"I wish I had done that my entire career" - Former Women's Champion reflects on her 2023 WWE Royal Rumble appearance

WWE Royal Rumble 2023 was on the lower end of surprise returns this year. However, Michelle McCool's entry was among the few crowd-pleasing moments of the match.

McCool got up from the crowd and climbed over the barricade following the reveal while wearing her sweatpants and Uggs.

The former WWE Women's Champion's entry was a genuine surprise to many. Speaking on Busted Open Radio, McCool revealed that wrestling in Uggs was something she wished she had done her entire career.

"I wish I had done that my entire career," she said about wrestling in her Uggs. "If I could have wrestled in sweats and Uggs my entire career, that would have been perfect. People don't know, I literally wear Uggs every day. I work out in them, I coach my daughter's sports in them. I wear them in the dead heat of summer in Texas. I love Uggs. I literally live in them. I didn't even think about not wrestling in my Uggs." [H/T: Fightful]

She further went on to talk about how her Rumble appearance came together:

"There was a little bit of an uproar on the internet, power to the people, they kept asking if I was going to be there and I was not lying. I was like, 'Nope. I'll be there, but I'll be there with my daughter and watching.' She loves it, and it's right down the road, we had planned on going anyway because [Undertaker's] show was the night before. I wasn't lying. 'They didn't call me.' I would have loved to, being in Texas, my home state. It was Thursday night, I got a call, nine days before the Rumble, asking me to wrestle. [...] 'Just pull out some old ring gear.'" [H/T: Fightful]

When her music hit as she was sitting in the front row, @McCoolMichelleL was ready to put on a show in front of her family and her home state. #RoyalRumble https://t.co/xgeqHkzE1i

Michelle McCool on the WWE Divas era getting skipped over

The 43-year-old officially retired from the in-ring competition after losing a No Disqualification contest to Layla at WWE Extreme Rules 2011. The bout was one of the better women's matches during the Divas era.

While speaking to Busted Open Radio, Michelle recalled the contest and how fans tended to skip over this time period prior to the Women's Evolution.

"You hear about the Women's Evolution and of course, you hear about the Attitude Era with Trish and Lita and Jazz and Ivory and Victoria which all were amazing, obviously. Then our little Diva era kind of just gets skipped over," said McCool. [H/T: WrestlingNews]

As for her last match in WWE, the former Divas Champion had this to say:

"We had to fight and claw. I think even on my retirement match, I think we were given 12 minutes with entrances. So probably, you know, nine minutes of wrestling, and we thought that was a rib, like, we're getting this much time, because normally we had two or three." [H/T: WrestlingNews]

Real talk….thank YOU @WWEUniverse !Y’all legit did this and I love you for it!I’ve never felt so loved💙Because of y’alls messages to @wwe & @TripleH the last 2 weeks, I got the call…9 days before the Rumble(I wasn’t lying when I told y’all I hadn’t gotten the call yet)🤣🫶🏽💙 https://t.co/1RGJb00GwQ

Michelle McCool and Layla were two of the top names alongside Mickie James during the Divas era between 2009-11.