Mickie James was told women's wrestling doesn't make money before her WWE release
Before her release earlier this month, someone in WWE told Mickie James that women's wrestling doesn't make money, and WWE Evolution was the company's lowest-rated pay-per-view ever.
Mickie James had a lot to say today on GAW TV with Lisa Marie Varon and So Cal Val. During the show, James revealed that she pitched numerous ideas to WWE before her release that never came to fruition, including an all-female brand.
"Anything I've pitched, they weren't into it. I wanted to find a balance in between," Mickie James said. "There was this moment where I said, 'What if we do an all-female brand?' If I could help lead up that and have an awesome team of women....we have the talent, tools, and facilities. It would really help all the girls who are not getting television time. This one person says to me, 'They're never going to do it. Ever. Women's wrestling doesn't make money. WWE Evolution was the lowest-rated PPV ever in WWE. I get what you're trying to do, but I don't understand why you're fighting so hard for it. You should play the cards you're dealt and see if there's a way to incorporate that within a show rather than fight for it to be its own show.' I just realized that every decision they do, a lot of it is business and how it falls in line with business. I'm just disappointed as a whole with being made to feel old with Depends and a walker and the whole ageism thing. I think we missed out on a lot of moments."
Mickie James says WWE still employs the person who devalued her
Mickie James claimed that Vince McMahon called her personally afterward the trash bag incident last week to provide assurances that it wasn't what he thought of her.
"I felt because I was asking for this one thing, it was going to come with a price," James continued. "I'm not saying that's from Vince because he's always been respectful to me. He called me on the phone to apologize for this incident and to let me know that this isn't what he thought of me. I tagged Vince because he needs to know. There's a lot of stuff that happens under his nose that he is oblivious to because he's running a multi-billion dollar company. The small-minded mentality sometimes leads to thoughtless behavior. Especially for me, to constantly be presented as old, when I'm 41 years old and every single male champion has always been my same age or older and has been glorified for those reasons. As they should be, they're amazing. Why is it different for women or for me? Ageism is a real thing and it's bulls***."
On a sad note, Mickie James revealed that the company still employs the person responsible for sabotaging her last WWE run.
"The fans were way more offended than I was," James said." The person who is responsible for me feeling like s*** and trying to devalue me or sabotage me or make me feel less than is still very much employed."
What do you make of Mickie James' comments? Let us know by sounding off in the comments section below.
Thanks to Fightful for the transcription of this podcast.