Gail Kim on Her TNA Return, Philly Fans and Her Classic Feud With Awesome Kong

Fred: Fred Richani for TheSportsCourier.com here with TNA Knockouts Champion and Knockouts Tag Team Champion Gail Kim. How are you, Gail?

Gail Kim: Not the Knockouts Tag Team Champion, but I like your style. I like that you think I’m so dominant that I’m both champions right now, but unfortunately, Eric Young and ODB are the Knockouts Tag Team Champions right now.

Fred: That’s right. You were so great, I still want to envision you as both. What brings you here today to Wizard World Comic Con in Philly?

Gail Kim: It’s my first comic con since I’ve been back with Impact Wrestling, and this was definitely the one I wanted to be at, because Philadelphia is full of wrestling fans. It’s crazy today, as I’m sure you’ve seen. I just love meeting the fans, getting to know them and hearing their opinions and comments. It’s fun to get one-on-one time with them.

Fred: Some of the best fans are in Philly. You guys were just here for Bound for Glory, which I attended. What are Philly fans like, and how are they different from other fans?

Gail Kim: I’d definitely say they’re more in the know. They’re rowdy, they’re loud and they’re pretty crazy, and sometimes they like to think they know a lot more than the average fan, so they kind of go the other way sometimes. But we enjoy fans who love our business and have as much passion for it as we do.

Fred: You’ve had a great TNA comeback, and before that, you had another stint with WWE, where you’re a former Women’s Champion. Why do you feel TNA is a lot more open to women’s wrestling and angles with women than WWE?

Gail Kim: I’m not sure exactly why one company does it and the other doesn’t. You could say it’s because Dixie Carter is also a woman, so she understands. I think everyone in our office knows we work just as hard as the guys, we want to have matches as good as the guys’, and we want to show the fans. We know the fans want to see it. For the longest time, women’s wrestling kind of died at one point, right before the first Knockouts division. People used to tell me all the time, “Gail, they don’t want to see women’s wrestling.” It made me sad, and I said, “No, that cannot be true.” I was that cheesy fighter for women’s wrestling, and when we had such great success and fan response, I said, “See, they wanted to see it.” Judging from all the fans we’ve seen at live events and on TV and pay-per-views all over the world, they want to see it, so we’re just giving them what they want.

Fred: You had that awesome main event a few years back with Awesome Kong, who’s now Kharma in WWE. What are your thoughts looking back on that main event, and why do you think she hasn’t been utilized? From what I understand, she’s been ready to go.

Gail Kim: I keep hearing different rumors about that. We contacted each other recently, but we didn’t talk about that, so you never know. Only the office knows. As for the whole series with Kong, I have such great respect for her, and I think she has respect for me and what we did in that ring. We had magic chemistry, and it was the perfect time, because there was no strong women’s wrestling then, and it kind of came out of nowhere. It was that perfect David and Goliath feud, and it was just something special. Even though my body hurt like it never had in my 12 years of wrestling, I will never take back a moment of it, because those are the moments you dream about when you want to become a pro wrestler.

Fred: In your first TNA stint, you had a great run with James Storm and Chris Harris, and you’ve been around Bobby Roode and the Team Canada guys, who are more of the homegrown talent. Even though you came from WWE at the time, you’re kind of considered homegrown TNA talent, too. What are your thoughts on how Storm and Roode got their start in TNA and have come up to take the reins at the top, when for the longest time people were saying it was all ex-WWE talent?

Gail Kim: I think TNA has done a really good job of recognizing these guys, who are so talented. I’ve known Bobby, or Robert Roode, he goes by Bobby now, since the indies. We all started out together: “Showtime” Eric Young, Traci Brooks, Bobby, myself and Scott D’Amore. We all came up through it together, so I knew how talented he was, and other people knew it, too. It was just a matter of time before the company knew it, and now look, he’s the longest-reigning TNA World Heavyweight Champion of all time. It’s a great thing.

Fred: Where can fans find you online?

Gail Kim: Twitter. I don’t have a Facebook account, so if you see one, it’s fake. My Twitter account is GailKimITSME. It’s me.

Fred: Thank you so much, and best of luck in the future.

Gail Kim: Thank you.