Seven-time Knockouts Champion and TNA Impact Hall of Famer Gail Kim recently spoke with the Women’s Pro Wrestling Weekly podcast to discuss her role as an Impact Wrestling producer, being mentioned during Ivory’s WWE Hall of Fame speech, the importance of female wrestlers getting equal pay and more. Highlights of the interview below, courtesy of After Buzz TV.
On being a producer for Impact: I think a lot of people think I’m a part of the creative team and I’m not part of the creative. I’m a producer agent for the girls. So, when we are at TV tapings, I’m the one that helps them put together their matches, tell them the business of the match and tweak whatever I think for myself… I’m more about the psychology of the match, that is where I’m very nitpicky. And that is something I tried to focus on when I was wrestling. I always wanted to make the matches, in some way different unique and interesting. I never wanted to have that basic match. I just wanted us to stand out in some way or another, whether it was storytelling or interesting wrestling moves. So, I tried to incorporate that and the girls know my personality too. I’m very direct and I don’t sugar coat anything. I went from working with these girls and I’ve always kind of felt like a motherly, older sister type and I was already transitioning in that role anyways for years, so it felt like a very natural thing to happen.
On being mentioned during Ivory’s WWE HOF Acceptance speech: It was unexpected because Ivory and I worked together for a short period of time. But, I had such great memories and experiences with her. She was always so nice, you never know how girls are going to be. But, she was always so nice and very helpful and I really looked up to girls like her and Molly; because they were veterans back then and they were very polished and Ivory was such a great speaker. She was already a good wrestler but her talking ability was on another level.
On Stephanie McMahon not fighting for female wrestlers until recently: WWE always thinks in a business mindset. For them, they are thinking, ‘Okay, this woman’s revolution is becoming hot, Ronda Rousey, this #MeToo movement’; so of course, to be honest I’m going to say this, because I’ve said it on Twitter, Stephanie (McMahon) could have been fighting for us a long time ago. She was there every single time I worked there and she had zero interest in fighting for the women back then. So, for them, everything is business motivated. So, them having this women’s revolution, and it’s from the fans as well. The fans did demand it through social media and Vince heard it and made it happen. And I think finally the girls are getting treated the way they want to get treated.
On Women Wrestlers getting paid equally: They put their bodies through the same thing the guys go through. These girls should be getting paid equally. Everyone is an independent contractor, so everyone gets paid differently. So, we don’t really discuss those things amongst ourselves because money is kind of a taboo subject to this day. But, I think if there are two girls that are going to main event a pay-per-view, they should be getting paid the same amount as two guys main eventing. I mean, they are obviously important enough to main event and they are good enough to main event… so they should be getting paid.
On who she would like to have had dream matches with: I would have loved to have a proper feud with some of the girls now, Allie, Rosemary, Taya, there are so many great girls. But, of course, you know Charlotte is an amazing athlete, I love her work. Now Asuka‘s there. There are so many girls that are really talented right now. There is such a huge generation now that want to be wrestlers and workers. And now Ember Moon, I just heard debuted last night. She’s a great athlete too. There are so many girls. Charlotte, Sasha, Asuka those are probably my top three if you look at WWE.
Gail also discusses what led to her retirement, advice for younger wrestlers, the Alicia Fox and Travis Browne incident and more.
You can watch the full interview below:
What did you think of the interview? Do you agree with Gail Kim’s POV? What are some of your Gail Kim dream matches? Let us know in the comments below!
