Gail Kim Wonders If Women Were Set Up To Fail In WrestleMania 35 Main Event
Gail Kim has 20 years of experience in the wrestling industry as an in-ring performer and now an Impact producer. She recently took part in an intergender match against Joey Ryan at United We Stand, and Kim spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast to talk about intergender wrestling in today's society.
"I think wrestling has changed throughout the years, especially the last couple of years. Intergender wrestling has been at the forefront, especially lately I've heard a lot. I'm okay with it as long as the story is told properly, the build is proper and we're not doing things that aren't realistic," stated Kim. "That's for me. I like to lean on making wrestling the most believable, realistic form of entertainment as possible for the most part.
"There are some characters who are purely entertainment. But that's my point on intergender wrestling. I don't like to see things where a man is going to punch a woman. I just think about the kids that are watching. I take that into consideration. I wouldn't want to see too much of that or something that isn't realistic or something they couldn't get a grasp on."
Kim was part of the pre-Women's Revolution in WWE, but she is still ecstatic to see the progress made in women's wrestling. She was excited to see the women main event WrestleMania 35 even if it took nearly seven hours for the match to take place.
"I'm so happy for those girls. I told people all weekend at WrestleCon when I met fans that it was the match I was most excited to see," revealed Kim. "I just knew they would kill it because everyone has performed to the best of their ability up to that point. They worked really hard, especially someone like Becky Lynch, who won over the fans herself and worked for that spot. If she didn't get over with the fans like she did, would she had been in that position? I'm not so sure, but she did that. She worked hard, and I'm really happy for all those girls.
"I don't know about the seven-hour show though. I shouldn't think so negatively, but I feel like [WWE] almost set them up for failure in a way. Why would you have a seven-hour show? The fans are going to be so tired halfway through the show."
Becky Lynch, Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair still put on a show even though the fans were drained with waiting so long for the match.
"Yeah. They had the proper build from what I understand. But having a seven-hour show, it's a challenge for the people on the back half of the card," said Kim.
Gail's full interview was released as part of today's episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post. In it she discusses coming out of retirement to face Gail Kim, whether she plans on wrestling more, rumors of Sasha Banks sitting out her WWE contract, Victoria's impending retirement and more.
You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.