It doesn’t get much bigger than Impact Wrestling’s Slammiversary, and this year the company is going even bigger, as Impact celebrates its 20-year anniversary. The company will celebrate the arrival of TNA, its transformation into the Impact Wrestling of today, and everything in between, and you can’t tell that story without multi-time Knockouts World Champion Mickie James. James will play a pivotal role in the highly anticipated Queen of the Mountain match, the first-ever match of its kind in Impact Wrestling, and ComicBook.com had the chance to talk to her all about her role in the match, Impact’s 20-year journey, and more.
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impact has changed quite a bit from those early TNA days, and James remembers what it was like when TNA first arrived on the wrestling scene and had it affected her career and journey towards the multi-time Champion she would ultimately become.
“Oh my gosh. Obviously, Impact has had its ebbs and flows and ups and downs and all around, but I started as little Alexis Laree in this company at the Nashville Fairgrounds. And I remember when the company first started, and everybody was so excited because there was this new company, and it was giving new opportunities for talent that wasn’t getting seen or had those opportunities before,” James said. “And I often think back and go, ‘I wonder what my career would’ve looked like without the start of Impact Wrestling?’ Because I feel like that… I had had multiple tryouts with WWE at that point. I think that’s what really put them on, my work with Impact at the time, because I was working with Raven and I got to sit under his learning tree, and working with Jeff Jarrett, and I had the opportunity to be the first woman and the first woman for a decade that had ever done the Clockwork Orange House of Fun match. And I think it’s those opportunities that honestly got WWE to take a look at me.”
“And the second time I came back, to rebrand and really reinvent myself as hardcore country Mickie James and become pretty much my most authentic self, the closest to what I was in real life. It was refreshing, and it was amazing, and it was really cool because I got opportunities like the main event of the show in the cage match against Tara. So yeah, I think that was amazing,” James said. “But then after that, I had an opportunity to perhaps be a Champion again at Impact. And I did, and I had the Texas death match against Deonna, and she came to my house and beat me up at the farm and all these things, and just this incredible almost resurgence of hardcore country all over again and what Mickie James looks like in wrestling in 2022, and it’s just not what I anticipated. And then even going to the Royal Rumble. That for me is equal to my first WrestleMania in a sense, because it was a really interesting… I won’t say a bookend, but it was almost an exclamation point because I always thought that hardcore country, that the WWE audience or that audience would really love that character. And I never had a chance to present her there and I really wanted to.”
“That was so much respect and so much of a legitimate curtsy from both ends,” James said. “And I was really grateful to be the one they entrusted, both companies, that they entrusted and said, ‘We trust you that everybody’s going to win.’ And everybody won. And now the door is open for all kinds of possibilities, so it’s really amazing, and I’m just really blessed. Hashtag blessed.”
James was able to reclaim the Knockouts World Championship earlier this year, defeating Deonna Purrazzo and adding another Title reign to the already impressive resume, though she did look at it in a slightly different way than previous reigns.
“It was different, I think, because I was sitting in a different seat, and I felt like after I had left WWE this last time, I had the impression that maybe my career is done, or maybe I should… It’s time for the new generation,” James said. “I was really in this mindset of I guess I’m in that place now where I’m just there to help elevate talent, the new talent. I do believe that there is this torch passing thing, because I had the torch, I felt like, passed to me. But the people that passed that torch to me were stars, and they were treated and shown as stars. So I feel like if you’re going to pass the torch, what good is it if you’re not presented as the legend you are, passing that torch. Right?”
“The business can beat you up, and we are our worst critics, but I had felt a bit disheartened like maybe it wasn’t as important as I had assumed it was, the work that we had put in and done. And maybe my career wasn’t as special as it seemed to be. And I think this last year has proved to myself, reminded me of how important and impactful it was and the difference and the changes that we made, to where now the women can main event shows. And they are presented, at least, as equals for the most part. It was really humbling and gratifying, and it was a lot of reentering moments of… Because it’s like, oh, well, why? What’s the purpose, and does it matter? And at the end of the day, yeah. It did matter. It does matter.”
At Slammiversary the Knockouts World Championship will be on the line, with Deonna Purrazzo, Chelsea Green, Jordynne Grace, and Mia Yim all taking on Knockouts World Champion Tasha Steelz. James wasn’t about to be left out of this match though, and she revealed that she will be the special guest enforcer, and there are plenty of interesting past rivalries and friendships in the mix.
“I want to talk about the Queen of Mountain match because I’ve been sitting back since I lost the Championship from Tasha. I was able to have all these incredible matches with Deonna, and then out of the woodwork, here comes Tasha Steelz, ready to make a name for herself, and she has. She’s stepped up to the plate, and I feel like she’s absolutely delivered and she’s an incredible Champion. But for three months I’m going, what is next for Mickie James? Because I’ve been able to do so much, and I don’t have a clear answer as to what that is. But I also was like, I can’t let Slammiversary, after so much history and where hardcore country was born, happen at Nashville fairgrounds, where I showed up 20 years ago as little Alexis Laree and walked down to the White Trash Cafe with my ticket from catering, and all the things of where this all began, this whole journey began. I cannot let this be 35 minutes from my house and I’m not there,” James said.
“So I’m going to be there, and I’m going to let you know that I’ve already talked to Gail about it. I’m going to be the special enforcer of this Queen of the Mountain match. Obviously, I have history with Deonna, history with Tasha, and also history with Chelsea Green. I don’t have any history with Jordynne or Mia, welcome back, Mia, but I love and respect both of those women. And I just want to make sure, because I’ve been a victim of the turncoat, and I see the writing on the wall. I just want to make sure that there are no shenanigans and everything’s on the up and up because I just want to be certain of whose ass I’m kicking next really,” James said.
You can watch the Queen of the Mountain match and the rest of the stellar card at Impact Wrestling Slammiversary, which takes place live in Nashville, TN. You can also watch it live on pay-per-view and FITE, and the action kicks off on Sunday, June 19th at 7 PM CST.
What do you want to see next for Mickie James and what match are you most excited for at Slammiversary? Let us know in the comments or as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
