Following the announcement of an all women’s NWA pay-per-view, the show’s Executive Producer Mickie James confirmed that she won’t be stepping inside the ropes.
The monumental announcement came on the NWA POWERRR after When Our Shadows Fall, with Billy Corgan making the announcement as James appeared on NWA as the event was confirmed.
The event – named NWA EMPOWERRR – will take place in St. Louis, Missouri and is one of two PPVs the promotion will host across the weekend with NWA 73, celebrating the anniversary of the historic promotion, will take place at the iconic Chase Ballroom.
James later appeared on the NWA Powerrr post-show, and discussed how the show came together.
“It’s a pretty amazing thing. Billy and I have always been friends, we go back a long time, and I wanted to find something that felt right for me. I’ve talked and thought about wrestling here or there and doing all these things. I did that the last time, I made the rounds and it’s awesome, and I might still do some of that stuff, but I wanted to do something that I could really sink my heart and teeth in. This is ours and mine. I’m still an independent contractor, but I’m building a brand and a company. It’s something cool and has been needed for a long time. I tried to do it and now I have an opportunity to do it and build my vision,”
Following her release by WWE in April, the former WWE Women’s Champion revealed that she pitched the idea for an all-female brand. However, James said that the pitch was rejected because she was told that “women’s wrestling doesn’t make money.”
Looking ahead to the new pay-per-view, Mickie James said that it was an opportunity to grow women’s wrestling.
“There will be tons of opportunities to build women’s wrestling the right way. In 80 years of wrestling on television, we’ve only seen it from a male perspective. We’ve only seen female storylines from a male perspective. That’s okay and how we got here, but in this day and age, there are an immense amount of uber-talented women who know how to make money in this business that can really help build the foundation and be that core that helps grow women’s wrestling as a whole.”
.@NWA has announced an all-women’s pay-per-view for August 28th with @MickieJames working as an executive producer for the event.
Absolutely incredible! 🙌🏻 pic.twitter.com/nlQmopikg5
— Gary Cassidy (@TheGaryCassidy) June 8, 2021
While James will work as an Executive Producer on NWA POWERRR, she dismissed suggestions that she will appear in the ring at the show. However, she didn’t rule out getting involved in the action the following night on NWA 73.
“I don’t have intentions of wrestling on my show. I’m not in here to go into business for myself and wrestle all my favorite people on my own show. That doesn’t make sense. Plus, how can I run a show if I’m in the ring? Perhaps, there might be a chance to do something on the NWA show. You never know,”
Meanwhile, following NWA’s move to FITE TV, Inside The Ropes recently learned that the promotion’s subscription rate is “far exceeding” the expectations of the global streaming company – both in terms of subscriptions and revenue. FITE TV will host both NWA EMPOWERRR and NWA 73.