The following are highlights of a new Sports Vibe interview with TNA Knockout Gail Kim:
When you began your first stint with TNA back in 2005, did you imagine there would be such a great Knockouts division seven years later?
I just knew I wanted to wrestle and I wanted the company to have a women’s division. Never did I imagine that we would have such a great and talented amount of girls. I love our division now because everybody has something different to offer.
Who has been the toughest opponent you’ve come up against in TNA?
The toughest physically I would say is Taryn Terrell. I worked with Taryn in WWE and there we never really got to showcase what we could do. We never really developed a women’s division to what we have here. I never knew what to expect from her. She told me she loved physicality but I’ve never met anybody who wanted to go to that level. That was the first time in fourteen years that I was blown away. We’ve had a great chemistry since we started wrestling each other regularly.
TNA is putting heavy emphasis on expanding its international image. What was your view on taking Bound For Glory to Tokyo?
I think it was a great idea. We’ve never done a pay-per-view in Japan before. I know from my experience that the fans are different because they clap more and are less rowdy than in the United States. So it’s always interesting and it translated different on television. I think real true wrestling fans appreciated the idea. Wrestling is huge in Japan so to see a different style matched with the American style was great.
The likes of Ethan Carter III, James Storm and Austin Aries have all publicly opposed the return of the six-sided ring. What are your thoughts on bringing it back?
People don’t like change. I was fortunate enough to wrestle in that ring before so I knew it was going to take time to get used to. We’re still getting used to it. But honestly, we left it to the fans and it was certainly an overwhelming decision. I think it makes us different but at the beginning when we got it back, we could feel it physically on our bodies. Luckily, we have a great ring crew and we addressed the issue by working on it for us. It’s great now and it’s just a matter of getting used to where you are in the ring. I honestly think in a couple months nobody will realise.
Check out the complete interview at SportsVibe.co.uk.
