Mickie James and Gail Kim have spoken about it but Mickie weighs in on what it would take for Gail to come back.
On Friday, January 13th, Mickie James will be going into IMPACT Wrestling’s Hard To Kill pay-per-view to challenge Jordynne Grace for the Knockouts World Championship.
James has been in the midst of her ‘Last Rodeo’ and if she loses to Grace, her career as an in-ring performer will be over. To promote the pay-per-view match, James made the media rounds and one of the outlets she guest appeared for is the Alliance Pro Wrestling Network.
The question came up of how much would James campaign to get a match with Gail Kim if Kim came out of retirement. Mickie said she would ‘campaign hard’ but Gail’s not coming out of retirement, adding that she’s already asked her to.
Very hard (is how much I would campaign for Gail Kim to come out of retirement). Very, very hard I would campaign. Okay, Gail is not coming out of retirement to wrestle anyone. I’ve already asked her (James laughed). No, I’m just kidding — I mean I have, of course I’ve asked her. I’m like, ‘Come on Gail.’ But I think that Gail and it’s a lot of this, even ‘The Last Rodeo’ was a conversation and even talking to Gail of, you know, how do you want your career to be remembered? And even to come out of retirement, I think the first time for her was like, it’s gonna have to be something remarkable, it’s gonna have to be something good because once you’ve done something so special to end your career, unless it was something you weren’t proud of, unless it was something that you were just like, uh… You’re not gonna come back for anything that’s not gonna top it or be better than and I’m sure it’s a match that and things that people want to see but at the same time, we are at that stage and she’s very smart, she’s behind the scenes and the head of the Knockouts and everything now but, you know, that it takes a little bit more toll on your body. You have to get ready a little longer because you know, genetics and metabolism and just everything is different. It’s all different and I’ve still been training this whole time and maintaining steady in the ring and she hasn’t wrestled in a long time so it would take a certain amount of training for her to even get ready for the ring for her to feel like, okay, I can go now. Ring wind and running on the treadmill are two different animals. So, yeah. But I would, I’ll always say ‘yes’ to Gail.
In an interview that Deonna Purrazzo did in December, she suggested the idea of doing a Casket match with Mickie.
James responded by saying she’s already beaten Purrazzo three times but if she wants to go again and be buried alive, James is all for it. She did add that it would make sense for their story and went on to praise Deonna as a talent.
I did see that (Deonna Purrazzo saying she wants to have a Casket match with me)… Well anything is possible, this is professional wrestling. Anything is possible. I was under the impression that just like baseball, three strikes, you’re out Deonna. I’ve beaten you three times now, three times. But if I have to beat you a fourth and bury you alive, I guess that’s fine. That’s very dark isn’t it? The Casket match. I don’t like closed-in spaces. I don’t even like being shoulder to shoulder with people. I don’t know how I’m gonna do in a casket so I will not be getting in this Casket (James laughed). No, that’s awesome. I’d never even thought about that before but it makes sense. It would make sense in the story that is Deonna and I, who has challenged me — I mean honestly, she’s been one of my greatest opponents of all time honestly and I’ve never not said she’s one of the greatest women I’ve ever been in the ring with because she’s phenomenal, she really is. She’s a natural.
To get a recap of the most recent episode of IMPACT Wrestling on AXS, check out POST Wrestling’s coverage of the show at this link.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit the Alliance Pro Wrestling Network with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
