Gail Kim Discusses How Wrestling Has Changed From When She First Came In, Improvements for Women’s Wrestlers

Jackpot City Casino recently interviewed former WWE and TNA star Gail Kim, who spoke on a variety of topics, including how wrestling has changed from when she first came into the business. She noted that the environment was far more cutthroat when she first started in WWE. Below are some highlights:

Gail Kim on How Wrestling Has Changed

“First off, there were fewer women and less opportunity. There are definitely way more women on the rosters now. I love the fact that women have main-evented WrestleMania, and that’s become a normal thing now. People aren’t surprised to see those things. I think, forward-facing and publicly, everyone sees the great improvements in women’s wrestling. However, I have personally experienced the challenge of the lack of women in leadership behind the scenes. These are things that fans don’t get to see, such as the production team, producers, or any other leadership roles. We definitely need more women. That’s why, when I did the little trial run at NXT, I heard every day from the talent and the coaches that they needed women really badly. They even knew they needed women really badly.

“I think they’re making moves to improve that, hopefully. I’ve heard a few rumors of some people getting hired, so let’s see. I hope it works out. I hope that women have an equal opportunity to move up the chain. I found it a little more difficult, but hopefully, what you guys don’t see behind the scenes will equal what’s on TV. And on TV, I still feel like we can make improvements, of course, but I think that’s across the board in terms of creative right now.”

How Wrestling Was More Cutthroat When She Came In

“When I first came into wrestling, I think it was a more cutthroat environment because there were less women, less spots, so people were kind of like, ‘how can I make this match make me look good?” I kind of just did what I was told because I was pretty new, and I remember kind of feeling like shit about it. So people don’t want you to shine. But I’d never do that to someone else. If I ever wrestled someone else, I’d always try my best to make them look good, myself look good, the whole match look good overall, so that everyone wins, and including the fans. They get a very high-quality, competitive match.

“And sometimes the matches are not planned for that, the stories, they may want you to squash someone, and I had that storyline for a few months at one point, because we ran so low on girls. They just had me as the champion, kind of issue an open challenge to whoever was out there. And I remember them just wanting me to just squash these girls that came off the independent scene, who had never made it to TV at that point, and I was like, ‘That’s so boring.’ Like, ‘Let’s give them a little bit more, let’s make it a little competitive.’ And if I gave them too much, then the producers would be like, ‘Okay, Gail, it’s too much. Like, you gotta back it up.’ And so, I would always listen to them, but I always didn’t want to have a boring match. I always wanted the fans to be entertained.”

Gail Kim last wrestled in TNA Wrestling in 2023. She was let go from the company earlier this year.