From Horse Shows To World Wrestling
By Timothy Gorman Times-Dispatch Staff Writer

The following was posted on the Richmond Times-Dispatch web site on Aug. 8, 2006.

In a field beside a winding road in Hanover County, tall oak trees shade horses seeking shelter from pesky flies and the summer heat. One horse is young and untrained, the other at least 21 and past her prime as a star in Richmond horse shows.

The older horse is Rhapsody, beloved pet of World Wrestling Entertainment women's champion Mickie James, who grew up in Montpelier and graduated from Patrick Henry High School.

Since her days of winning ribbons in local horse shows a decade ago, James has mastered another ring, rising to the top of the sports entertainment industry and earning international recognition. But she tries to return to Hanover once a week to ride Rhapsody and to help train her filly, Bunny, so that one day James can return to equestrian competition.

"I'm still in it, just not actively in the show rings," James said in late July after returning from a wrestling show in Cleveland. "I fully intend to run a horse farm once my wrestling slows down . . . I would hope to train kids and have an avenue to ride."

Her career isn't about to slow down. James will wrestle in a match Monday night in Charlottesville. October will mark the one-year anniversary of her debut in the WWE, which mixes the sport of wrestling with the entertainment of a soap opera by staging scripted matches along dramatic plot lines. James, who turns 27 at the end of the month, is likely to be competing for years to come.

Unlike many Divas, as WWE women are known, James climbed to the top without modeling or acting experience. She mastered pro wrestling and advanced through the minor leagues, working waitress jobs on the side, sleeping in her car and, when no other women were in her class, wrestling men.

"We had this one guy named 'The Largest Man on the Planet,' her former trainer, Dory Funk Jr., recalled. "I don't think she ever wrestled him, but many times she wrestled guys who outweighed her by at least 100 pounds."

James grew up in Montpelier with her sister, Latoya, and her step-brother, Ben Knuckles.

"[Mickie] was quite the nerd in school," Latoya said. "I barely made it out of high school, but she tried to graduate with as many credits as she could. She's really very smart."

James' favorite WWE character is "Macho Man" Randy Savage and often, after watching him on Monday nights, she dropped an elbow on her brother on the trampoline out back or wrestled her father, Stuart, in the house. But her first love was riding horses at the Doswell farm of her grandmother, Irene Hines.

Most days after school, Mickie and Latoya would head to their grandmother's to groom the horses boarding there and to ride Rhapsody.

Once she graduated from Patrick Henry in 1998, James decided to chase another love: wrestling. She enrolled in the KYDA Pro wrestling school in Fairfax, moved into her grandmother's basement and took a waitress job at a truck stop. She commuted to shows around the state, barely breaking even on her cut of the profit.

She met Funk at a training session in Northern Virginia where WWE women's star Lita gave a talk on how to make it to the big time. Lita had trained with Funk and was promoted to the WWE after Funk sent in a highlight tape of her performances. Funk saw similar potential in James.

"Mickie James was extremely aggressive and mixed it up every bit as much as Lita did with the men," Funk said. "With her and Lita both, it was their attitude. They were gonna bust their tail and not ask for any favors."