Mickie James has discussed the origins of her Royal Rumble appearance, and the potential working relationship between WWE and IMPACT Wrestling.
Last month, James returned to WWE in the women’s Royal Rumble match. James carried the IMPACT Knockouts Championship to the ring, while commentators discussed her post-WWE ventures.
Speaking with Denise Salcedo on Instinct Culture, James confirmed that WWE reached out to IMPACT about the Rumble, noting that she was adamant about wanting to bring ‘Hardcore Country’ to WWE.
Believing that WWE and IMPACT will work together again in the future, James said:
“They reached out to IMPACT, Johnny pretty much called Scott directly on the phone to say, ‘Is this something that would be okay, would IMPACT be okay,’ because obviously it’s a different company, a corporation.. And then Scott reached out to me to ask me if I would be interested in being in the Rumble and what I would want to do and how I felt about it and then I was like ‘Absolutely,’ I was very adamant about wanting to be Hardcore Country Mickie James and to represent IMPACT and I am the Knockouts Champion, and we presented all of this to him, this is what I wanted and I talked to Johnny and he spoked to Vince and it all happened.”
“I think yes (WWE and IMPACT will work together again). I don’t know that it will be immediately, I think this was an opportunity for WWE to test the water, to see if it was something, people talk and they say ‘this will be great and this will get a lot of ratings and this will be a big buzz’ but until it’s actually in front of them I think they can’t actually see it…. I feel that now that they see the potential and how much the fans responded to it, the idea of it happening with the men, or with the World Championships, or something like that, now, at least the idea of that possibility and that door is open.”
There were reportedly ‘caveats to literally everything’ surrounding James’ WWE return, with WWE banning several phrases associated with IMPACT Wrestling.
Check out our list of Royal Rumble 2022 records and stats at this link.
H/T to Denise Salcedo for the transcription.
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