Gail Kim on her retirement, her legacy, Mae Young Classic, BFG, GLOW, more

Via Ryan Rider:

On the latest episode of Main Event Radio, Ryan Rider went 1-on-1 with Impact Wrestling Hall of Famer Gail Kim to discuss her retirement, Bound for Glory coming to Canada, her involvement in Season 2 of GLOW, and thoughts on the Mae Young Classic.

Can be downloaded here

Impact Wrestling’s Bound for Glory:

I’m so excited. When I heard the news that we were going to have Bound for Glory in Canada. I can’t wait to perform for the Canadian fans. I’m hoping to go out there and steal the show once again. Giving the best match of the night and hopefully regaining the women’s title for the last time.

What she missed about Canada:

I miss the people; my family and friends. Americans always say that Canadians are so friendly; they’re so nice. I do not miss the winter. Canadians have better chocolates, better candy, better flavors of chips. And Tim Horton’s of course.

Her retirement:

I announced my retirement coming up. I couldn’t honestly picture a perfect way, other than this, to retire. This is definitely near the end, if not the end. We generalized my retirement to be at the end of 2017, basing it on how I felt. I had a back surgery last year, and was having a lot of issues. When I went in to have the surgery, the doctor said I could get back in the ring after 7 weeks but I wasn’t ready and that 7 weeks turned into 7+ months. I don’t want to take a gamble with my quality of life in the future. I have up’s and down’s. The last few times I’ve been in the ring it has been good one day and bad the next. I’m working with a physical therapist to break down the scar tissue that creates all the pain and discomfort. I have a couple of matches coming up and we’ll see how they turn out. I just don’t want this to end seeing me deteorating in my performance. It’s definitely close. When it comes to in-ring, it’s a gamble for my body and I don’t want to do that to myself or my future. I hope to still contribute, but more behind the scenes. I have no L4/L5 right now so it’s walking a fine line.

Looking back at her legacy:

When I look back at my career I am so satisfied with everything that I accomplished. Helping to create the women’s division in Impact Wrestling. At the time, women’s wrestling was essentially dead. People within the business who were females would say to me that they don’t want to see women’s wrestling, that it’s a bathroom break. I would get angry and I feel that we proved them wrong. We brought in a great group of girls and it was a success. For me it’s kind of a personal satisfaction that women can be as good as the guys and we can draw. It’s a nice feeling to know that we can do that. We’ve got the backing of the people we work with and the fans. I can walk away from the business knowing that I did something meaningful.

Mae Young Classic:

Oh my gosh. I was so excited and glad it was such a success. The fans do enjoy watching the women and they are a draw. And there’s a couple of the girls like Marti Belle, Jade (Mia Yim), Santana Garrett who I worked with. On a whole for women’s wrestling, I hope that they all get opportunities in the future.

Getting involved with Netflix’s GLOW:

I heard about GLOW, but I found out a little too late. I kind of made a run of getting a role training the actresses to show them how to wrestle. I heard Kia auditioned and she got the role, and she stole the show. I was blown away, she was so good. I told her “Girl, you’re an actress, you run with that because you’re a natural.” For Season 2, Chavo [Guerrero] had the producers bring in myself, Torrie, Victoria, and Candice Michelle to talk to the producers to give them stories about what it was like to be a woman on the road.