James made her debut for Pro Wrestling Elite (PWE) in Ayr, Scotland on September 15, 2012, at "History Is Born", where she wrestled Kay Lee Ray to a no contest. After the match, James teamed up with Ray in a winning effort against Carmel and Nikki Storm. The following night, James competed against Carmel in a winning effort. James returned to Pro Wrestling Elite at their two-year anniversary event "Elite Bro" on July 20, 2013, in a winning effort against Nikki Storm. On September 21, James made an appearance at the "Wrestling Spectacular 2" all-female event in Edison, New Jersey, alongside many former WWE and TNA female wrestlers, such as Angelina Love, Katarina Waters, Rosita and Brooke Adams. James and Love fought in the main event, with Candice Michelle as the special guest referee, where Love pinned James after interference from Velvet Sky. James made appearances for Big Time Wrestling in August 2013, doing so as a villainess wrestling Reby Sky several times in different dates and locations, winning in all bouts against Sky. On October 12, Mickie again appeared for the promotion, beating Quebec's Midianne in Bristol, Connecticut. On February 8, 2014, James returned to Maryland Championship Wrestling for the "Anniversary 2014" event in Joppa, Maryland to face Angelina Love, promoted as "Battle of the Bombshells". Although originally promoted as a singles match, interference by MCW's Renee Michelles' and Jessie Kayes' rivalry occurred during the match, resulting in the match being turned into a tag team match with Mickie and Michelle facing Angelina and Kayes, which James and Michelle won.