Trailblazing female wrestler Mickie James is set to embark on a new journey in her professional career with Ohio Valley Wrestling. James, a five-time IMPACT/TNA Knockouts Champion a five-time WWE Women’s Champion and a former Divas Champion will work in a variety of roles with the new crop of female wrestlers. James joins the team as a Creative Director, an Executive Producer, and the Head of Female Talent.
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James worked with OVW from 2004-2006 while she was part of her first developmental contract with WWE where a lot of the this generation’s greatest stars trained and worked. “To be working with OVW again in this role is a full-circle moment for me,” James said in a statement. “I owe a lot of my success to OVW and the foundation it gave me to become an 11-time Women’s World Champion. Now I get to pay it back and pay it forward in a way. I’m excited for a new year, a new vision and a bright new future with OVW in 2024.
James has long been a supporter of women’s wrestling in front of the screen and behind-the-scenes. James followed up WWE’s 2018 Evolution pay-per-view with NWA EmPowerrr in 2021. Several wrestling companies including NWA, AEW, IMPACT, AAA worked with James and independent female wrestlers to put on a marquee women’s wrestling event. James will bring back the Empower show at Starrcast Downunder in April, teaming with Oceania Pro Wrestling and GLO Sports for the second-ever Empower event.
James hasn’t appeared in a wrestling ring since October when she was defeated by IMPACT Knockouts World Champion Trinity at IMPACT Bound for Glory. Appearing on her podcast GAW in November, James revealed that while her husband, Nick Aldis, is out doing his thing on WWE SmackDown, she wanted to take a backseat for a bit. “Right now, it took me a second to come to this, but I wanted to do great business no matter what,” James said. “But right now, Nick just got a hell of an opportunity, and an opportunity that he’s waited a very, very long time to get. Between juggling both of our schedules of me being on the road, I just found myself very stressed out. I also think he’s having a really awesome opportunity, and I think that I could just sit back for a little because I don’t really have anything else to prove in this world of wrestling. Are there things that I still want to do, or if it was the right thing or the right moment, or whatever? Sure, I’m down. I’m always down to do good business, wherever that is. But I also wanted to take a space and just kind of be home and let Nick go out and do his thing as the GM of SmackDown right now, without any stress, without any worry, and knowing that I’m mom-ing at home hard.” (h/t: Fightful).
