Tonight (Aug. 28) is a big night for Mickie James, the NWA, and women’s wrestling. Billy Corgan and the NWA put James in charge as executive producer for the all-women Empowerrr PPV to provide a platform to show women’s wrestling can draw. James and Corgan sat down for a one-on-one chat discussing James’ path in the business leading to this moment.
The interview kicked off with Corgan revealing a tasty tidbit certain to get the rumor mills churning. Mickie James is still a free agent as a wrestler.
Corgan: What people don’t understand is that Mickie James is a free agent. Our deal here with the NWA is Mickie’s coming in to co-promote this event, and we will be co-promoters on this event. But, you have not signed a talent deal with the NWA. And that is not a work, that is straight up shoot. Because that is what you want.
We’ll save dreaming up future matches for James for another time, but this nugget of information does add intrigue to her current beef brewing with Deonna Purrazzo in Impact. If James did end up signing with Impact even for a short deal, it would add a real element to believe James could win the Knockouts Championship from Purrazzo to carry on an extended feud, as opposed to being just another footnote on Purrazzo’s career résumé.
Back to promoting Empowerrr, James and Corgan discussed their goal for the show. The idea isn’t just to feel good about putting on an all female pay-per-view. They would like to create a scenario where different voices can be heard to illuminate the path forward. Ideally, they want to reach the point where fans don’t blink if a show has a female main event. Corgan pointed to the UFC as a model of successful promotion where female main events are just as accepted as male main events.
James and Corgan feel that point has not yet been reached in the professional wrestling industry. There is still more work to be done, and they will put the necessary energy into the idea to see if what they feel in their hearts is there to be achieved. The validation that women’s wrestling matters would be a way to inspire the younger generation of women to get into business.
Empowerrr begins tonight at 8 pm ET through Fite TV (here). The show is available for purchase as a standalone event or as part of a bundle deal (here) with NWA 73 (here). The all women show features Kamille defending the NWA World Women’s Championship against AEW’s Leyla Hirsch, Deonna Purrazzo defending the Impact Knockouts Championship against Melina, Chelsea Green, Kiera Hogan, a variety of second-generation wrestlers, and more on the full card.