ironworks
02-13-2014, 05:01 AM
- Mickie James recently spoke with Aaron Oster of The Baltimore Sun. Here are some highlights:
You mentioned earlier that if you signed with the WWE, you’d go out and give it your all, and I know you visited the WWE Performance Center a couple of months ago. What sparked that and is there anything more going on between you and WWE?
I don’t really know ... I mean, I know what sparked that interest in it was, me reaching out and seeing what opportunities were available, or any interest in me at all. And that’s when they talked about if I was interested in going down and working with the girls there, and feeling that whole trainer position out, and seeing if it was something that I was even good at. I’ve never trained anyone in my life. I’ve been fortunate enough to really work with amazing people and have incredible people lead me along the way. Any chance I had to work with Ricky Steamboat or Bobby Eaton, that’s what I did when I was trying to make it, was soak up knowledge from all those people before I went to developmental. I felt like developmental really was that fine-tuning experience with me. I can’t say that I’ve done all this stuff in wrestling, but at the same time, there is a bit of that humbleness that I feel like if I can give someone that knowledge, or pass something on that’s going to help them so perhaps they don’t make the same mistakes that you made, or it’s going to better them as a performer then you always want to give back. Someone told me a long time ago that you always want to leave the business better than you walked into it. This would be an opportunity to do that. Whether I’m in that right position right now, as far as being a trainer, I’m not sure. I have so much stuff going on right now between the music, and still wrestling, and other side projects I’m working on right now. And with that kind of job, I’d have to give up everything else, and I’m not sure if I’m in a place to do that right now. And obviously that could change tomorrow, but, who’s to say.
So that visit was more, at least on WWE’s side, feeling you out to see if you’d want to be a trainer, more than an active wrestler?
Not necessarily, because we’ve talked about both sides of it. Initially, it was more of a feeling-out process, and they were talking about perhaps doing something in the future. I don’t really know where they stand on that, or if there’s interest in bringing me back to do more.
You were down at the Performance Center, which means you got to see a lot of the WWE NXT wrestlers. I know a lot of fans of women’s wrestling are raving about some of the divas down there, what did you see from them?
I thought there were a handful of them with legit, real potential. Obviously, I thought Paige was amazing. I had met Paige before, back in England actually. I really like her. That was the first time I had worked with Emma, and I thought she was really good. Sasha Banks, I really like her a lot. She had a good personality and was really sharp, and had a great look and a great character. Yeah, there are definitely girls with potential there. You never know who’s going to be the next superstar. Some of them are just kind of getting their feet wet, and have a ways to go, but they could be the next superstars.
You mentioned earlier that if you signed with the WWE, you’d go out and give it your all, and I know you visited the WWE Performance Center a couple of months ago. What sparked that and is there anything more going on between you and WWE?
I don’t really know ... I mean, I know what sparked that interest in it was, me reaching out and seeing what opportunities were available, or any interest in me at all. And that’s when they talked about if I was interested in going down and working with the girls there, and feeling that whole trainer position out, and seeing if it was something that I was even good at. I’ve never trained anyone in my life. I’ve been fortunate enough to really work with amazing people and have incredible people lead me along the way. Any chance I had to work with Ricky Steamboat or Bobby Eaton, that’s what I did when I was trying to make it, was soak up knowledge from all those people before I went to developmental. I felt like developmental really was that fine-tuning experience with me. I can’t say that I’ve done all this stuff in wrestling, but at the same time, there is a bit of that humbleness that I feel like if I can give someone that knowledge, or pass something on that’s going to help them so perhaps they don’t make the same mistakes that you made, or it’s going to better them as a performer then you always want to give back. Someone told me a long time ago that you always want to leave the business better than you walked into it. This would be an opportunity to do that. Whether I’m in that right position right now, as far as being a trainer, I’m not sure. I have so much stuff going on right now between the music, and still wrestling, and other side projects I’m working on right now. And with that kind of job, I’d have to give up everything else, and I’m not sure if I’m in a place to do that right now. And obviously that could change tomorrow, but, who’s to say.
So that visit was more, at least on WWE’s side, feeling you out to see if you’d want to be a trainer, more than an active wrestler?
Not necessarily, because we’ve talked about both sides of it. Initially, it was more of a feeling-out process, and they were talking about perhaps doing something in the future. I don’t really know where they stand on that, or if there’s interest in bringing me back to do more.
You were down at the Performance Center, which means you got to see a lot of the WWE NXT wrestlers. I know a lot of fans of women’s wrestling are raving about some of the divas down there, what did you see from them?
I thought there were a handful of them with legit, real potential. Obviously, I thought Paige was amazing. I had met Paige before, back in England actually. I really like her. That was the first time I had worked with Emma, and I thought she was really good. Sasha Banks, I really like her a lot. She had a good personality and was really sharp, and had a great look and a great character. Yeah, there are definitely girls with potential there. You never know who’s going to be the next superstar. Some of them are just kind of getting their feet wet, and have a ways to go, but they could be the next superstars.