Top TNA Knockout Frustrated with TNA Management

Former TNA Impact Wrestling Knockouts Champion and former WWE Women's and Divas Champion Mickie James recently told "Running The Ropes" that she is frustrated with the way she has been booked in TNA as of late, as well as with how TNA has booked the Knockouts Division:

"I honestly feel like for the last year I've probably been on less than ten of the shows. You know what I mean? And for the last year and a half I've barely done anything. It's awesome to come back and win the number one contendership and go for the title but I'm sick and tired of being home and watching all these other people. It would be one thing if I was injured or one thing if I was hurt, and I get it because I was injured and I was hurt and sick for a minute. I was already off TV when I got sick. It's so frustrating when you know you’re one of the best in the world and you're sitting at home, it's frustrating. I love what I do and I love the people I work with, but I don't love pretending I love sitting at home when I'm not. That's kinda where I'm at with it. I'm just being real and being honest about it. You know, it's not me trying to be this awful person, because it doesn’t take away my love for what I'm doing."

On the forgotten state of the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship:

"I don’t understand the logic behind that because in my opinion, besides the X Division Championship, the female tag team championship is the only thing we have that nobody else has. I think our ladies’ division is so unique and so different that it gives you something else to fight for. I don’t know why they’re sitting around ODB and EY’s waists, and they’re not even defending them and nobody else is getting a shot at them. There’s no storyline; there’s nothing wrapped around them. They just kind of won the belts and that was it. Then we forgot about them.

"I don't think we have enough girls right now to even have a tag division, unfortunately. But there are enough girls in our circle that we can use. In my opinion, it would be awesome if there were more full-time contracted girls because not only would it give us more girls to work with in the title picture, but also in the tag division being able to pair up with the right people and kind of see who works together and who doesn’t, what’s going to make money and what’s not, what kind of gimmicks and characters like Jumping Bomb Angels and Glamour Girls – it all works."

On her popularity compared to Velvet Sky:

"I was glad that Velvet was back; I thought it was awesome. But what was the point in bringing me back [in December] if you were just going to bring her back a week later and then I was going to sit at home? It didn’t make any sense to me unless it would have worked into some kind of storyline or something like that. It still could, you never know.

"Velvet started in TNA and that’s where she built her fan base. She’s got hardcore TNA fans, whereas I have hardcore Mickie James fans.

I don’t mean to take anything away from her because she does have hardcore Velvet Sky fans, but I brought 80-90 percent of my fan base with me. I do have a larger audience, but she has a larger TNA loyal fan base."