00:04I am Mickie James, the greatest female wrestler of all time.
00:09My motivation to become a wrestler is, it was kind of strange, like the path that I came on.
00:14I've been wrestling 12 years now, but it was a bond that my father and I had the first time
00:19I stepped into a wrestling ring.
00:20I knew that this was for me, and it was something that I was very serious about.
00:23I definitely have to give it to my dad, because without him, I probably wouldn't have been so strongly in
00:29love with the wrestling business as I was.
00:31I was at TNA when it first started, and I was on the first ever TNA pay-per-view.
00:38I'm not sure if many people were aware of that.
00:40And then I had moved on, obviously, and went to the other company and definitely made my career there and
00:46my legacy there.
00:46And then, when given the opportunity to come back to TNA, and I talked to Dixie about it, it was
00:51just a way to kind of further my legacy.
00:55My goal for the TNA Knockouts Division is to, honestly, to go down as the greatest TNA Knockouts Champion of
01:02all time.
01:03And I know that's definitely a tall task, and it's a huge goal, but I like to send goals.
01:09The toughest battle I've had so far in TNA has definitely have to have been the battles I've had against
01:13Terra.
01:13And I knew what I was getting into when I was stepping in the ring with her.
01:17I mean, Terra and I definitely have our history, but, yeah, she's one tough broad, and she deserves the respect,
01:24and I know she will go down in history as well as one of the greatest female champions of all
01:28time.
01:28If there's one thing that I could say to the fans out there is just to thank them for their
01:34respect
01:34and for following me and continuously to be so supportive of me throughout my career.
01:40And, you know, there's fans that have known me since the day I first stepped in the ring as Alexis
01:46Lurie,
01:46and now they've seen me grow into who I am, and they've followed me and stuck by my side the
01:50whole time.
01:51I can't tell you how incredibly grateful I am for them.
01:56I've always been really passionate about music.
02:00When I was a little girl, I used to run around with my little boombox and record myself
02:04and make these, like, mixtapes for my mom.
02:07And I played violin for five years in school, and after I started wrestling,
02:12I kind of bet it was such a heart-driven, like, career that you really have to dedicate your all
02:18to.
02:18And I kind of pushed everything from, you know, my horses and my family.
02:22I mean, you just sacrifice a lot when you're chasing a dream.
02:25And I started writing a lot of music, just writing to melodies in my head
02:28or even to melodies of other songs.
02:30I was writing songs, and finally I go, you know, this is something that I've always wanted to do.
02:35And so I went to Nashville, and I met with some different people,
02:38and I was like, I don't care if this record goes nowhere.
02:41I just want to cut these songs that I've written, just to say that I did it.
02:46So that's how the whole journey kind of began.
02:49And now we are, like, we have the first album out,
02:52and we're getting ready to start going in the studio,
02:54and we're going to work on the second album.
02:55Like, I just hope that I'm remembered in people's hearts
02:59as, like, someone who was genuinely talented and loved what she did
03:06and lit a fire underneath them every time she walked out to the ring.
03:11Because the people that I looked up to and admired
03:14were people who obviously had sacrificed a lot to get to where they were.
03:18And I know the sacrifices I made,
03:20and I think that no matter what other people think or say,
03:23because I can't tell you how many times I was told no
03:25and that you'll never make it, and you're too small,
03:27and you're too this or too that,
03:29and, you know, you're just a small-town girl,
03:31just give up and try to get, like, some regular 9-to-5 job.
03:34And I kept all their no's, fueled my fire to make me work even harder.
03:39And hopefully that, like, inspires some inspiration,
03:43that if you work hard and you truly believe in yourself
03:46and you believe in your dream
03:47and you follow it with all your heart and all your gusto,
03:50that you actually can get there,
03:52and nobody can ever tell you no.
03:57I'm sure
