Nick Aldis Talks Mickie James’ WWE Release And ‘Trashgate’

Nick Aldis says there was one good thing to come from Mickie James’ WWE release and her trash bag “care package,” Vince McMahon’s personal phone call to Mickie.

Mickie James was released by WWE on Thursday, April 15, 2021. One week later, she revealed that she received her belongings in a garbage bag which resulted in the release of Mark Carrano. It was later revealed that this has been happening to the women Superstars for years as many, including Gail Kim and Jillian Hall, came forward to say that their stuff was sent to them in a trash bag years ago.

Mickie James’ husband, Nick Aldis, has now weighed in on the situation explaining why it wasn’t as heartbreaking as most fans believe, and what was the one good thing to come out of the whole incident.

Speaking with Spencer Love, Nick revealed that Mickie James wasn’t exactly heartbroken by the gesture; she was more so laughing at the symbolism of what had happened. James has said this much on her own. Aldis, the NWA World Heavyweight Champion, would also commend Vince McMahon for calling Mickie James and expressing his respect for her contributions to WWE personally. 

“Well, I hope this doesn’t destroy anyone’s delusion of it. But, you know, the craziest thing about all that for us was that she really – it wasn’t like she was super offended. It wasn’t like she was really upset. She was kind of laughing at the symbolism. It wasn’t like this thing where she went ‘ah, I’m devastated, I’m heartbroken, how would they do this to me,’ and I’ve seen some people sort of refer to it like that as if that was the sort of tone. If you go back and look at her post with the video and stuff, she was very tongue-in-cheek about it. She was very kind of, ‘well, that’s about fucking right!’ In other words, they chew you up and spit you out, and that’s just the way the business is. And, look. She’s been through a hell of a lot worse. The reality is that symbolism and sort of tone-deaf gesture, I guess, is the best way to describe it, it’s not even in the top-10 of the most cold, heartless things that have happened to her or me in this business.”

He continued, “So, it’s kind of like, hey, man, we’ve got thick skins. She just thought it was enlightening, I guess, to sort of share with the world like, ‘Hey, you think it’s all special and glamorous? It’s sometimes not so much.’ I was very amazed at the level of traction it got. And, I was amazed at the level of response on the corporate level from those guys. From Triple H, and Stephanie [to] Vince, they all – and, hey, I will say that Vince McMahon went out of his way to express to Mickie his respect for her and her contributions. That’s at least some consolation to take from it. Although, I would politely suggest that maybe a little more respect could have been shown to her while she was there.”

Continuing on, Nick Aldis would try to look on the bright side saying that now, new revenue streams have opened based on this contract no longer being in place.

“There is a pro and a con to this. Obviously, the con is yes, she’s no longer with WWE, and her last run did not work out the way she hoped. And, that guaranteed income is no longer part of our revenue streams. But, we have plenty of revenue streams. The good news is, okay, now there are a bunch of other potential revenue streams that were previously unavailable based on that contract. So, hey, it swings around about.”

Mickie James would go into greater detail about receiving a phone call from Vince McMahon personally and much more about her time in WWE on her most recent GAW podcast. Learn more here.

You can check out this full interview with Nick Aldis embedded in the video above. Thank you to Spencer for passing along the above quotes.