Mickie James believes it’d be hard to top her last Royal Rumble moment.
During a recent appearance on The Ten Count with Steve Fall, Mickie James was asked about potentially facing Charlotte Flair in a match before her “Last Rodeo” comes to an end. Recently, Flair said working with James was a dream match for her, and fans have been speculating about how it could happen ever since then.
James spoke about her 2022 Royal Rumble appearance and how much it meant to her, noting that the only way to top it might actually be winning the match and facing Flair in an inter-promotional match.
“Last year I would have told you absolutely not. We can’t see that. But this year I go well, anything is possible, right? Like it took a lot of magic to make that Royal Rumble happen and the fact that it was, I mean it was so special. I still get chill bumps every time I watch that entrance, and I’m fighting with my jacket because it got stuck or and I forgot to turn around to show the back and because it was so awesome.
“It was multi-layered of reactions. It was like the oh my god, it’s Hardcore Country. Oh my god, it’s Mickie James. Oh my god, she’s got the belt, and then when I held it up, it was like multi-layered reactions, and I just feel like god it was so perfect. It was so amazing, and it would be hard to recreate. It’d be hard to top in that sense. The only way to top it would be to win the Royal Rumble and then maybe go on and challenge Charlotte Flair, title versus title, whatever the case may be.
“I’m really honored that she would say that I’ve obviously said a lot of times that one of the only people that I never really got to, aside from in the Rumble, stand across the ring from was Charlotte Flair. My whole time there we were always — I got moved RAW. She went to SmackDown, and I was aligned with Alexa a lot. Another thing is I didn’t have a lot of singles stories or a single run really at all at WWE when I was there because I was partnered with Alexa and I had a blast. So fun.”
Whether that match happens or not, Mickie James is still happy with how her final WWE moment went down, noting that she finally got to show WWE fans what Hardcore Country was all about.
“It was something that got over huge when I first when we first did it in TNA at the time, IMPACT Wrestling and the fans really got behind it. It really resonated with a lot of people, especially middle America. There’s a lot of us that are just down-home good people that have strong family ties and strong family roots, regardless of color or gender or ethnicity or any of that we all had to work really hard to get what we want and so we appreciate that, and it felt like it was a representation of that and plus, Mickie James Hardcore Country is a badass and I really wanted to show her to the WWE audience, and I never had the opportunity and then unfolded this Royal Rumble opportunity where I literally got to do it all in one moment. And it was so special.
“And I still get emotional about it, and it was so special, and it was just I’m still grateful for that, and it opened up doors for like a Cody Rhodes to come back which people didn’t expect him to be The American Nightmare. There’s different things and now the opportunities of what can happen at this year’s Royal Rumble or moving forward onto WrestleMania. The options are endless because now you know that door has been opened, for other talent and for cross-promotion kind of stuff.
“And that’s really exciting, and it’s exciting for wrestling fans and to be the one to kind of kick that door open and to do it as a woman and to showcase the IMPACT Knockouts World Championship on WWE television and have that put over and go in as the champion, there were a lot of boxes that people go like, Oh, they’re never going to happen. I mean, I think most people thought like, ‘Oh, she’s going to come out to her Mickie James music. She’s going to wear the bell bottoms and whatever.’ And none of that happened.
“It happened just the way I prayed about it. And we all hoped, and it came off and got the reaction. And my biggest fear was that I was gonna go out there and it was gonna be crickets, and nobody was going to know who Hardcore Country was and it was going to be that was like in my heart. I’m like, I’m not saying a word until this thing is over. Because I am not jinxing myself because what if I go out there and they go Hardcore Country, and it’s *cricket noises* I know it wouldn’t happen but at the same time, like these are the things that flood into your brain and to your mind.”
Read More: Deonna Purrazzo: It Would Be A ‘Career-Defining’ Moment For Whoever Retires Mickie James
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit The Ten Count with a link back to this article for the transcription.
