Mickie James has revealed Vince McMahon’s reaction to an infamous moment during her match against Trish Stratus at WrestleMania 22.
Speaking to Chris Van Vliet on his INSIGHT podcast, former WWE Women’s Champion and TNA Hall of Famer Mickie James talked about the backstage reaction to her getting a bit too touchy with Trish Stratus during their match at WrestleMania 22 and licking her fingers after.
Mickie James said that while she got permission to lick her finger after she did the deed, she went a bit overboard during the execution. Instead, she made a “V” with her fingers while sticking her tongue between her middle and ring fingers after she’d grabbed Stratus’ crotch.
“[The backstage reaction] was not good. I mean, the people loved it. The reaction, in my opinion, I made the right choice, in my humble opinion. Not what I expected. So I had asked Steve Keirn. Steve Keirn was our agent. I had asked Steve Keirn, ‘Can I lick my finger?’ Because we had already had the crotch grab spot. We’re gonna do it. So we knew we were going to do the vag grab.”
“So we’re at WrestleMania, and I’m like, all the things that we’ve done to lead to this and they want this moment. I’m like, okay. I felt like that’s what anybody would have done in that moment, after all that. Finally, you got, I don’t know, I’m not going to go there. That’s a little too crass, even for me. But I also thought, you know. So I had asked if I could lick my finger. Clearly, that’s not what I did.”
Mickie James Thought She’d Get A High-Five Or A Hug From Vince McMahon When She Went Backstage
After she defeated Trish Stratus that night and won the Women’s Championship, Mickie James believed she’d get some appreciation from Vince McMahon. However, the former WWE Chairman lashed out at her for making the offensive gesture in the ring.
“I thought in my heart and in my soul, I honestly believed I was going to walk back through that curtain, and I had never received a high five. I’d seen other women get high fives from Vince and thumbs up and all these things. I got thumbs up before. I got a few thumbs up. I thought I was going to get the biggest hug of a lifetime, and fist bumps, maybe even a hoist on a shoulder and out the door, something for being so brilliant. It’s not what happened at all. Go back through the curtain and Vince is pissed.
“He’s like, ‘That was crass! Do you know what we’re gonna have to do? How much money it’s gonna cost to edit that and to pull it from everything? We’re a publicly traded company! What are you thinking?’ So if you can imagine the high of a lifetime and then walking through and just shanked right through the curtain, I was like, Oh. But clearly he didn’t hate me too much, because I still was the champion, so maybe deep down he really loved it.”
WWE edited the “finger lick” portion of the spot out of the WrestleMania 22 broadcast on Peacock. Instead of showing James licking her fingers, the camera cuts to the crowd after she grabs Stratus’ crotch.
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