By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Insight With Chris Van Vliet with guest Mickie James
Host: Chris Van Vliet
Podcast available via Podcasts.Apple.com
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 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 [McMahon] 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. Crazy! And how grateful I am for that.”
On who is her biggest rival: “Trish [Stratus], 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 on 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, wouldn’t I? I’ve been trying to get my hands on her 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 [does gesture]. 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 a 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, Ooft! But clearly he didn’t hate me too much, because I still was the champion, so maybe deep down he really loved it.”
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