IMPACT Knockouts Champion Mickie James is in for the fight of her life this weekend, but she’s still going to have her eye on the Ultimate X match to see who her next challenger could be.
Slated to face Deonna Purrazzo in a Texas Death Match, Mickie James recently spoke to WrestleZone’s Bill Pritchard ahead of IMPACT Wrestling’s Hard To Kill pay-per-view. There, James expressed her thoughts on another upcoming history-making matchup, the Knockouts Ultimate X Match.
“That’s really exciting. It’s a first time ever, and it’s a true, genuine first time ever, right? And I think that this is a match that has been talked about for the Knockouts for a long time in conversations and stuff. I feel that IMPACT has always been ahead of the curve with the Knockouts before it was a thing. They were always getting opportunities when I was there before. We were always getting really great opportunities that weren’t really happening anywhere else at the time. However, this X Division, it’s a brutal match and it’s been reserved for the men the whole time, and because it’s a very it’s a dangerous match and it’s very different.
“And I think that, obviously, this is wrestling and the women are tough, but it’s still, in my mind, I think it was still a little bit where the girls can’t do that, and that’s too raw for—whatever the case might be. So it was reserved for the men and now for the ladies to be able to step up and have the opportunity for the first time ever to have this type of match and to really prove–just to you think about all the glass ceilings that have had to been shattered at this point to get to now, to get to here.”
I'm so sorry for @RachaelEllering Sending ♥️ to you! But if there's anyone that deserves this it's you @MrsAIPAlisha & I'm sure she feels the same. I know you all are going to kill it!! https://t.co/xKJWb8r37r
— Mickie James~Aldis (@MickieJames) January 7, 2022
Mickie James went on to further explain the benefit of opportunities like this:
“It’s just awesome. It’s awesome to see. It’s awesome for me to be sitting on this side of it, to be a World Champion and watching this type of competition and this level of talent out there right now. And it makes me step up my game, because obviously, we all want to go down, I think, in all of our careers, we want to be one of someone that somebody remembers or that made an impact and did some important work out there. It’s a lot tougher for the girls now than it was even 10 years ago, because it’s so much more demanding on the ladies than it’s ever been, and the beauty is, is that all these women are stepping up and they’re delivering, and it’s really cool to see.
“So, I’m certain that that match is going to be a locker room sell out. I hope that the ladies kill it and I can’t wait to see who comes out on the other side of that as the winner. And you know what? I’m so confident that I can’t wait to see who that is because clearly they’re going to be next in line for my championship, so we’ll see who that is.”
Alisha Edwards replaced Rachael Ellering in the Knockouts Ultimate X match; read more about the change and the latest match card at this link.
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