble at No. 20 with the Knockouts World Championship, but she says winning that backstage fight meant almost as much as the entrance itself. It was one of the first times in her career that she felt she had truly drawn a line with WWE and refused to move it.
“That was probably, you know, in reality, Ben, like, that was probably the first time that I ever stood on something where I’m like, ‘No.’ But that was the first time I said, ‘No. This is what we agreed to.’”
For James, WWE ultimately respecting that agreement made the entire experience more meaningful. She had fought for something she believed mattered and, instead of backing down when it reached Vince McMahon, WWE followed through.
“As a person, as a human, as a professional, it was very validating, and that moment almost more than the moment out there because I stood and I fought for what I believed in.
I stood on it and they still went through with it, you know. And that made me feel validated and like I mattered in a different way, if that makes sense, because the hardest battles are not fought out there in the ring. They’re fought behind the scenes.”
Thankfully for James, the crowd backed up everything she had fought for. She admitted there would have been nothing worse than making the TNA title a dealbreaker only to walk through the curtain and hear silence.
“God, what would have happened if I went out there and it was crickets? I would have been like, ‘All that fighting for—’ I know they’re going to love it, yada yada yada.
There’s been other times in my career where I’ve fought for certain things where I’m like—and I’m like, prove myself right, and I’m like, ‘Thank God,’ you know. But yeah, thank God that they reacted the way they did.”
James got the entrance she fought for, and four years later, it turns out that TNA title almost never made it through the curtain. Had Vince McMahon given a different answer that day, James says WWE would have been doing the 2022 Royal Rumble without her.
Would you have backed Mickie James for refusing to enter the Royal Rumble without the TNA title after WWE had already agreed to it? Let us know in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
