Gail Kim On Growth Of the Impact Knockouts Division, How Company Has Embraced Women’s Wrestling

In a recent interview on Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette, Gail Kim discussed the growth of the Knockouts division in Impact, how the company has embraced women’s wrestling, and much more. You can read her comments below.

Gail Kim on the growth of the Knockouts division in Impact and how the company has embraced women’s wrestling: “Obviously, I’m very invested because when I joined this company, there was no women’s division. They did draw me towards the division saying they would like to have a women’s division one day, but we just don’t have the time for it, but that’s what we’re looking to do. I said, ‘Okay, great.’ I waited and waited, and it was like a year and a half. Everyone knows the story in terms of the battle to make it happen. I think some people don’t know that I did try to resign. I was like, I’ve been waiting a year and a half. It was very hard for me to manage and watch all the guys doing what I loved while I was ringside. I knew what my talent was in the business, and that was just wrestling. It wasn’t with the promos or anything like that. I was like, ‘I’m wasting my time. I don’t know how much longer I can wait.’ When I did try to resign, that’s when things started to happen.

“A couple of months later, they brought in 10 women and a title. I think the true key to the success was they brought in all these women, but they didn’t overthink it. They did everything kind of basic with the proper way of storytelling. They almost left it alone in a sense, and that’s what made it so great, and that all these women were passionate about wrestling and really wanted to prove themselves. It’s a constant, ‘We have to be as good as the guys. We have to prove that we can be on TV and do this as well.’ They ran with it and they’ve never stopped since then, so I’m really happy that they haven’t. Through all the management changes we had throughout all of the years, that’s one thing that they haven’t stopped. I’m so happy about that. Now, it truly is a cornerstone of our company and one of the things that people recognize.”

On nearly resigning from the company: “It was the biggest pay-per-view of the year and they had laid this all out and said, ‘Okay, you’re not coming to the biggest pay-per-view of the year.’ Plus, I wasn’t wrestling, and it was like, ‘Gosh, I’m useless here.’ That was in my mind back then. There was some immaturity back then too. And so I sent in a fax – I’m showing my age [laughs] – to the hotel they were staying at. The story I was told is that Bob Ryder picked up the fax and gave it to Terry Taylor because Terry and Scott were in management at the time, and one of them tore it up. Then they called me and said, ‘You can’t just quit and resign. You’re under contract.’ I don’t think anyone knows this story, to be honest. After that, they brought in one woman at a time to test the waters, and then we did prove ourselves one match at a time. Then they brought in the division. Sometimes, I’m like did I act like a brat? But sometimes, I’m like well, if I didn’t fight that hard, it would’ve have happened.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.