Since retiring from professional wrestling back in 2017, former multi time Knockouts champion Gail Kim has been working behind the scenes of Impact Wrestling.
The Impact Wrestling Hall of Famer guest-starred on this past week’s edition of Women’s Pro Wrestling Weekly on Afterbuzz TV, and discussed her reasons for retiring, recent WWE Hall of Fame inductee Ivory mentioning her name, and Stephanie McMahon’s fight for female wrestling amongst other things.
Here’s the highlights:
Gail Talks About Why She Retired:
My back was starting to deteriorate and basically what happened was I just couldn’t walk after a couple of matches here and there. I never had an MRI and I never knew what was going on in my body for so long, and then it was coming to point where I was always wrestling and not being able to walk after. And I was like ‘ It’s time, I need to know what is going on. It’s a scary thought, but you have to know so you can help it’.So, I got an MRI done and I guess, I’m grateful it wasn’t worst. My L4 and my L5, pretty much the discs, was just basically all gone and there was just a thin layer left to the point, it could be bone on bone soon. Basically, I made the decision that I didn’t want to keep on going, where I had to have that major surgery because that minor surgery; he (the doctor) told me I can get back in the ring in 7 weeks and that 7 weeks turned into 7 months.
On Ivory Mentioning Her Name During Her 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.
Believes Stephanie McMahon Could Have Fought For Female Wrestlers Progress A long Time Ago:
WWE always thinks in a business mindset. For them, they are thinking, ‘ok this woman’s revolution is becoming hot, Ronda Rousey, this “Me Too” 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.