Mickie James Portrayed A Goth Backing This ECW Star During Initial TNA Run

For twenty years now, former WWE star and TNA Hall of Famer Mickie James has been a household name for wrestling fans, even if she wasn't at times always pushed like that. Then again, that wasn't very often; between the two promotions, James is an 11 time former Women's/Divas/Knockouts Champion, making her among the most decorated women's wrestlers of the last twenty years. And that's before one even gets into the fact that James is arguably a pioneer, one of the few women from the WWE Divas era who had a reputation for being a great in-ring wrestler who would serve as an inspiration for the growth in women's wrestling seen today.

And given how long James has been at it, it would be easy to assume that she has always been the version of Mickie James fans have seen onscreen. What many don't know, however, is that James wasn't always "Hardcore Country." In fact, for a time, she wasn't even Mickie James. That's because James' first big time exposure to wrestling in TNA, where she first worked in 2002, a decade before becoming a top star there, was under the name Alexis Laree, a character that saw her embrace rocker/goth ethos. In an appearance on "Insight with Chris Van Vliet," James discussed the weirdness in tackling a character that was very much not her style.

"I had to be a goth character," James said. "I had to like, look it up. I bought from...what was it, Hot Topic at the time, out, out of every fishnet they had, every skirt, t-shirt. I was like 'I'll wet my hair I guess.' I don't know what is goth. It wasn't my jam. But it worked. It worked."

Oddly enough, James had already portrayed a non-gothic version of Alexis Laree in TNA, working a lingerie battle royal, before being approached about the character overhaul by Raven. James had known Raven a bit from his time in Ring of Honor, and though his critique of her being "pretty good for a girl" annoyed her, she was receptive when Raven pitched her the goth idea, which would involve her aligning with Raven in his latest incarnation of Raven's Nest, The Gathering.

"He said 'Do you think you can do a goth character?'" James said. "'I'm thinking of this idea with TNA.' And I was like 'Oh, TNA!' I was excited again. And yeah, he's like 'Do you think you can do a goth character, or would you be interested?' And I was like 'Oh my god, yeah. Yes. Absolutely.'"

The Gathering would initially consist of Raven, James, and Julio Dinero, eventually growing to include CM Punk during his brief TNA stint. Ultimately, James wasn't long for the group, leaving it before the end of 2003 when she signed her first WWE contract. But the run was still eventful, as James became the only woman to participate in Raven's Clockwork Orange House of Fun match and, most importantly to her, got to learn a whole lot while working alongside Raven.

"To sit there and listen to him put these matches together and how they would do it and why they would do it and how they would do all these little magical parts of it...it just blew my mind," James said. "And I was able to sit underneath there and learn from him, and learn from Julio, who was already my brother from MCW, cause that's where I really started to break out from. And then Punk. And that's where I really, from Ring of Honor, and then to get to work alongside Punk, it was really cool. It was so, so cool."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Insight with Chris Van Vliet" and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription