WWE surprised a lot of fans when they not only announced Mickie James, but also acknowledged her as the current Impact Wrestling Women’s Champion as part of the returning stars for the Women’s Royal Rumble match. Most promotions have already taken part in the forbidden door idea that has wrestlers under contract with one company go and work for another promotion.
Promotions such as Impact, AEW, ROH, GCW, NJPW, and more have done this. James’ appearance will be WWE’s first attempt at it and this leaves Kofi Kingston wondering what’s next with WWE doing it. It’s something he talked about during an appearance on Rick Ucchino’s Pro Wrestling podcast.
“I love it. ‘The forbidden door is open, oh my god, can we talk about this company.’ I’ll be honest, I was really surprised at that because we as a company have not really opened that forbidden door, like ever. There are other companies that have explored that, but it’s really exciting.”
He noted for James to be the first one is so like Mickie and he loves it as he considers her to be like an older sister to him throughout his career.
“I was happy when I heard that and I think a lot of the fans were happy too, because now the intrigue is there, right? Like what other doors are we gonna open? Who else is gonna be there? Like now you really have your eyes on the Royal Rumble because I think that we’ve done a great job in bringing people back from the past who have been with WWE. That’s one of the main things of the Royal Rumble. One of the main levels of intrigue and excitement that the Royal Rumble brings. It just gives a whole new level because you really have no idea. It can literally be anybody, from anywhere, coming in at any time. I’m really excited about the Rumble.”
It should be noted that WWE has worked with Impact in the past by sending Christian to a TNA PPV in exchange for Ric Flair to be inducted into the Hall Of Fame. They’ve also used footage from Impact for documentaries. It’s not likely WWE will work with AEW as they recently took a shot at the rival promotion.
You can watch the entire interview here (Kingston’s comments can be found at the 10:00 mark).
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Rick Ucchino’s Pro Wrestling podcast with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription
