All parties involved struggled with the feud, says James.
In 2009, Mickie James was involved in a controversial storyline with former WWE Divas Champions Michelle McCool and Layla, in which the pair targeted James with a barrage of fat-shaming and other humiliating acts, often referring to her as ‘Piggy James’.
Appearing on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Mickie James reflected on the storyline, noting that while she initially had concerns about the company’s intentions with the direction of the feud, she ultimately chose to make the most of it as a story against bullying.
“Especially at a time in my career where I felt like I was being kind of punished on a professional level, so I wasn’t sure how much of that was, ‘Does the company truly think this about me? Is someone saying this in creative and they just think it’s funny, and let’s see how this plays out on TV, or is this just a storyline?’ I think, if nothing else, that’s where I had to put my ego aside and I was like, ‘You know what? I don’t care what I’m going to do, because this is powerful, and we’ve all been bullied, and there’s been moments’ — I think we all struggled with it, doing it in the moment. And I was like, ‘No, what we’re going to do is we’re going to go out there and we’re going to make it gold, and we’re going to make it better than they ever expected.’ And it did. And not only did it really land in the hearts of a lot of people, I have people that still come to me about that whole story and how much it helped them.”
-Mickie James
Michelle McCool revealed earlier this year that she hated the storyline, which received the Wrestling Observer Newsletter‘s Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic Award in 2009.
Elsewhere during the interview, Mickie James revealed that she still feels as though she could get back into the ring. You can read more about that here.
James also claimed that her husband Nick Aldis’ in-ring career is far from over. You can read more about that here.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on the future of Mickie James as soon as we hear more.
