Mickie James Talks Her Beginnings, Biggest Obstacles, Retirement and More

Her beginnings in Wrestling:

"It's been amazing, I think my journey obviously has been crazy, wild and fun, and sometimes sad, and all those things, you know that's life, I guess, but to be in it now after two decades and to see the evolution, so to speak, of everything and to see how far it's come and especially Women's Wrestling, it's been amazing and to be a real factor in this kind of game that we're in now is definitely amazing, I started because I was a wrestling fan, I grew up a wrestling fan, I watched it with my dad, my sisters, and it was like our bond and I fell back in love with it during the attitude era, and it reminded me of all the reasons why I loved wrestling as a kid, and I became an even bigger fan until I found a school and started going to school to be a professional wrestler."

The biggest obstacle in your career:

"I think the biggest obstacle and this isn't just for me and I don't want to speak for other people, but I think the biggest obstacle I've encountered is; and I think it's still there, but I think the biggest obstacle is being seen as we really are; "Equal on the playing field," and when I say that I don't just mean that there's a women's championship, or that we're given more time in our fights, but that in that space where women are seen as equals in the whole structure of this business, you know, we're not completely there yet, but I feel like we're moving quickly in the right direction and much faster than we were five or ten years ago, which is pretty remarkable, because now women headline any main event on a PPV, when you never saw women going into that position, because it was always like, oh, that's the popcorn match, that's the filler match, but now we're having the same standards as the guys in this kind of thing."

He regained his passion for wrestling in IMPACT Wrestling:

"Being in the Royal Rumble was magical, it was a magical night and it was amazing and I felt like it was the perfect answer to everything, sometimes it's like a weird cliché that everything happens for a reason, and sometimes you don't understand it until one day you're there and you look back and you're going to laugh because it's going to be so much better, so that was that moment for me, because obviously it's devastating when you get released from a company it's always a little scary, but you have two choices, sit back and play the victim or take the bull by the horns and dominate it,  and that took me being a four-time World Knockouts Champion, and my matches against Deonna where she pushed me to the limit and helped remind me who Mickie James is, who "Hardcore Country Mickie James" is because I felt like that part of me was what I was missing when I was in WWE, that confidence, that reminder of who I am and what I've done and what I can still do, you know, and it's great to be doing that now here at IMPACT and I think my matches against Deonna reminded everyone of who I am."

Your best matches and rivalries:

"I would put my matches with Deonna in there, I think that leveled me, obviously everyone remembers the stuff we did with Trish and it was the best time of my life because there was the young Mickie James finally getting her dream and then everything that happened, I would say my story with Beth Phoenix is right up there with some of my favorite feuds, we just had the best chemistry that even on a House Show we got a standing ovation from the locker room for our work, I would think the stuff we did together with Lita; that whole story of the hand tied behind my back and the blindfolded match and all those things that happened, finally the story we had in her retirement from pro wrestling, was a cool button for me, because she is so influential to me and in my whole career, when I was; "Alexis Lee" just trying to make it in this business, she was nice to me when she didn't have to be, and my story with Tara that many know her as Victoria in WWE."

On her retirement:

"I think I will always be involved in the wrestling business in some way, I love this business and it has always been my goal to be able to contribute and improve it and raise the bar for women across the board."