TNA Hall of Famer Mickie James appeared on the podcast Insight with Chris Van Vliet to discuss various topics, including her induction into the TNA Hall of Fame.
James said, “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 appearing on the very first TNA show in 2022:
“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 whether she could compete in 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 the art of this dance that we do.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
