The likes of America's Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, making their mark on the tennis court in their early days tended to be considered more the exception to sport endorsements.

James, a six-time World Wrestling Entertainment women's champion with a wealth of experience on independent professional wrestling circuits, has long experienced and helped drive the shift in women's sport perception and opportunities.

She is determined for a key chapter of this to play out in Ballarat, Australia.

James, alongside WWE hall of famer Bret 'The Hitman' Hart, will headline five-day global wrestling convention Starrcast in Ballarat in April. This is the first time Starrcast has ventured outside the United States.

For James, this is also a chance to launch the sequel to Empower, the ground-breaking all-female wrestling show in what will be one of the first all-female pay-per-view wrestling events in Australia.

This is a big deal in the wrestling industry.

Starrcast, in partnership with Oceania Pro Wrestling and GLO Sports, has been more than one year in the making led by James and her husband Nick Aldis, a veteran British wrestler best known in his current role as WWE general manager on Smackdown.

Conrad Thomson, prominent wrestling podcaster, Starrcast co-creator and son-in-law to wrestling royalty Ric Flair, has been a co-producer alongside prominent Australian sports executive Cam Vale.

And the event is one week after WWE's Wrestlemania 40 in Philadelphia, a phenomenon that becomes the epicentre for almost all things wrestling.

This is also a big deal for women's sport, in pathways and in image with an increasingly stronger focus on athleticism and strength.

James said the big change in women's wrestling had been in recognition from the perceived novelty of "popcorn" matches of her early shows.

She said there was no longer such a "cookie-cutter" idea for what a Diva or women's wrestler should look like or act.

Rather than call this an evolution, James said there was now a wrestling renaissance because there had always been incredible female athletes - they just had not been considered equals.

"I think for myself alongside all the girls, all the women that I've worked with, we still took what we did very seriously out there and make the most of every moment and every opportunity that we were given," she said.

"You talk about Trish [Stratus], you talk about Lita, you talk about Jazz, they were incredible wrestlers - still are - but it didn't have the same level of respect as it does now for women's wrestling where people can look at a women's match as the main event on the card and they don't blink twice, they don't bat an eye, because absolutely, they're the biggest stars on the night or they have the best story going in.

"I think with this newfound love for women's wrestling, it's not only raised the bar of the types of matches these women are having but it's also raised the talent and the level of talent we're finding."

James grew up with an equestrian background and a love for professional wrestling. She signed up for wrestling school with male trainers in a male-dominated world.

Starting out, James was told she would be lucky to have five years in the industry and lucky to break into limited television time before she might start a family and try something else in life.

There were few female mentors. James found one in now-WWE hall of famer Lita, who had a couple of years in the industry under her belt.

James' in-ring career now spans close to 25 years and she has become a working mum and a professional athlete, still demanding television time.

Empower in Ballarat will be re-branded as Her in what James said represented how powerful the women's division had risen.

Added wrestling exposure in the modern world of streaming services has helped open up the world of women's wrestling with the push from upstart All Elite Wrestling, better known as AEW, and access to New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

James credits Impact Wrestling (now known as Total Nonstop Action), where she is a four-time knock-out champion, as a key driver in the changing face of women's wrestling in what has been a shifting landscape for women's sport internationally.

"As far as when fans started seeing how the women were represented on Impact and how they were real athletes and all different body styles, backgrounds, all these things and how opposite that was in how they were seeing them portrayed on WWE at the time," James said.

"I think it really called for this - 'wait, these women can go, like they're legit bad asses ... I think that's what really started to change people's minds of going like 'no, women's wrestling matters' and these women are athletes and they're incredible and they're inspirations and people look up to them and we want them to be presented that way.

"Everybody's kind of followed suit because they realised that's where the tide was going. You had to like, go with it or get stuck."

As such, James felt this captured a female audience for wrestling and made for a more family-oriented show.

She said mums and dads were becoming more OK with their daughters chasing the wrestling dream.

James was well aware of how tough this pathway was for emerging athletes outside the United States. Her husband is British and needed to move to the US to pursue his dream to the highest levels.

Gradually more Australian men and women are fighting their way into rings in the US, most notably led by Adelaide export Rhea Ripley who is women's champion for WWE's Smackdown brand, and had what has been touted as one of the best Wrestlemania matches to win the title in 2023.

James said it took great bravery for an athlete to uproot their whole life and travel a great distance for the dream.

Her, as a showcase, will be a platform in Ballarat for emerging female wrestlers in Australia to be seen and to test their game against talent from the United States. Such experience will include James and her podcast co-host Lisa Marie Vernon, a multiple WWE women's champion under her ring name Victoria.

James said there would be a lot of eyes on the Ballarat show - and you never knew where you might find the next star.

"It's like they always say: it's the right time, the right opportunity, the right person to see you, the right person to believe to give you that opportunity," she said.

"When you have to travel from such a distance to try and go after that opportunity, it's like a big risk and it's a lot of dedication to up-root your whole life and everything you know that's your normal.

"...But I hope if we can bring this to them maybe it will give them a platform to be seen right where they're standing and represent Australia and the women there."

Ballarat was also a special chance for James to share and pass on her knowledge to help level-up the playing field for women, even if to instill a belief for the women in the ring and young girls watching ringside that an athletic career in wrestling was possible.

James said greater mentoring among women in the locker room - and she had been in most women's wrestling locker rooms - had been organically changing. She said often hearing advice or criticism from a different voice, a female voice, could resonate more.

It has been humbling for James to become a wrestler who others now sought advice from and looked up to. She said female role models were important in all industries.

"I think there needs to be a strong female voice in those locker rooms, in those meetings, specifically for the women because women are obviously built different: we fight over different things, we fight differently," James said.

"...We lead with our hearts whereas men don't necessarily lead with their hearts. It causes different types of emotions, especially when family is involved and stuff like that.

"It's pretty cool to still try and give back."

Wrestling has opened up the world for James, who said she had only imagined places like Australia from school projects. Her attitude has always been to make the most of every minute - and sleep on the plane.

Ballarat is not a completely foreign place for James. A photo memory flashing up on her iPhone reminded her she had visited Ballarat Wildlife Park to hug a koala on a WWE tour almost a decade ago.

She looked forward to bringing her nine-year-old son to Ballarat, maybe to meet a koala too, but her focus would definitely be on the wrestling.

"I can't wait to find the talent out there," James said. "That would be a dream come true for me that a talent gets found out there and the next thing you know they're headlining Wrestlemania next year.

"That would be special."