Mickie James Speaks About Return At TNA No Surrender, Addresses Her Future

The Hall of Famer speaks about her future.

After Ash by Elegance assisted The Elegance Brand (M by Elegance & Heather by Elegance) in retaining the Knockouts World Tag Team Titles at TNA Wrestling’s No Surrender special, TNA Hall of Famer Mickie James made a surprise appearance and brawled with Ash.

James spoke about her return to TNA while on Busted Open. She dove into her history with Ash and stated that she’s the one who put Ash on TNA’s radar after she was let go from WWE.

“It was good to be back. I mean, obviously, any time TNA is in Nashville — this is the birthplace of TNA. It’s also the birthplace of hardcore country — but, it’s 20, 30 minutes from my house so I was really excited to be back and see everybody. There’s so many familiar faces backstage but also a lot of new faces. The Knockouts division has really grown since the last time I was there, and it was really, really cool to see. But obviously, I’ve been watching Ash (by Elegance) from afar and it’s much more personal than that and I think Tommy (Dreamer), you can attest to this because I remember a time when Ash was released where she was really — she came to me. She’s like really trying to think about what’s next and what she’s gonna do and who called you, Tommy?” Dreamer responded and said it was Mickie who made the call. “I knew that TNA would be a wonderful place for her to grow…”

Mickie has not wrestled since July 2025, and the last time she competed for TNA/IMPACT was in 2023. She addressed her future in wrestling.

“I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching too. From everything, from doing the L.F.G. and being in kind of that mentor space. Wrestling is one of those things, it’s in your blood and I’m so competitive and you just constantly go, ‘Well, what if? What if?’ I think that, for me, whatever opportunity that feels right and feels good in the space — I will always be involved in wrestling in some capacity because I just love it with my whole heart. I’ve dedicated over half my life to it at this point. I’m very, very passionate about it. So I don’t really know and I think that’s kind of a weird place for me and a scary place for me but it’s also helped me sit back and be kind of open to anything really that feels good and feels right and if it doesn’t — if it doesn’t feel good and feel right, that’s okay too. It was cool to be back in the locker room and I was worried — not ‘worried,’ but you always wonder, ‘Oh, how are people gonna feel even behind the scenes?’ And that stuff and the locker room was awesome. The girls there were awesome. They were so great, and yeah, it was just good to be back in the mix for a second. Honestly, it was nice to just knock some dust off the old high heels.”

It was in October 2025 that James was inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame as part of the Bound For Glory pay-per-view.

If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Busted Open with an H/T to Fightful for the transcriptions.