TNA will be heading to Canada later this month for a series of house shows, and ahead of the November 9th live event in Windsor, Ontario, Knockout Gail Kim has spoken of returning home.
The Impact Wrestling star spoke to SLAM! Wrestling to promote the upcoming tour and revealed how she prefers TNA’s schedule and their attitude towards their talent.
Speaking of the differences between her current employer and WWE, Kim said: “[TNA] has really focused on women’s wrestling in a different manner than WWE, and I just enjoy it more here. I’ve experienced both major promotions twice now, and I can honestly say that TNA is a better fit for me.”
Gail also expressed her gratitude at being named #1 in Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s Female 50.
“After 13 years, and now being a ‘grizzled veteran’, to be able to do what I love at the best of my abilities, and to be recognized for it, that’s quite an honor. To be doing well at this point in my career, I’m very happy, and it’s just what I want to keep doing.”
The inaugural Knockouts Champion also weighed in on working with Brooke Tessmacher, her early career wrestling under a mask, her marriage to ‘Restaurant: Impossible’ host Robert Irvine and more.
33 Comments
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Gail Kim deserved it
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she has already told us this we get it gail we know it gail TNA treats their female wrestlers better than WWE does but lately TNA has been treating the knockouts like WWE treats the divas
Gail-Trish-Maryse Reply:
November 6th, 2012 at
You know she is going to get asked that question in practically every interview she does, it’s not like she brings it up on purpose.
VarsityBaseDude Reply:
November 6th, 2012 at
I was going to say the same thing. It’s not like she is going on Twitter everyday and mentioning that or she begs to repeat the information. Most of her interviews are going to be wrestling related, so it’s bound to come up.
christopher_cc Reply:
November 6th, 2012 at
yeah yeah but it’s not something for diva dirt to post we’ve heard it all before so both of you can lose the nasty attitudes
Goodvibes Reply:
November 6th, 2012 at
TBH Gail has three claims to fame in wrestling
1) Winning the womens championship on her first night
2) Her epic feud and subsequent matches with Kong
3) But MOST of all she’s known for being hired by both major wrestling promotions not once but twice (The only Diva/Knockout ever to do so) and leaving the WWE in controversial fashion.
So obviously questions in interviews are going to be revolved around what she’s known for. I doubt she goes around telling people the same story on purpose.
Mikas Reply:
November 7th, 2012 at
She isnt the only diva/knockout who worked for both WWE/TNA twice, Jacqueline Moore worked for WWE twice, and 3 times in TNA (and also worked for WCW).
VarsityBaseDude Reply:
November 7th, 2012 at
What nasty attitudes? We were providing an opinion and nothing more :P
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That is the understatement of the year.
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The whole interview is worth the read. I love to hear her talk about wrestling because you can tell she has such a love for it.
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She is an awesome wrestler and in WWE she was jobbing against models
Mikas Reply:
November 7th, 2012 at
She didnt job in WWE, she won most of her matches. Only the championship matches she always lost, but thats not considered jobbing.
christopher_cc Reply:
November 7th, 2012 at
SHE JOBBED TO KELLY KELLY
RyRy21 Reply:
November 7th, 2012 at
she jobbed to maryse over & over & over again (her and kelly only faced once i think)
christopher_cc Reply:
November 7th, 2012 at
it don’t matter how many times she faced whoever the point is she lost to divas that was not better than her at wrestling but maybe prettier so you know how WWE is they give the prettier one the victory
VarsityBaseDude Reply:
November 7th, 2012 at
She may have won a lot of her matches, but when it came to the “big” one that counts, she never did. And like C_CC said, she lost to Kelly Kelly whom was on a losing streak to Michelle McCool at the time. She had not yet won the Divas title yet, so I say, Gail did job to Kelly Kelly.
Gail jobbed to Michelle McCool the most IMO. She lost to her in all accept one of their one on one encounter, pinned in most tag matches by McCool, lost her place in the survivor series by being pinned by McCool, lost an impromptu match to LayCool by being pinned by McCool. McCool pretty much walked all over Gail in her WWE run.
Jcott3 Reply:
November 7th, 2012 at
Fandom has been very divided over Gail in the last year. Half support her desire to move to a company that appreciates and supports women’s wrestling, but half feel the way she left WWE was unprofessional and call her a cry-baby.
