In 2022 Mickie James stands as a certified legend of North American women’s wrestling. She’s a ten-time Women’s World Champion across two major companies and has held her own in the ring with some of the best female talent of the last two decades.
However, those accolades must have seemed a million miles away when James signed with WWE in 2003. After putting pen to paper on her shiny new WWE deal the would-be star was set to Ohio Valley Wrestling before finally arriving on Monday Night Raw in October 2005. Speaking in a new interview James has revealed that she almost quit the company before her main roster debut after WWE signed ‘Divas’ such as Maria Kanellis, Michelle McCool and Maryse.
Tommy Dreamer Prevented Mickie James From Leaving WWE
During an appearance on Wrestling with Rip Rogers, the IMPACT Wrestling star opened up about her mindset during this period and why she nearly walked away.
“I’m friends with all these women, you know, Candice and all these girls. But I felt like I had this moment there in OVW where I was like, ‘what the hell,’ like, ‘I’m not even what they’re looking for,’ like, ‘I’ve dedicated all this energy all my time into perfecting my craft to be the best female wrestler, hopefully, in the world or at least one of, and they don’t even want female wrestlers,’ like ‘what am I doing wrong?’ and I almost quit,”
Continuing on, Mickie James revealed that it was Tommy Dreamer who ensured she remained with WWE and made it to the main roster.
“Tommy was the Head of developmental at the time and he saved my career because he quietly told me to go on vacation to go home for a couple weeks and just reset. […] And then I came back and that’s where I had written that storyline which I originally wrote for Lita, which was this crazy stalker fan,”
Upon making her debut, James featured as a crazed fan of Trish Stratus. This culminated in a match between the pair at WrestleMania 22 which James won to claim the Women’s Championship.
H/t to Sportskeeda