Mickie James wants to keep helping younger talent once she retires from in-ring competition.
James has been wrestling for over 20 years, and she's currently on her "Last Rodeo", where she will retire after her next loss. The next chapter of this journey will come at IMPACT Bound For Glory, where she'll take on Mia Yim. Given her lengthy career, it's natural to wonder how she'd like to see her journey proceed once she stops wrestling.
During the Bound For Glory Press Pass, James was asked whether she sees herself continuing on in the wrestling business in some way after she retires from in-ring competition. When asked to name the roles that interest her the most, she noted that they all do because she has experience in a number of positions.
“All of them. I love every, and that’s kind of the beautiful thing, I’ve dedicated over half my life to this business. In that time, I’ve really tried to learn as much as I can about every aspect of the business, from behind the scenes, I’ve been a commentator, I’ve been a producer, I’ve been a trainer. I’ve been a lot of things. There’s a unique sense of joy that I get from each of those things. I could see myself as a manager, I could see myself as a commentator, I could see myself behind the scenes," James said.
The veteran emphasized that she's passionate about storytelling and character development, and she feels that a lot of younger talent needs guidance in these areas. She noted that she'd like to share her knowledge with the next generation and help them.
"What I really love is part of the creative process and to help people find and fine tune, whether it be their promos or the character development, and storylines. I’ve always been, even as a fan, I love wrestling. But it wasn’t the wrestling that made me fall in love with wrestling. It was the storylines and the characters, and so that’s really where my heart mostly is. I feel like that’s where I lot of younger talent need the most kind of guidance because they’re been trained on wrestling, but it’s hard to teach character development and that on switch. It’s hard to define, and I love helping the future. I’m grateful that I have hopefully a little bit of knowledge to share with them. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, I’ve had a lot of successes, but I’ve also made a lot of mistakes. I know people are gonna make their own mistakes and learn from their own mistakes, but perhaps if I can streamline that for them so they don’t make as many and it shortens up that journey for them to get the top, then that might be pretty awesome. I think I would find a genuine reward in that as well," James said.
During the same call, James described how she wants to deliver some of her best work during her "Last Rodeo." More information is available here.
The updated card for IMPACT Bound For Glory can be found here.
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