Mickie James Says She Didn’t Want To Retire On The Independent Scene

Mickie James is a veteran of the professional wrestling industry and she rose to fame when she joined WWE in 2005. James was immediately thrust into a high profile feud with Trish Stratus and her WWE career took off rather quickly. Mickie won the Women’s Championship five times and the Divas Championship one time during her run with the company, but in 2010 she was released.

After parting ways with WWE, Mickie James signed with TNA and she also worked the independent scene. James recently spoke to ESPN and she talked about going from working WWE events to working the independent scene, and she said that the experience was very humbling.

“It’s very humbling when you leave here and you’ve wrestled in front of sold-out crowds of as many as 90,000 people, to go back to square one,” James said. “I came from the independent scene and I’ve wrestled in front of a crowd of four people in a car lot in 104 degrees in Fayetteville, North Carolina. It’s very humbling when you have to go backwards and after doing it for a bit, I was sitting there and debating with myself about what I should do. I don’t want to retire on the independent scene. I don’t want my legacy to be remembered as that. I wasn’t sure whether it was time to walk away, but I didn’t want to be remembered in that way.”

Mickie’s luck turned around last year when she was called in to face Asuka at NXT Takeover: Toronto. She managed to impress WWE officials and the fans despite the fact that she lost the match, and after one thing led to another, she made her return to SmackDown.

James has been giving it her all each and every single week and she’s been a solid addition to the SmackDown roster. According to the former Women’s Champion she never expected to be back on the road with WWE as she thought a return to the company was out of the cards.

“It’s pretty incredible to be back, it’s not what I expected at all. It’s funny how things happen in life,” James said. “I had pretty much accepted the fact I was going to be a stay-at-home mom and do my other adventures in life. I thought coming back to the WWE was out of the cards for me. It’s weird how things work out, but it has been amazing. The fans have been great, and so receptive.”

Luckily for James and the fans, WWE signed her to a multi-year deal so it doesn’t look like she’ll be heading back to the independent scene anytime soon.