Mickie James sat down with Ariel Helwani to discuss the history making moment that is about to take place: her appearance in the Royal Rumble as IMPACT Knockouts Champion.

“It was a few weeks ago, and [Impact executive] Scott [D’Amore] had called me first... just to kind of see where I was at, and if I was interested. I think immediately I was excited, because I think about , historically this has never happened before, for WWE to do this or to have anyone participate in the Rumble, especially to acknowledge the championship. It’s really , it’s cool. And it just shows a different amount of respect. I feel really great about it.

“Plus, I think, in my mind, the last thing most people bring up, or talk about was on the other end of the spectrum with , and so it’s just cool not to have that be the thing, or the last thing, or whatever that is. So I’m so excited, honestly.”

Speaking on the incident where her belongings were given to her in a garbage bag, James says she got an apology.

“All things considered, everyone from that camp, we’ve talked and there has been apologies. I still maintain a good relationship with everyone in that sense.”

On how the WWE/IMPACT deal came to be.

“I was headed to Impact because we obviously had the championship on the line [at Hard To Kill] and it was going to be the main event. And that was already a thing. So I was actually driving around looking for a guitar when it aired on SmackDown in Dallas. So I don’t know, I think like we said, we were we were talked about it being a surprise, like more of like, just one of the surprise entrances. But then I think Johnny [Laurinaitis] and the [WWE] camp really wanted to kind of get it out there because they were doing that big announcement in the reveal that night, and they wanted to put it as part of that.”