Gail had a walk in the park compared to some other women. Look at Molly Holly. She was the victim of one of the worst angles in wrestling history, had to volunteer to shave her head to get on WrestleMania and spent the last year of her career having to take the fall in virtually every match she was in, yet she has NEVER said a bad word about WWE.
Gail-Trish-Maryse Reply:
November 7th, 2012 at
Molly pitched the head shaving angle her self. And Molly was also had 2 very decent title reigns, and had many memorable fueds with Trish and Victoria.
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Gail is amazing, I to this day truly believe the WWE only hired her the second time around to stunt TNA’s women’s division and had no intention of using her properly.
Well deserved ranking on the PWI as well, however I would LOVE for either Beth Phoenix or Natalya to head to TNA to give her one final blowout feud like she had with Kong, I know those girls would put together epic matches when not restricted either.
christopher_cc Reply:
November 7th, 2012 at
yeah maybe she does have three claims but to be honest people barely watch TNA and people barely know her yeah WWE mistreats their women wrestlers but WWE has always been the better company more views more fans they have TNA beaten what so ever
flash1086 Reply:
November 7th, 2012 at
Yeah but your comparing 2 COMPANIES. You need to compare the 2 divisions and not the entire companies. Knockouts constatly gets one of the highest rating of the show. The divas divisions is the worst division of the show. They are the laughing stock of the wwe.
christopher_cc Reply:
November 7th, 2012 at
you do realize TNA has been treating the knockouts the same way WWE treats their divas lately right?
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gail kim found out the hard way why WWE does what it does…portray women wrestlers as EYE CANDY, the WWE type of wrestling really sucks when it is a womens match…I have seen Gail when she was doing independent wrestling and she fought…and fought hard, just like she does now in TNA!! god bless Gail, and dont hurt your husband when he burns dinner…LOL
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TNA treats their women much better than WWE.
Look at all those great matches for the KnockoutsTag belts… oops.
Look at how well they use Sarita, Rosita, Mickie James… oops.
Well at least they still have the best act and highest ratings draw The Beautiful… er, nevermind.
Gail-Trish-Maryse Reply:
November 8th, 2012 at
Mickie had 2 title reigns already. She can’t be in the spotlight ALL THE TIME. She is taking a break for her music. Gail doesnt have to be in the spotlight all the time either.
Right now it’s time for Tara and Brooke to shine. Just bc TNA has multiple women, that doesn’t mean they have to show every single one of them every single weak in some pointless tag team match like WWE does. And every single match we get from the knockouts is 100% better then what we get from Divas matches (not the Divas fault, but still).
Heck most of the Knockouts PPV matches are better than we get from some of the MEN in WWE..
fragile Reply:
November 9th, 2012 at
multiple women ??? not any more…
plus they haven’t signed a new knockout since like 1920…
but yeah, i’m fan of the knockouts.just seems no one at tna cares about them anymore.
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LOL and that’s why you haven’t been featured on television for how many weeks now? It’s only going to be a matter of time before they stop using you.
Gail-Trish-Maryse Reply:
November 7th, 2012 at
It’s been 3 weeks. Before that she had probably the best womens match of the entire year from both companies with Brooke Tessmacher.
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what if TNA folds then where Gail Kim go then?
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Okay gail we Get it your confortable in TNA just stop bragging
Kaledrina Reply:
November 8th, 2012 at
lol somebody doesnt know how an interview works
she was asked a question, she answered ;P
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While I’m normally the first to make a Gail Kim snark, the above posters are right, chances are the reporters are asking her these questions, it’s not like she’s volunteering. While I’m sure she could stop the line of questioning by adding it to a “no ask” list, she’s very happy @ her job, so why not talk about it?
TNA is a better fit for her. She couldn’t seem to thrive in WWE. Both of her runs were forgettable @ best. She was botchy, inconsistent and couldn’t seem to connect with the fans even a little (she received the same amount of screen time as the other women, so she can’t blame that. All of the Divas get minimal time and others could connect. She didn’t do it during her first run either). Some people fare better as big fish in small ponds, and that’s Gail Kim.
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The only reason why she thinks TNA is better fit is that she getting wrestling time where in WWE you have to be model looks