Mickie James recently spoke with Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT and confirmed that her recent match with RAW Women’s Champion Asuka ended awkwardly because the referee thought she was hurt.
Last week’s title match ended out of nowhere after the referee called the match while the two grappled on the mat. It was then announced that the referee ruled that James could no longer continue. Later in the week it was reported that the decision was made to call the match due to concern over James possibly suffering an injury, and that original plans had Asuka winning by submission with the Asuka Lock.
Mickie told talkSPORT that the referee called the match because he thought she could not continue.
“I honestly don’t know,” Mickie said when asked about the finish. “I rolled back to count – one, two – there was no count. So she obviously went to go and lock back in the Asuka lock and I think in those moments, here’s the thing: it is a dangerous sport.
“We have to be very careful. The refs do their job and kind of their job is to protect us and make sure it never goes too far or no one ever gets hurt. So he made his decision based on what he thought was a reality, that I was hurt or I couldn’t continue and that’s unfortunate for me.”
Mickie clarified that she felt like she could continue the match.
“I felt like I could continue and it’s an unfortunate loss,” she said. “But, it’s not a real loss let’s face it. It was the final decision, what can I do? Except go in there a throw a fit on Monday!”
The recent report on concern for Mickie’s condition indicated that people backstage may have been worried about a potential injury as well. Mickie talked more about the concern and the company trying to protect her.
“In that moment it’s very hard for them to tell whether you are hurt or not,” she said. “It can’t just be his call either. It must have been whoever thought I was hurt. They’re just trying to protect me and keep me safe because concussions are a real thing. What we do as a sport is very dangerous.
“So if somebody gets a concussion, not only can they not wrestle the rest of that match, but they could possibly never wrestle again depending on how bad it is, same with football. So we have to be careful with that and I get it. It was unfortunate for me and stinky, but I’m fine. My nose hurts a little bit from that knee lift, I’ll be honest [laughs].”
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