Posted By James Walsh on 09/05/26
Mickie James came very close to walking away from professional wrestling before landing the WWE storyline that would change her career.
James made her WWE main roster debut in October 2005 as the self-proclaimed biggest fan of Trish Stratus. What initially appeared to be an enthusiastic admirer eventually developed into an obsession, leading to one of the most memorable WWE women’s storylines of the era.
During a recent appearance on Wrestling Life Online with Ben Veal (see video below), James revealed that she nearly quit wrestling altogether while still developing in OVW.
“I remember I was kind of over it,” James said. “I was in a place where I’d watched a lot of people get fired at OVW. I’d been there for two years. They had started the Diva Search. All the divas were coming down, training and then going to TV. I was helping teaching them how to do headlocks and stuff.”
Watching others move to television while she remained in developmental eventually caused James to question whether WWE was looking for someone with her background.
“I had moment of like, ‘Maybe this isn’t the journey for me.’ Because I chose wrestling, did all the sacrifices and finally got the job. Now I feel like I’m not who they’re looking for.”
James recalled discussing her frustrations with Tommy Dreamer, who was her boss at the time, and telling him that she was seriously considering quitting.
“I remember talking to Dreamer about it because he was my boss at the time. I’m like, ‘I think I’m gonna quit. I don’t know how much longer I can do this.’ I’m like sitting here, watching my friends get fired, don’t really have a backup plan.”
She continued, “Every female they’re bringing up to the show, they’re not wrestlers. They don’t want wrestlers. So I was like, ‘Maybe I’m in the wrong place. Maybe I’m doing the wrong thing. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.’”
James even took acting and modeling classes in an attempt to better fit the mold WWE appeared to be seeking at the time.
“I’d already done like some acting classes, some modeling classes so I could figure out how to be more of a Diva to try to fit into that mold. I was ready to quit.”
Dreamer encouraged her not to make a rushed decision.
“He’s like, ‘I’m gonna give you some extra time. I really want you to think about this because it would be a real shame.’”
James then went home for Christmas and had another important conversation about her future, this time with her mother.
“I remember going home that Christmas. I had a real talk with my mom. I was like, ‘Mom, I think I’m gonna quit,’” James recalled.
Her mother strongly encouraged her to reconsider after everything she had already sacrificed to pursue professional wrestling.
“She was the one who was like, ‘I think you’re making a terrible choice. You’ve dedicated a long time.’ At that point, I would have been… [It was] ’98 when I started wrestling and this must have been 2003, 2004-ish.”
James continued, “She’s like, ‘I don’t think you should do this. I think you need to really think about what you’re doing because you’re just going to give up on all this. You can do other stuff. If you want to get a great degree or something like that. Well, then go back to school. You can figure it out. But don’t give up. You’ve come too close.’”
James ultimately listened to the advice and returned with a new mindset. Rather than trying to fit into what WWE was already doing, she decided she needed to create something completely different.
“So I took my time and I did that. I was like, ‘Yeah, okay,’ and I went back,” she said. “As I was going back and during that Christmas break, I’m really thinking, ‘Okay, so I need to just come up with something that’s different. What is different than what everyone else is doing on television right now?’”
That thought process ultimately produced the “superfan” character that would introduce James to WWE audiences.
Interestingly, James originally envisioned Lita as the target of the character before the idea evolved into the storyline with Stratus.
“They used the character and then the story itself between the writers, myself and Trish, it just came together,” James said. “It was awesome. It was fun, it was fresh and it was different.”
James credited Stratus’ willingness to embrace the storyline as one of the biggest reasons it became such a success.
“She was so open to the story and to the character as well, which is why it worked. Because if she had not been into it, not been open or receptive to this new story, this new character and this kind of different type of thing, it would not have gone the way it did.”
James added, “It would have been much shorter and probably not as cool.”
Also during the interview, Mickie James detailed why she nearly said no to WWE Royal Rumble return and revealed the one condition she had before agreeing.