Mickie James was among a group of Superstars released by WWE in April 2021, and later took to social media to reveal that her possessions were returned to her in a trash bag.
#TrashBagGate quickly started trending worldwide, and Head of Talent Relations Mark Carrano was fired after Triple H and Stephanie McMahon issued public apologies. It was a PR disaster for WWE, and James—who is on good terms with WWE now—did receive a private apology from then-WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
In a new interview with Chris Van Vliet, James opened up on the incident, how she felt at the time it happened, and her role in the fallout from what was an undeniably degrading way to end her time in WWE.
"I wasn't as offended as the fans were when it happened, because I don't think you realize how many times we've been offended. I'm so numb to getting my feelings hurt, or I'm so used to, 'Oh, you got to separate your ego from it, and don't take it personal. It's just business.' So I posted, because I'm a sarcastic person, and if I was to be honest, I got two boxes with two trash bags. I still have the trash bags because I'm keeping them, receipts."
"But I think it was important for a couple reasons. Well, one, because I'm a smart ass, and it was sarcastic, and I remembered in 2010 when I got my stuff back and I got it the same way, and 2010 me was devastated. 2010 me was like, 'Oh, my God. They think I'm trash. They hate me, they're throwing me out with the trash, nothing I did mattered.' I took it real personal. This time, I didn't take it personal. I'm like, of course. It's more about the lack of thought of how you're so disposable, and I was on par of sometimes how this game makes you feel. So I kind of posted it like that. "
"Hunter called me, Stephanie text me, Johnny called me. Everybody called me. I still feel bad for Mark Carano, who got fired for it, because Mark was always good to me. Mark took care of me when I was there. He was probably one of my dear, actual friends sometimes there, and so he's the one who got fired. But it was just a testament to that was like a company thing of like, they just didn't really think you know of how that would affect [you], especially if you are already in a bad place when you talk about mental health and all these things. "
"I don't think anybody else will get their stuff that way anymore. So that's fine. I don't think they come in Gucci bags, but they certainly don't come in hefty bags. It was crazy to see. And then as the fans are responding and like, whatever, because I'm halfway through the shoot, and then all sudden, I look at my phone, my phone's blown up, and I'm doing all this. I'm like, what? I was like, 'Oh my God. I didn't even realize I should have been offended.' I'm so used to being like, suck it up buttercup, that I didn't even think about that side of how offensive it actually was."
"Vince called me and I spoke to him on the phone, and so that was what I was getting to as I ramble on. Vince called me and we spoke on the phone. He was the one person I actually did call back in the middle of that shoot. Because I was like, Vince has never called me before, so left me a voicemail or a voice note, actually, where he's like, because my voicemail box was full. And he was like, 'Your voicemail box is full, by the way.' I was like, 'Oh, no. I can't win with this man,' yeah, but he was genuine. He was like, 'You know I've never thought that of you, and I've always thought highly of you, and I'm so sorry that happened and that person is not here anymore.'"
We haven't heard any further incidents of this happening since Carano's departure from WWE, and he's never come out to speak about this or his experiences in WWE in general.
As for James, she's made a couple of WWE appearances since her release and has wrestled for both TNA and OVW. Her husband, Nick Aldis, is currently SmackDown General Manager, though many fans hope to see him eventually step back into the ring.
You can watch the full interview with James in the player below.