This week on WWE’s The Bump, Mickie James and Trish Stratus appeared on the show and reflected on their legendary rivalry. Here are some highlights:
On their initial reactions to working together:
James: “I think that, because I really had only got a chance to talk to Trish backstage, maybe when I would come up for tryouts when I was in OVW and I’d come up, so I was super nervous. And I was excited because I didn’t really know, you know, we became such great friends throughout that whole journey together, but I was so super nervous because I had already, you know, Trish is amazing, and everybody loved, you’re amazing and everybody loved you so much. I don’t know that I’ve ever even talked to you about this, of my whole feelings prior. I was terrified.”
“Yeah, I was a little bit nervous I was very nervous and terrified because I wasn’t super familiar, and you were always so sweet and giving and kind backstage, but it was, you were working and I’m just, you know, back there just trying to get, you know, ‘Hi, hi guys.'”
“At that point, you were the top of the mountain, you know what I mean? So I think for me to come in as the brand new girl, to be put right with you, it was a huge honor. And I was scared. I was like, you know, you believe in yourself, but at the same time you’re like, ‘Oh god, I just want this to be so amazing.’ I’m so grateful, you have no idea how grateful I am for you.”
Stratus: “Aw, I get the new chick again? No, listen, I was familiar with her, with her in-ring work and I just knew, I don’t know, she was eager every time I met her. I could tell, I could feel her passion for wrestling, and I just knew she was gonna make a difference. I just knew it was time for her to break into the big scene. She’d been doing the smaller scenes for so long, and it was just her time, and she was ready for it. And I was just thrilled to be able to build something with her, that was a cool thing is like, we knew a very small amount of information at the beginning. We’re gonna be like, hey, crazed fan, and that was something different. We were at a point, too, in the women’s division, where I think it was coming off of Victoria and I, I think I we were coming off of that, and you know, we were just like, there were storylines finally. We were finally in storylines and so to be presented with yet another storyline and another character and another woman that could bring something to the division, it was exciting, you know.”
“And I knew she was gonna rock the division. So I was thrilled and honored to know that I was gonna be the one to help usher her in, and then we got this great idea, you know, talked with creative and got the great idea, and of course, you get ideas that never necessarily stay that idea, you never know where it’s gonna go, and it did, it definitely went different ways, but we had a good starting point. And so we were excited about kind of taking that and then turning into what we we were gonna turn into, so it was exciting.”
On what made Mickie unique as an opponent:
Stratus: “Well, just her spunk, I guess you could say. Like, there’s an extra pep in her step when she comes to the ring, and it’s really fun to match that level of intensity that she brings to the ring. As I said I was a huge fan of her in-ring work. She had been delivering for so long, it was just time for her finally to deliver on the big stage, so I was just thrilled to be a part of that. And I just feel like, yeah, she was just a different personality, and that was the cool thing about the women’s division at the time, you know. We were suddenly starting to offer all these different personalities and all these flavors, so to speak, for everybody and Mickie was just another one.”
On their WrestleMania match in front of the Chicago crowd:
Stratus: “I mean, to me, that was just a testament of, I was giddy with excitement. I don’t care, usually I don’t care what they’re saying, yay [or] boo. I just want to hear decibels, the level of sound. To me, you know hearing how they’re into every single thing we’ve doing here, that’s all I cared about.”
James: “It was so amazing, and I think it was a testament to how invested in the story that they were and this little roller coaster ride that we had taken them on, and I’m kind of the same, like it was shocking to me that they started [booing Trish], but then you think, it was the first WrestleMania crowd I’d ever been in front of. And I always thought watching it, you know, WrestleMania crowds are always different to perform in front of today, they’re just gonna react how they’re gonna react, and then Chicago on top of that, so it was like it was crazy.”
The full episode is available here:
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