New IMPACT Knockouts champion Mickie James recently appeared on Busted Open Radio to discuss her return to the promotion following her release from WWE earlier in the year. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
Talks becoming Knockouts champion once again:
“It feels so good. Honestly, I didn’t think it would matter as much to me as it did in that sense, because I have been a champion several times and I’ve had such a tenured career. We’re always, we go ‘oh I don’t need the championship. I’ve done so much.’ There was nothing sweeter than winning the championship. I haven’t won a championship in eight years. My last championship as actually, the championship at Impact that I lost against ODB. So when I think about that, I’m going ‘wow, it’s kind of a long time.’ I’ve done a lot, but not really for me, you know what I mean? It was a great moment, it was a really, really great moment. It was powerful, and it felt good. It felt good.”
On getting to work with Deonna Purrazzo:
“It was so special. It really, really was so special. That’s kind of what I meant. In those last eight years and all the things that I have done, and I’ve done some really cool stuff. But for the most part, it was for everybody else. I didn’t really do anything for myself. That was a choice, and I was so happy to be back where I was. There’s just so much more layers to it now. How I left and all the things, but then I did EmPowerrr. I was able to head up EmPowerrr and that was really cool. And then to come back and have a chance at having a championship again and I go ‘actually, this is a real chance to actually have a shot at the championship again.’ Then Saturday was beautiful. The people were behind me and to have that real love behind me, for them to be on fire and with it all night. To have a ‘this is awesome!’ chant. And there’s no doubt that Deonna is probably one of the best wrestlers I’ve ever been in the ring with. Not just today, but legit that I’ve ever been in the ring with. She is incredible. She is incredible out there. I knew I was going to be up for a fight, and I think that has been the major question from the audience, from whoever. ‘Mickie is amazing and a legend, but can she really hang with someone like Deonna?’ The answer is yes, I can hang with someone like Deonna, because there wouldn’t be a Deonna without Mickie James. That’s the reality. And not just me, and I don’t just put myself. But I can still go. I never stopped going. What happened was I just became less selfish and started doing more for other people than for myself. And this one wasn’t a selfish move, but it felt good. It felt good to win again and to remind myself that I can win and it’s okay to be awesome. And I don’t have to apologize for it.”
(H/T and transcribed by Wrestling Inc.)
