Gail Kim Reflects On Her Two Runs With WWE
Impact Knockout's legend and producer Gail Kim joined Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette to talk about her wrestling career. Paquette asked Kim if she had any regrets on missing out on some things regarding the women's revolution in WWE. Having been outspoken about her time with WWE in the past, Gail Kim revealed she was okay with missing out on things like WWE Evolution, as she is very happy with the career she had in Impact Wrestling both in and out of the ring.
"I would love to talk about this right now because I feel people have a perception," Gail Kim said. "Obviously I've been very vocal in the past in terms of my time in WWE, and that was all from a very honest place. I want people to understand now that I still feel the same way in terms of the way I was treated. Of course, I wasn't very happy with the way I was booked there, because I don't think I was there at the right time, to be honest. Although I did think the second time I was there, they could've utilized me better. But now at this point in my life, as I said, you're younger and you think a certain way and you're very involved in that moment.
"I'm still not happy with how I was treated, personally. In terms of booking and all that stuff, I can now say I know I was there at the wrong time. I know that if those things didn't happen, I would've never left to go back to TNA/Impact, and I'd have never been able to have, the Awesome Kong stuff happened, but when I left WWE the second time, I came back and had those matches with Tarryn (Terrell), went on to now produce and have a great leadership role there.
"All those things wouldn't have happened if those things didn't happen at WWE. So I can see the good in that. I think I've cut emotionally, in terms of you saying 'do I wish I could've been part of those things?' I think I cut that part of my emotional system off. I don't even consider it a possibility. In my mind, I never thought 'okay, I don't think of being invited to anything because I've cut those ties.' And I'm okay with that. I did it back then and I knew what I was doing back then when I left.
"I experienced that company twice, so I was very sure and I still am very sure. It's not like leadership has changed there in terms of how they perceive me or however it is. But I know the things I did wrong back then, and I think I'm a pretty realistic person and I can look back in hindsight and know the things that I probably thought in a wrong way. But I also am very firm in the way that I felt, in terms of certain ways that I was treated."
Gail Kim had two runs in WWE, first from 2002 to 2004 (when she briefly won the WWE Women's Championship) and again from 2008 to 2011. She has not held back her feelings on WWE since, criticizing them several times on Twitter, including earlier this year when she called attention to WWE's practice of returning women's belongings in trash bags following the release of Mickie James. Kim was also critical of WWE's booking of Mia Yim in Retribution last year; Yim and Kim had previously worked together in Impact Wrestling.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription