Not Done Yet: Mickie James Details ACL Injury and the Road Back!

Mickie James has survived 20-years in the pro wrestling business, and she doesn’t plan on letting her recent injury end her career.

Mickie James career into the wrestling world dates back to 1999. In October of 2005 she got her big break and was added to the main roster in the WWE. At WrestleMania 22 she captured the WWE Women’s Championship for the first time, but definitely not the last. She had that title five more times. She also held the Divas Championship as well. James is also a 3-time TNA Knockouts Champion. Mickie’s 9-time title status between the WWE and TNA is a national record. She is also the 2-time, Pro Wrestling Illustrated “Woman of the Year!” For all she has accomplished, James couldn’t avoid the injury bug. After a brief stint on the sidelines due to vertigo, James tore her ACL in her very first match back from the vertigo episode. An injury that will sideline the WWE superstar for at least 9-months.

I recently caught up to, Mickie James who is determined not to let her ACL injury be the way her career ends, she also talks about her blossoming country music career and much more!

So sorry to hear about your knee and that you need surgery to repair your torn ACL. How is the knee doing?

Mickie James: It’s good. It is what it is. I was pretty devastated at first. I’m still walking and moving around on it. I’m getting surgery on the… well, I have to go get it looked at in Birmingham on the 15^th and then surgery on the 16^th if everything goes well. It was kind of on me and WWE was very nice to accommodate me. I just had so much going on. I’m shooting a music video on Friday, a show on Saturday here in Virginia. We are shooting the video and doing the concert as well and incorporating it all. But then I also have this big gig where I’m opening for “Big & Rich” at the RaceWay here and there will be thousands of people there. So, I just did not want to go get surgery and be on stage with crutches and a knee brace, fresh out of surgery. The timing and the way it happened and when it happened… I had so much going on in the month of June and July, I just really… after July 8^th I’m clear and I could do whatever they need me to do, but obviously we had to deal with the doctors schedule. It’s about a month out. Now I’m just eagerly waiting and muscling through it and seeing what happens.

Most athletes with the ACL tear say that they knew it right away. Did you know it as soon as it happened?

Mickie James: Oh, I knew right away. It was actually my first physical match back because I had a little spell where I was out a few months ago with vertigo. I had just come back like a month before WrestleMania; which obviously was impeccable timing because it was the month before WrestleMania. I was just waiting and then we did the brand switch. We actually had some really cool ideas for some legit different type of comeback to do. I had asked to be put on the road because I felt like I had been off for so long. It was like four months, so I wanted to get on the road, and I wanted to work and just knock the rust off and make sure that I feel good. It doesn’t matter how much cardio you do, it’s not the same of having a ten-minute match, you know what I mean?

It’s definitely not the same.

Mickie James: So, my very first match back in Waco, Texas, freaking tore my ACL. And I knew it immediately and it was on something so freak. I was wrestling, Carmella. I had her in this hold, and she went to roll me off and I guess I thought that she was rolling me off one way and she thought she was rolling me off the other way. So, when I went to pivot and turn as I launched off my foot, I felt it. And it went, “Pop.” It was like a legit pop. I felt it in the back of my knee and through my whole leg. I said, “Ah, my knee, my knee.” The ref was like, “Oh my God are you okay?” and I said, “Yeah, I’m fine and then I went to go stand up and it buckled again.

For me, it wasn’t like… maybe I just have a strong threshold for pain or I don’t know what. It’s not that it didn’t hurt, it was just more like my adrenaline was going and I just wanted to finish the match. When I went to go stand up and it buckled again, I was like, “Just give me a minute. Give me a second,” and he was like, “No-no-no, and rang the bell. And I’m like, “Noooo!” It was like a movie scene (laughing); long dramatic noooo. I was hot in the moment, just because me as a performer, I hate to end a match like that. I know how I am. I know I could have muscled through another two-minutes or so, but who’s to say what additional damage I would have done to my knee, so he absolutely made the right call. I’m glad he was out there to make that call because that’s not something I would have done. I would have kept going; unless it was life or death and my leg was broken in half or something crazy.

Some athletes have to be saved from themselves.

Mickie James: For sure! We are a stubborn breed. We very much are. And sometimes we put the game or the end result, whatever that is, above our own health or safety. We do it every day we step out in that ring. We put the want and the desire to entertain over our own safety and our own lives because we know every time you step out there that there is a chance that you could get seriously hurt. We have seen it happen, yet we still do it because we love it. I walked all the way back by myself. I mean they tried to help, but I was like, “Get off me!” I was so pissed and angry. I had my angry limpy walk all the way to the back. I was like, “I can’t believe it.” But everything happens for a reason, it is what it is, and it sucks. Fortunately, for me this is my first real… I’ve had injuries before, but nothing that has kept me out this long. Aside from, straining my neck or separated shoulders and stuff like that… I guess I have had some injuries now that I think about it. Just been doing it long enough to where you forget about your injuries.

Even though you know the risk is there, I’m sure you never mentally wrap your mind around the possibility of being sidelined. I’m sure you were devastated when you were given a timeline.

Mickie James: Oh gosh! Especially because, like I said, my pain tolerance is high, I was selling it. I’m not saying it didn’t hurt at all, but it wasn’t killing me. I feel like I’ve worked through worse. They thought it was just a meniscus tear. So, initially they told me that it was going to be like 6-8 weeks, I was already irritated. I just came back and another 6-8 weeks. We were just talking about relaunching this character and everything else. So, I was annoyed at that. Then we they said they were still sending me to get an MRI, they wanted to send me back home to Virginia for the MRI. But I knew I had to go to Nashville because it was the “CMT Awards,” and “CMA Music Fest,” I was doing a gig at, John Rich’s bar during the “CMA Music Fest, which was fun and exciting. I had a lot going on.

I asked them to fly me to Nashville instead and have it done there instead of flying-flying-flying with my knee swollen already. So, they did that, and I literally didn’t get a chance to buckle my seatbelt in the car when the doctor called me and was like, “Are you sitting down,” “Yeah!” “Well, I hate to be the one to tell you…” and I already knew by the way he set up the call, and how quick it was that it was not good. He was like, “Yeah, I don’t even understand how you’re walking right now and you’re not in an excruciating amount of pain because your knee is jacked. It’s not just your meniscus, it’s your ACL and you got some other stuff going on in there. I’d like to get a second opinion.” He wanted me to go see the doctor in Birmingham who specializes in that kind of stuff. I was like, “What do you mean?” “You’re going to need surgery is what I mean and you’re going to be out for a while.” I’m like, “How long is a while?” “Projection 9-months.” I’m like, “Oh my God, 9-months?” In my mind I’m thinking, that’s the rest of my contract. So, I’m just going to fulfill my contract being on the injured list? That sucks because that’s not how I wanted it to be.

I have just kind of gotten at peace with it and fortunately they are obviously going to take care of me and make sure I’m healthy. I’ll still be able to come back in 9-months and hopefully do something really amazing because I don’t expect any less of myself. And in the meantime, I have a lot of other things that I am working on and need to do and maybe it will give me a little more time to focus on some of that stuff that I’ve been putting on the backburner. Or, I could just be home and be a mom for the summer, and a wife and do those kinds of things. Maybe go on vacation because I don’t know what that is.

I was actually going to ask you, how do you juggle the schedule of wrestling, working out, being a mother and wife as well as now a country music career? When do you sleep?

Mickie James: I’m a good sleeper. I don’t fall asleep easily unless I’m exhausted, but once I’m sleep, it’s good sleep. I sleep hard. But honestly, it takes a village. I have an amazing team. Aside from my husband and my family, who without their help I couldn’t do what I do and raise my son to how I would want him raised. He’s got such structure and stability here and I’m so grateful for that. That’s why I live in Virginia to be close to my family because my husband’s family is in England, so it’s a little bit more difficult. He still goes back and sees them 3 or 4 times a year and will go over for a week at a time. He’s still very close to them and gets to see his family over there, but without my family, my friends and everyone here… because my husband travels a lot too and he works on the road as well. It takes a village. Outside of that, from my music team to Cathy [Cardenas] my publicist, to my band and everyone that helps me run the ship. I couldn’t do it by myself. I’m standing on the wings of everyone else, that’s for sure.

