Mickie James Based Her ‘Stalker’ Storyline on the Murder of Selena

Mickie James rocketed to the top of the WWE women's division almost immediately after her main roster debut, all thanks to her unforgettable "stalker" storyline with Trish Stratus. In a new interview with Chris Van Vliet, James reveals she based the storyline on obsessive fans, movies like Single White Female and the real-life murder of pop star Selena.

In 1995, Selena was murdered at just 23 years old by the former president of her fan club. The killer was also the manager of Selena's boutique stores, but was fired after she embezzled money from the singer's businesses. She's currently serving a life sentence in prison and was denied parole in March 2025.

Mickie James was the main writer for her stalker angle, which was originally supposed to position her as an obsessed fan of Lita.

"I was like, 'I have an idea for this kind of wild character, it's crazy, it's different. I asked [Lita] if it was okay if I pitched it with her in mind, because you can't just go out there willy-nilly pitching story lines for anyone," James explains. "She was like, 'Oh, of course.' So and I sat down and I wrote like 18 weeks of TV... of this character. She's a super fan, she's so excited to be there, all she wanted to do was be a wrestler because of her idol."

James continues, "I came up with it because... you think of fandom as a whole and I think wrestling has some of the most passionate fans out of any sport in the world, but you also hear of all these crazy stories. That movie Single White Female was out, and then you think of Selena and these kind of stories of how these fans can get so overzealous and become problematic, but in their mind they're not doing anything wrong, they're just trying to show love. I said, 'I think I can do that in my range.'"

Michael Hayes would later approach James to tell her that Vince McMahon loved the idea. After a tense meeting with McMahon, and waiting six months with no update on the storyline, James finally got word that her pitch got the green light, but in a program with Trish Stratus.

"The way she embraced it and embraced me... we're still the best of friends," James said about Stratus. "She was the first person to FaceTime me [after my TNA Hall of Fame induction]."