Mickie James Talks Eva Marie Returning To WWE Following Releases
Mickie James appeared on Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette to talk about a wide range of topics after her release from WWE last month. One of them was the return of Eva Marie, who announced on this past Monday's WWE RAW she was headed back to the company.
Marie worked for WWE from 2013 until her release in August of 2017. James felt it was impressive of Marie to go outside of WWE and still remain relevant all these years later. Enough so to have WWE bring her back in 2021.
"Honestly, I think it's incredible she's been able to step away and still remain relevant, rebrand herself, and almost excel outside," James said. "Not everybody does that. I don't think her wrestling ability was ever her strength. I know she has been down at NXT working on stuff. So, I don't know. I don't think the wrestling bit was ever her thing. I feel like there's always been — even going back to old school wrestling — that there's a role for everybody and not everybody has to be a five star wrestler, or whatever, and have dream matches. That doesn't have to be a thing, if their character is strong and they can sells tickets, get ratings, I guess it works."
The reported reason for this year's releases was due to budget cuts, and many fans saw the hypocrisy of releasing a group of people only to bring someone new in. James felt it was par for the course as WWE typically debuts new talent after WrestleMania.
"It's ironic because to the fans, they go, 'Well, you just had all these budget cuts, you let all these people go, and you debut somebody else,' James said. "But they always debut new talent after WrestleMania, as well."
Ultimately, James said she respected Marie for what she did outside of the company, and felt if Marie can do things right, she'll get plenty of heat from the fans.
"She's beautiful and stunning, and I do have mad respect in the sense that she has a million followers and been able to rebrand herself and really do a whole other thing outside of wrestling once she left," James stated. "Me being an entrepreneur — and I'm always looking at stuff — I completely respect that side of her. If she can capitalize on all of this heat and just kind of go, 'Yeah? So?' That's where the real — everybody will hate her and it will be great for her."
As noted, following Marie's return vignette on RAW, James posted a tweet with "mind blown" and "laughing" emojis. She didn't confirm if those were directly related to Eva or not.