TV Jots

It’s Roller Derby Time

USA will work more of its familiar crime-dramedy magic tonight at 10pm EST when Psych welcomes Monday Night Raw WWE Diva Mickie James for her first guest-star gig on a scripted TV show.

The popular professional wrestler, who couldn’t seem less scary or nicer during conversation, plays a member of a roller derby team that Detective Juliet O’Hara (Maggie Lawson) infiltrates in order to squash a robbery ring.

Earlier this week, James took the time to answer questions about her appearance in the episode “Talk Derby to Me,” as well as her career in general. Read on to get the goods on both and perhaps even learn a few things that might surprise you.

What got you started in wrestling?

MICKIE JAMES: Honestly, I’ve been a fan of wrestling ever since I was a little girl. I remember watching it with my dad and my grandpa. I’ve just been an avid fan for a number of years. I kind of fell into it. I was working at this bar, and at the time, it was WCW and WWE. And so any time I was working and wrestling was on, it was on the TV, and I was just glued to it.

So a friend of mine was like, “Well, a buddy of mine has a school up in D.C.,” which is like two and a half hours from me. “It’s up around D.C. You should go up there and check it out.” I was just totally baffled at the fact that there was even such a thing as a wrestling school.

I was looking into getting into kickboxing, and I took martial arts when I was in high school. And so I was looking, a single girl living in the city. I just wanted to take some type of self-defense and do something besides just working out in the gym every day— To do something that was athletic and keep my mind and my body in shape, as well.

I ended up going up there and checking it out. And then I signed right up, and I’ve been doing it ever since. Now it’s going on eleven years later.

How did you come into this part on Psych? Did you audition for it?

MICKIE JAMES: Ironically enough, James [Roday], who plays [Shawn Spencer] on the show, is a big wrestling fan, and he actually requested me due to the storyline that I had with Trish Stratus when I first came in. So I’m really honored to be a part of it. I was actually really honored that he actually requested me.

What was your favorite part of working on the show?

MICKIE JAMES: I think it was interacting with everyone backstage because they were funny. They made me feel really, really comfortable because I was a little nervous at first because I’d never really done— I’d done like Celebrity Fit Club and stuff like that, but I’d never done any type of acting on a TV show or anything like that.

So it was really, really cool to be able to see that side, because everything that we do on Monday Night RAW is live. So it’s an in-the-moment kind of deal, and it was just cool to be able to go through and see how it’s done on this side of the industry.

Which of the shows stars did you get to work with and how was the experience with them?

MICKIE JAMES: The co-star I worked with most was Maggie [Lawson] because most of the scenes that I did were with her because I was portraying this villainess roller derby girl, and she was actually under cover in my roller derby group. So we actually got to work a lot with each other.

Is acting in a scene with James Roday and Dulé Hill as fun as watching them on TV?

MICKIE JAMES: Absolutely. I mean those two are characters. They were cutting up the whole time, and it was so hard to keep a straight face a lot of the time because they had me laughing a lot. They were giving me, definitely, a run for my money because we were just joking around the whole time.

Was your athletic background helpful in your role?

MICKIE JAMES: Absolutely. And, plus, they didn’t know this, but when I was younger, my mom used to work at— It was actually Skateland at the time, and I think it’s still called that actually. So I used to go up there all of the time, plus I used to ride horses.

So I’ve always been an athlete, but I used to go up there all of the time and skate. I was a little nervous since I hadn’t put on a pair of skates in a while. But I picked it right back up, which was really neat, because I was pretty good at it when I was younger. So I didn’t fall down, which was a good thing.

How often were you on skates in the episode? Was it just a really quick thing or were you on them for most of the filming?

MICKIE JAMES: There was a few days where I was on them all day, which was really cool, because we also had the Vancouver roller derby team there. So they taught me some cool ways to fall, just in case I fell down, which I didn’t need it, but—

But it was neat because they showed me some cool slides and different ways to fall. I learned this really cool— It looks like a rock slide almost, like how rock and rollers do the rock slide across the stage. So I learned that slide and I learned different ways to fall down. I had some skating background, which was good for me, so I was able to do that. Plus, I was able to practice a little bit before the filming.

Did you get to do any kind of training?

MICKIE JAMES: Well, I didn’t really train for it prior to it, except for once I got there on set, the downtime in between or before we’d shoot. I’d try to go out there and skate around just to make sure that I was okay.

What surprised you the most about working on Psych that you weren’t expecting?

MICKIE JAMES: How just down-to-earth and cool everybody was because I was expecting everybody to be wrapped up in their own role or in their own world. I didn’t really know what to expect, so I was very pleased when I got there to be so warm, and everybody was really cool and down-to-earth. We all laughed and we all joked, and they just accepted me and made me feel very comfortable, which was really refreshing.

What did you find the most challenging about working on Psych?

MICKIE JAMES: The most challenging was making sure that I had my lines down and to get into the character because I don’t really memorize a lot of lines. I do acting. I have bullet points that I need to hit for Monday Night RAW. There are certain bullet points, but there’s no set verbiage as what I’m supposed to say. I found that most challenging, and I studied really hard, and I tried to get my lines down as much as possible.

