Gail Kim discussed the growth of the Knockouts division in Impact Wrestling and how the company has embraced women’s wrestling during a recent interview on Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette. Here is what she had to say:
“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.”
