Mickie James was announced as Asuka’s opponent for NXT Takeover: Toronto. It may be the start of many new opponents for Asuka, who has more or less cleared the current NXT Women’s division.
Mickie James is making a return after being away from the WWE for almost six years. She recently did an interview with WWE.com about her return and the following are some of the highlights from the same:
On how the opportunity came about:
“I was sitting in the airport in Orlando, Florida, on my way to the UK, where I’ve been for almost a month now. I got the call from WWE and they asked me if I was interested.
I know who Asuka is, I’ve seen her work in Japan and NXT. She is incredibly talented. It’s cool to see someone come up and make an impact. I think for her, it’s even harder because there’s the language barrier. But she’s this mystical kind of person. “
Mickie claimed that she appreciated the WWE’s gesture of calling her back to face Asuka and that she intended to tear the house down at Toronto:
“For them to even consider me to come back and face her and, hopefully, tear the house down, is pretty awesome. It made me feel like a million bucks. I want to go in there and take it to the next level and give the people everything that they want and more.”
Her impression of the NXT Women’s Champion Asuka:
“I think she’s fascinating. She has such an amazing presence. That’s one of those things you can’t teach people. Then, she gets it done in the ring.”
James went on to admit that she was well aware of the tremendous success that Asuka had in Japan, and recognised that Asuka’s popularity didn’t require her coming to WWE. She, however, credited Asuka on being smart enough to understand the importance of the WWE for extending her popularity as a household name.
On her training for Toronto, Mickie was quoted as saying:
“I’ve been training differently than I ever have before. I’ve been doing a lot of high endurance workouts, to get my wind and strength up, to get that immediate, quick and intense movement going.
I feel like I need to be fast on my feet because she’s pretty quick. I’ve also been sharpening my mat skills and submissions, so I can have a few different ways to get out of her holds.”
It is quite unlikely that James will be winning the NXT Women’s Championship from The Empress Of Tomorrow. However, there is no doubt that she will put on the best match she can with arguably the top female in the entire company.
James was always known to be a great worker in her previous stint and was well respected among the fans. She was considered one of the few genuinely talented women wrestlers during the Divas Era which emphasised more on the looks and glamour and less on the actual in-ring wrestling.
As of now, James’ appearance seems to be a one-off, but it would certainly be beneficial for the NXT Women’s division to have an experienced name like Mickie James present. She is the perfect veteran to help push the developmental women to go to the next level.
Right now, the NXT Women’s division is in a rebuilding stage after the raid that happened for the WWE draft which saw a lot of the top women of NXT go to either Raw or Smackdown Live. Plus, Asuka needs a good partner to have a long-term feud with while the rest of the women start building themselves up to her level.
Do you think the NXT Women’s Division could use the addition of a veteran like Mickie James? Let us know in the comments!
Re-live James’ first on-screen appearance in WWE in over six years:
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