I think I did pretty good. I really didn’t forget my lines that much. But to be able to memorize the lines and to get locked into the character and become the character at the same time, because it’s not always the part, something that you yourself would say. It’s the character that you’re acting would say. Do you know what I mean?

Is there one funny moment or something that happened while you were filming that you can talk about?

MICKIE JAMES: I stood around and watched them film a lot. Just seeing Dulé and James interact between each other a lot was hilarious to me because they were constantly cutting on each other. There wasn’t really any funny moments or anything that happened that was out of the ordinary. It was just everybody cutting up and just having a good time.

What would you think of Psych doing a WWE-themed episode?

MICKIE JAMES: That would be awesome. That would be really, really cool.

How much or were you really aware that there were roller derbies out there and going on? I guess if your mom used to work at Skateland maybe you knew about them. How much of this kind of exposed you to that world?

MICKIE JAMES: Well, I’d seen where there was a show about roller derby girls, and I knew it was making a comeback as far as the roller derby kind of deal. When I worked there, they had the hockey and stuff like that on skates. But there was really no roller derby team; but I think there is one there now. It really kind of opened my eyes to that world because I really wasn’t that aware of it, aside from what I’d seen on TV or just here and there.

Since you come from the wrestling world, how do you feel about roller derby and the roller girls?

MICKIE JAMES: I have a newfound respect for them because, like I said before, the Vancouver roller derby team was there with us showing us different stuff with roller derby and stuff. I didn’t realize that they were as tough and that they get out there and they pretty much beat each other up a little bit. I respect that being an athlete myself and getting beat up and beating people up all of the time.

I respect it a lot because that kind of stuff takes a toll on your body. You’re not only using your mind thinking up your next move, but your body is taking punishment, and it’s exhausting and you have to work on adrenaline a lot of times, too. I found it really, really neat, and it opened my eyes to their world a little bit. So I have a newfound respect for them.

So would you say the physicality is almost the same?

MICKIE JAMES: No, I wouldn’t say the physicality is somewhat the same because I think that they’re tough or whatever. But in the world of wrestling, we’re on the road 300 days out of the year. We don’t have an off season, and we travel from city to city, and we put on a live show every night. Plus, you have to get to the gym and everything else.

So I think that our industry is very demanding on your body. I know that the roller derby, they probably do it once a week — where they have a match once a week and then they have the rest of the week for their body to recuperate and then they go back to their regular jobs — and it’s more of a hobby, [whereas] the wrestling is my job.

How is acting in the ring different than acting on a series?

MICKIE JAMES: Well, the thing is in the ring everything that we do— I wrestle on Monday Night RAW, and everything is live. So if I mess up, the whole world knows it. The difference, I would say, is that if I mess up on-camera while we’re filming then, we can cut and we can redo it, and you can do it two different ways. We won’t just shoot it once. We’ll shoot it at least three times or whatever just in case. I may do something different in each take, and there’s just one that we like better.

Whereas in the ring, since everything is live, you get one shot to do it, and you do your best and hope for the best. It was cool to see the differences of the world as far as … since everything is live on our show. There’s a lot of pressure as far as performance to be there right on time.

And there’s a lot of pressure, as well, filming just because it’s another aspect, and you want to make sure that you’re open to the camera or that you hit it differently every time, whether it’s the expression on your face or whatever, just so you can play with it and see which one you like the best.

Now that you’ve tried two different types of filming and doing the live stuff and doing the pre-produced stuff, which was more comfortable for you?

MICKIE JAMES: I think I found more comfort, obviously, because I’m more comfortable with the live. That’s what I’m accustomed to. I like that pressure, but I don’t think I prefer one over the other actually. I think that they’re both— Their own entity kind of feel, like there’s pressure in both of them and there’s a lot of fun in both of them.

Did you feel that working with the script as opposed to kind of having your character point, was it more constricting for you or was it kind of cool to work with?

MICKIE JAMES: It was cool to work with. And plus, obviously, they give you direction and everything, but I was still able to play with the character a little bit and make it my own. I think it’s important that with any character in acting or anything to embrace the character and become the character, but also make it your own because only you know how you would portray that character. The director was really cool, and he worked with me, and I was able to work with it and make it my own enough to where I felt really comfortable being Rita Westwood.

Is there something from wrestling that you take away that helped you with filming Psych, that like prepared you?

MICKIE JAMES: Yes. I think that the getting locked into the character. My character right now on TV is not too much a stretch of who I am in reality, just a girl next door. I grew up in the country, and I enjoy riding my horses, and I’m pretty down-to-earth. But when I first came in, I was portraying this kind of psychotic character, who was like a stalker fan of one of the other divas, Trish Stratus.

So to be able to get locked into that character and to become that character, I think that whole aspect helped me in the acting world, as well as far as getting locked into a character and becoming the character and just feeling it out and doing it and reacting rather than just acting, but actually reacting as that character.

Would you be interested in doing something like this again?

MICKIE JAMES: Absolutely. I would be honored to do something like this again. I had so much fun, and it was really just cool to be involved with them, and everyone was really, really cool, and I just actually had so much fun. I’m definitely hoping to do some more acting in the near future.

Anything particular that you want to do with acting?

MICKIE JAMES: Honestly, I mean I would love to do some more shows or do a movie or anything really. I think that any opportunity is a blessing, so you should embrace it.