Renee Michelle Honored To Work With Mickie James Again At ‘Empowerrr,’ Recalls Early Opportunities In MCW And Japan

Renee Michelle is ready to show everyone what “Hell on Heels” is all about.

Renee Michelle recently spoke with WrestleZone about her upcoming tag team match at NWA Empowerrr and how she could leave St. Louis as one-half of the NWA Tag Team Champions. Renee Michelle and Sahara 7 (collectively known as “Hell on Heels”) will face off with The Hex (Allysin Kay & Marti Belle) in the opening round of the NWA Women’s Tag Team Championship Tournament, with the chance to move on to face Red Velvet & KiLynn King or The FreeBabes (Miranda Gordy, Jazzy Yang, Hollywood Haley J).

“NWA hasn’t had [Women’s Tag Team Champions] in 38 years, so that’s really exciting itself. It’s also history-making [with Empowerrr] since you have Mickie James solely in control of it,” Renee said.

“I’ve always worked singles matches, but the few times that I’ve worked tag matches, even though I don’t have an established tag team, what better way than to tag with one of my best friends, Sahara 7. Her and I have tagged one time before, but what’s better than [teaming with] someone I trust, someone I adore and also want them to explode and do well in wrestling. That’s really hard to find and she’s like my sister,” she added, “so what better way to share this opportunity than to do it together?”

Renee has experience wrestling one of the women that could potentially be her opponent in AEW’s Red Velvet. The two met on AEW Dark: Elevation on August 4, a match that Renee said was a “fluke” win for Velvet, but she says it doesn’t matter who she’d face in the second round because she’s an adaptable wrestler. The other team Hell On Heels could end up facing is the Freebabes, a trio consisting of Jazzy Yang, Miranda Gordy and Hollyhood Haley J. Despite the possibility that they could surprise people, Renee says she’d be stepping into the ring with the FreeBabes themselves, not their ancestors.

“As far as the generational thing, that’s all fun, that’s all grand and whatnot, but as soon as they step in the ring with me, none of that’s going to matter. It’s not like I’m wrestling their mom, the aunt, the uncle, whatever,” she stated. “I’m wrestling you as an individual, so whatever that is they taught you, you better bring it in the ring with me.”

Calling back to the matches she had with Mickie James early on in her career (one of which was a tag team match where they teamed against Angelina Love & Jessie Kaye [Billie Kay] for MCW in 2014), Renee said she could see ‘Empowerrr’ being a full-circle moment. James is the executive producer of the event, and Renee spoke highly of her relationship with James, as well as other important figures in her career.

“Absolutely, and with Mickie, it’s an honor. It’s an honor to work with her, work beside her and to be able to show her my best capabilities and qualities in the ring. She keeps an eye on me. I’m pretty confident she keeps an eye on me and she saw throughout the years how I progressed,” Renee said.

Renee’s resume includes time in Japan working with Chigusa Nagayo, who was the tag team partner of Lioness Asuka and the founder of the GAEA girls. She also worked for The Great Khali in his Continental Wrestling Entertainment promotion, but still calls MCW (formerly “Maryland Championship Wrestling”) her home promotion.

“[MCW owner and promoter] Dan McDevitt, he took me in and he’s like a ‘wrestling dad’ for me throughout the years of me training. RJ [Meyer], God bless his soul, he passed away from leukemia [in November 2020], he was like my first actual trainer. If anything, I owe MCW, Dan McDevitt and RJ a whole lot because they took a chance on me, they didn’t have to. I’m forever grateful and I have that loyalty to MCW,” Renee said. “I have that same loyalty to Chigusa Nagayo because I was her first foreign student. She didn’t have to take a chance on me, but she did.”

Check out the full event card for NWA Empowerrr at this link, and our full interview with Renee Michelle at the top of this post.

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