Does it help being married to, Nick [Aldis] because he understands not only the busy schedule of pro wrestling, but the sacrifices as well?

Mickie James: Oh absolutely! I think it’s a blessing and a curse isn’t it. It’s a blessing because he understands the grind, he understands the road, he understands everything because he comes from the world. But sometimes it can be a little bit of a struggle too because he’s just as busy as me at times and we’re trying to figure out the best avenue with, Donovan is and making sure one person’s career is not impeding on another person’s career. As far as in the wrestling world, he’s got many more years left to make his mark and make a lot of money in the business than I want to. Fortunately for me, I’ve been very blessed to be able to make my mark and do so much. I could honestly walk away from the building tomorrow and feel satisfied and know that I’ve done a whole lot. Not that I want to do that because I’m not ready to do that. There is still more that I want to do; 3 more titles I want to win.

Six is not enough. I understand (laughing).

Mickie James: (Laughing).

You have been in the business for 20-years. What would you say have been the keys to your longevity because not everyone could survive the wrestling business for that amount of time?

Mickie James: I think the relationships that I built and the trust. I’ve been able to have some amazing matches with some of the best women all over the world. I’ve maintained by being very transparent. I try to be very honest. I don’t want to take advantage of anyone. I have never been that way. I’ve never wanted anything off of someone else’s back. I worked hard for everything that I have, I earned everything that I got, the hard way and the long way. But I feel like it’s gained me so much more respect. Not just in the female locker room, but in the men’s locker room too because everyone knows how hard I have worked and how long it took me to get there. The obstacles that I had to overcome and if they don’t know they could assume because they know how that world is.

I think it’s my love for it, my passion for it and my desire to be the best that I can be or one of the best in the world. Also, to better the business and to make it to where it’s better for the next generation and the generation after that. You make a lot of friends and you can make a lot of enemies and one thing you have to remember is, not everybody is your friend and not everybody is your enemy. You are only as good as the person you are standing across the ring from and you have to trust that person whether you like them or you don’t and I try not to step in the ring with people who I don’t like or trust.

I’m sure you are comfortable performing in front of thousands in a wrestling arena, but are you still nervous doing concerts and singing in front of large crowds?

Mickie James: I get nervous every time I go out there. I get nervous every time I go out on stage and I still get nervous every time I gotta go out there and cut a promo; speaking. I get anxious and a little bit nervous. I don’t get really nervous because I’m very confident in my abilities as a performer. So, I don’t get nervous like, “Oh, I hope I don’t mess this up,” it’s more about knowing what I expect out of myself. I want it to be better than great. Every match that I have… I never go into a match like, “Oh yeah, this will be okay.” I don’t want that match. I’d rather just not have a match at all. I want those, “Follow that,” to whoever is after me. Those are the type of matches that I want to have and that I try to have. I want those kinds of matches out of the person standing across the ring from me. I want to wrestle people that want to make that type of magic.

I appreciate your time, good luck with surgery and rehab and your concerts and everything else you have going on. You are a busy person. Is there anything you want to add?

Mickie James: Ah, thank you so much. I was just going to say, it was ironic, the day after I found out about my MRI and I’m balling my eyes out in the radiology parking lot trying to find my phone and figure out how to navigate to Fed Ex, I couldn’t even… I was a hot mess. I was in Nashville and I just hit up my buddy, Sean who I write with. We have written a couple of songs together off of this last album and I’m working on the next project already. I was like, “Hey, can we write a song?” I was in town for Smackdown. I said, “I was supposed to be at work today, but I can’t because I tore my ACL,” and he was like, “Holy shit!” I was like, “You want to write a song,” and he was like, “Yeah sure.” I go to the studio and I’m writing with him and, Greg the drummer from, “Two Doors Down.” We wrote a bad ass song. It’s funny how, God… or whatever you want to call him or her works in mysterious and magical ways. You feel something happen and it feels so devastating and then five minutes later, something so great and shining happens. You just don’t know. Just stop feeling like something is the end of the world because it never is because there is always tomorrow and there is always a new opportunity that you wouldn’t fathom as possible.

Featured image Courtesy of WWE

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