Former WWE Superstar Michelle McCool appeared on "INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet" for an interview this week.
Featured below are some of the highlights.
On being in the 2023 Women's Royal Rumble: “Yeah, that was fun. That was interesting. I’ve told the story before. They called me on very short notice. I think it was eight, nine days. Asked me if I wanted to do it and I was like, Oh shoot. I mean, yes I’ll work out. But I’m sure you’ve heard it a million times, ring shape is a whole different ball game. I was in for a few minutes. I think at one point I was kind of in a corner with either Piper or Naomi and I was like give me a second y’all, I’m tired. But, yeah, that was super fun. I knew I was going to be there with the kids watching, my dad was there, and it was something different. They said I could wrestle in my sweatpants and Uggs, I should have been doing it my entire career. I was like I am in. Honestly, it was a thing where Mark and I talked. Our daughter was kind of struggling, she’s a perfectionist, and if she can’t do something on the first try she gets so mad. So it was a kind of a lesson. I said, You know what? I’m just gonna let her know this is something that mommy is kind of a little bit terrified to do on such short notice. I don’t know if I’m ready to do it, but you know what, we can be scared and brave at the same time and go out and do it. So it was kind of a lesson I was trying to build in for her. Don’t really know that she got that, she just loves WWE period. Not even sure she was cheering for me. But that was part of the reasoning as well.”
On the "Piggy James" storyline: “I give credit to this day, I said this to somebody the other day and I said it to her. But the whole Piggy James storyline, me at heart hated it, just because of what it was. You’re bullying somebody that they’re supposedly overweight and that has never been me. Every week I’d go up to her, ‘Mickie, I’m so sorry. This is what they want us to say.' Complete professional. Not once did she try to change things, which often girls did. Not once. She’s like, ‘No, it’s good. It’s cool.’ She knew that took two to tango. She knew what her role was. She knew what our role was, and she really, I think, put us on the map with that storyline.”
On the pitch for the storyline: “I don’t remember the original pitch. A lot of times back then things started with personal digs at somebody, or maybe somebody got in trouble and they wanted to make fun. I don’t know what it was, but it just came out of the blue. Layla and I were stupid. We acted dumb together, we said stupid things, we had a lot of fun. But when that storyline came about I was like oh, this is just mean. But it did get us over and I give all the credit in the world to Mickie for that. She easily could have said, ‘Guys, this is too much, too far, I’m not doing it.’ She was already over, but she didn't [object]. She knew how the business worked, it got her more over, and she helped us.”
