Following her return to the main roster at last week’s Smackdown Live, Mickie James appeared on the Lilian Garcia: Making Their Way to the Ring podcast. She talked about her previous WWE run, calling WWE within the past year inquiring about a job with them, her previous relationship with John Cena and whether she thinks it will be difficult working with him, her husband Nick Aldis, and much more.
AfterBuzz issued the following:
LOS ANGELES, CA – New SmackDown Live Superstar Mickie James is the special guest on Lilian Garcia: Making Their Way to the Ring this week, talking about her past and future with WWE, answering whether she requested a return to the company, and much more. Mickie is asked if she wants husband Magnus to join her at WWE and if it will be difficult working with ex-boyfriend John Cena and Nikki Bella, while revealing why she believes Kenny Dykstra lied about their relationship.
Highlights from Mickie’s interview are below:
Mickie on why she misses women’s gimmick matches: Me being a wrestler, I love the fact that it’s evolving in where we’re taking women’s wrestling very seriously, and it’s a sport and it’s competitive, and we’re just as good as the guys. I love that. Me as the fan goes, I grew up with the evening gown matches and these gimmicky matches. But by the time they got to those points there was a whole story that had happened prior to them wanting to get in an evening gown and one of them get their gown ripped off. So I found them entertaining as a fan. It’s different when you’re a part of them obviously, when we’re doing the bikini battles royals and there’s water guns and you’re like slipping up and you’re like, ahhh!
Mickie reveals her original pitch for the obsessed fan storyline was different from what fans saw: I had actually written that character and written that storyline, because I didn’t know Trish [Stratus], I love Trish but I didn’t know Trish as a person. But I did know Amy [Dumas]. I did know Lita. So I called her and I was like, are you OK if I write this storyline, if I just pitch it with you or whatever? Because you don’t want to just pitch this idea out to somebody and they’re like, I frickin’ hate it man. Why would you even pitch it? So she was totally cool with it. She was like, yeah man I don’t care, whatever. She was a heel at the time and so it really didn’t make sense to do with her. But she was who I knew and I felt comfortable. It would’ve been cool. It would’ve been different. It would’ve thrown a different edge on it.
If it’s difficult being in the same business as husband Magnus: He’s a good man. He’s so sweet and understanding. You know this business is hard, especially with two people in the same industry…It’s one of those things. Luckily he’s secure enough in himself and he’s very smart and very savvy outside the world of wrestling as well. He’s an author, so he writes a column. He’s on his second book. He’s really into fitness and so I think that definitely helps. Wrestling isn’t both of our entire worlds. It’s always hard, even when he was on TV and he was the champion, and I was sitting at home twiddling my fingers. It’s a hard balance.
Would Mickie like to see him in the WWE?: Absolutely, I would. I think he’s mega talented. This is not just from me being biased. This is from me seeing him as a performer and as an actor, as an everything. I just think he has all the tools. I think he’s an excellent talker. He’s an excellent performer. That would be amazing.
Mickie says she had been calling WWE in hopes of returning: I had been doing that. About a year before that I had been doing that a couple of times. I think I talked to you about it a little bit too, and I’m just like, aw maybe they just don’t want me. Maybe it’s not my time kind of thing. It wasn’t until I just kind of let it go and…I’m sitting in Orlando airport, waiting for our flight and [Mark] Carrano calls me and I’m like , are you serious right now? Are you ribbing me?!
If it will be difficult working with John Cena: We’re all adults, and you know obviously this business is what it is. We’ve all had our share of relationships failed. I think that being adults and being professionals…I would hope that, and I’m pretty sure that it’s going to be pretty awesome, because I’m sure that I’m going to have to work with Nikki in the ring and I know that we could do some really amazing stuff.
Her response to comments Kenny Dykstra made after they parted ways: As far as that whole thing with Ken it was a shame that he went out and said the things that he did and did that, because I feel that a lot of it was a lie and it was mostly just kind of to help his book sales or whatever the case may be. But you know, it is what it is and you know, I’m a grown up.
ABOUT THE SHOW:
For 15 years, Lilian Garcia worked with some of the best athletes in the world, the WWE Superstars. They put their bodies on the line 300+ days a year to entertain us. She loves and respects them so much, yet… she realized she didn’t know anything about them, their lives and the obstacles they broke through to get into professional wrestling! Lilian Garcia: Making Their Way To The Ring is a platform for Superstars, past, present and future, to share their story and the journey of what it takes to be a Superstar in this business. The conversations will be Real, Raw and Inspiring; offering the viewer a genuine connection to the person behind the performer. Lilian Garcia: Making Their Way To The Ring will leave you cheering and rooting for that star’s life and dreams!
ABOUT AFTERBUZZ TV:
With nearly 30 million weekly downloads from over 200 countries, AfterBuzz TV is an online broadcast network created by E! host Maria Menounos and producer Keven Undergaro. Nicknamed the ‘after show’ network, when viewers finish watching episodes of their favorite shows, they can go to AfterBuzzTV.com to watch or listen to a post-game ‘after show’ for that series. On each AfterBuzz TV after show an eclectic and knowledgeable mix of celebrities, personalities and industry professionals break down that night’s episode, take calls from fans and interview guests. The network produces over 90 after shows per week.
