In an interview with Jim Ross on this week's Ross Report podcast, TNA Knockout and former WWE Diva Gail Kim talked about WWE vs. TNA, being a female wrestler rather than a model who is part of the pro wrestling industry, what happened at WrestleMania 25 when she eliminated herself from the Divas Battle Royal (a move that cause controversy backstage, to say the least), and much more.
Gail Kim on Female Wrestlers vs. Other Women in Wrestling
One thing that always stood out about Gail Kim is that she was always interested in being a great women's wrestler above all else. On his podcast, Jim Ross asked Kim about a women's locker room in pro wrestling being filled with a lot of women who didn't really want to be wrestlers when they got into the business.
In response to that, Gail Kim referenced fellow TNA Knockout Christy Hemme, who started out in WWE, became a Playboy Model and now does a ton of work for Impact Wrestling both as their resident ring announcer and behind the scenes in production. Says Kim, "She's still in this business in a different form but she's always had passion and always been respectful."
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Gail Kim on the Work Environment in WWE vs. TNA
"I feel like WWE, they want you to give your life to them. They want you to eat, sleep, drink everything wrestling and that's fine for someone early in their lifetime."
She added, "I was always nurtured in TNA with my talent and they saw my talent and gave me that spotlight and that platform where as with WWE I felt like they wanted everyone to feel scared for their jobs."
CB's Analysis: I agree with both of those sentiments. WWE is definitely a much harder place to work than TNA in the sense that it can be a real grind and there really is no respite. For someone as amazing as Gail Kim is as a wrestler, TNA afforded her the opportunity to really hone her craft and her matches in TNA with competitors like Awesome Kong are still some of the best televised women's wrestling matches of all-time.
Gail Kim on the WrestleMania 25 Controversy
"We didn't really have time to go through 25 girls in the match ... I wasn't supposed to get eliminated when I did. Victoria was standing on the apron and we had this thing planned. I hit her and eliminated myself early."
CB's Analysis: At the time that happened, all I could think of was, "Good for her" as someone needed to take a stand at that time when the Divas Division was a real mess and the storyline that was created surrounded around Santino Marella in drag. Besides, Gail Kim was better off in TNA anyway.
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The full interview with Gail Kim is available on the Jim Ross podcast at PodcastOne.com.
(credit: Diva Dirt)
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