In less than a week, Mickie James will go into the TNA Hall of Fame.
Though the former Knockouts Champion had a brief run in 2003, it was her stint in 2010 that really helped James bounce back from her WWE release. James has stated in the past how devastated she was about it and she was even considering retirement following that shocking departure.
“At that time [being released from WWE in 2010], I was very — pretty devastated in the sense of like, oh, I lost my dream job, everything that I wanted and it was Kurt [Angle] who convinced me to come to IMPACT and Dixie [Carter] was telling him — Dixie had asked him to call me to come there and I’m so grateful for that." Mickie said on the Cut Pro Wrestling podcast.
“I was so heartbroken about wrestling in that moment that I just go like, God, what if I would’ve just been like, okay, that was it, that was good, in 2010. This whole last 12 years would have been… it’s wild when you think about it.”
It’s a great thing that James continued her career in TNA as it allowed her to develop and grow as a performer. Throughout the years, James was given the spotlight and she crushed it each and every time. But it wasn’t just the fact that James was able to prove why she’s one of the best wrestlers in the world. It’s that being in TNA made her fall in love with wrestling again.
The soon to be TNA Hall of Famer spoke to WrestlingNewsCo about her journey in TNA and she credits the promotion for reminding her why she loved wrestling.
“To get this opportunity to go to TNA, I don’t even think I recognized how awesome it was gonna be until I got there, and I was able to create and be probably my most authentic self in the wrestling ring than I’d ever been… it almost reminded me of how much I love wrestling and why I love wrestling… It made me almost fall in love with wrestling all over again, and a whole new journey.”
James will be joining the Hall of Fame with The Beautiful People’s Velvet Sky and Angelina Love on October 12th during Bound For Glory weekend. The person that will be inducting the former Knockouts Champion is Lisa Marie Varon aka Tara/Victoria.