Mickie James On Tonight’s Raw Women’s Title Match, Having Asuka Better-Scouted This Time, Enjoying the Thunderdome

Mickie James is set to challenge Asuka for the Raw Women’s Championship on tonight’s episode of Raw, and she spoke with 411’s Russ Weakland about the match. James’ match tonight against Asuka is her first title shot since Elimination Chamber 2018 and she talked about coming back from injury, her first match with Asuka back when the champ was in NXT, and more:

Huge match with Asuka on RAW, to still be in the conversation after all you have done with your career, how does that make you feel in this stage of your career?

I’m honored, I am so honored. I think that says a lot. There isn’t that many women that have been around and stayed around and stayed relevant and I think with this break away and this injury has been a blessing in disguise for me, because it brought me away from the dance long enough to kind of reset and get my priorities in line and this time away I was so excited to get the response that I got when I came back and you always hope that the people will remember you and respect you and that they love as they eye all these greats, so when you get those responses, it is truly humbling.

Currently Asuka is working on all cylinders right now, so it will be a test. But I imagine you are ready for the challenge. What should we expect from the match?

I feel like I got Asuka scouted a little better this time. The first time I faced Asuka, she was undefeated, and she was really carving out her place in NXT and that gave me the opportunity of being out of a WWE ring for seven years at that point, and to face her I didn’t know what to expect. I had seen some of Asuka’s stuff and was familiar with some of her work but I wasn’t completely familiar with her. And there was a thing in my mind that she was undefeated, where now I have worked with Asuka and have wrestled her a few times, I have watched her grow in the organization and in the company and to say, she will go down in history as one of the most phenomenal female champions that we have ever had would be an understatement. She is incredible.

But for me, I look at it as this chance and this run for me will be the best one I have ever had. I have nothing to lose and everything to gain and it is a chance to finally reclaim my name and reclaim my staple as who I am in this women’s division and WWE as a Women’s Champion. I have been so blessed to be in the ring with the best women’s champions we have ever had and Asuka is one of them and there is no doubt that Monday, for me will be a match for the ages and will be awesome and it will be amazing and I will take Asuka to the limit. I know what she is capable of and I know what I am capable of and I know she isn’t underestimating me. It will be an exciting match and a hard hitting match and a fun match to watch and it is going to be exhausting for both of us.

How do you think you will react winning in a stadium without fans, I know we have the Thunderdome but if you win, you’ll be like Drew McIntyre in the Men’s division who won it with no fans and even he had to adapt.

I want to be the Mickie James of the Women’s Division. I love Drew, he is awesome, I will say the Thunderdome, I have enjoyed. When I first came back we were performing at the Performance Center, so to go to the Thunderdome, it is amazing. It is huge. The amount of stuff that has gone into it, and first going out there for me it is pretty amazing to look at and each of those screens are staged like a stadium, they are leveled up and it is really really cool. So it it is cool to feel a little of that, and we really thrive with the fan reaction. It is harder when you don’t have that immediate reaction and appeal from the people.

So that Thunderdome experience gives us a little of that, it is so cool and futuristic and really unique and unique for us to cultivate and create our product in a way that is so unique. Now, it is really really cool. Hopefully with social media, I’ll get that immediate response and hopefully all that is positive, or I will just block it . (LAUGHTER) Seriously it is really cool and its just that when I do win the championship that the fans via the Thunderdome, via the Universe and everyone will be excited and thrilled and overjoyed as I am. So there we have it…