Gail Kim
March 4, 2008 Gail Kim, Wrestling Divas No Comments
Is there anyone more interesting and sexier to watch on TV these days than to witness pro wrestler Gail Kim wearing tight jeans and a white bra kicking ass on an octagonal ring? I don’t think so. Right now, Gail is without a doubt my favorite female wrestler, combining great skill, beauty and demonstrating a sense of taking chances that we don’t see very often in North American performers of the “weaker” sex. Let’s try to understand where she’s coming from.
Well actually Gail is Canadian, born in Toronto on February 20, 1976, but of Korean heritage. Even while studying kinesiology at the University of Toronto, Gail had always shown great athletic prowess, being skillful in basketball, volleyball, soccer, baseball and badminton… She eventually changed her course by attending Ryerson University, this time studying nutrition. Once obtaining her degree, Gail decided, just like that, to become a pro wrestler, to the amazement of her family. To achieve this goal, she enrolled at Ron Hutchinson’s School of Pro Wrestling in Toronto (isn’t that name awfully adequate?). She also attended the Squared Circle Pro Wrestling Gym. Now, she had a natural talent and thusly made her debut in December 2000, portraying a masked character named La Felina, The Queen of the Cats, for the Apocalypse Wrestling Federation promotion based in Southern Ontario.
For the next couple of years, Gail found employment on the independent circuit, still mainly in Canada, learning her craft and already having memorable encounters with fellow fighter Tracy Brooks. In 2001, she met WWF current performer Holly Molly and gave her a promotional videotape of herself. This resulted in being hired in October 2002 and assigned to Ohio Valley Wrestling, a training ground for future stars of the company. Gail debuted officially on June 30, 2003, on a female battle royal match televised for RAW, where she actually won the WWE Women’s Championship, no mean feat for a first appearance! She held the belt for a month, eventually losing to Molly and becoming soon after a “bad girl” or a “heel”, in wrestling terms.
Gail was quite busy until an injury the following November, an unfortunate broken right collarbone that kept her on ice until the next April. For a while, she didn’t return to high-flying tactics, preferring to specialize in submission moves. She had more title shots, but no more championship reign. Her last match for the WWE was on November 1, 2004, and she was released by the company the following day, a surprising move that astounded many fans, as that decision was really coming out of nowhere.
After a 90-day no-compete clause, Gail visited Mexico, South Korea, and Australia for matches on the independent circuit. She caused quite a happy sensation when willingly posing topless for a mobile phone ad in South Korea (now what was the connection between a cell and a naked cutie? Not that I’m complaining, but…).
Things looked well when Gail was hired by TNA (Total Nonstop Action) Wrestling and debuted on October 8, 2005. Being tossed around or body slammed by male wrestlers didn’t seemed to be a problem. She filmed a movie in 2006, Royal Kill, which should be released this year, directed by a guy named Babar, where she seemingly plays an assassin. In 2007, she had a great feud with another of my favorites, Jackie Moore, which culminated in a Cat Fight Steel cage match, an awesome affair that saw Gail victorious after actually jumping down the top of the cage on her opponent!
At the Bound for Glory pay-per-view on October 14, 2007, Gail became the first ever TNA Women’s World Champion after winning a Knockout Gauntlet Match involving nine more female athletes. Knockout is the term TNA uses for its female roster. So eventually Gail lost her title on a televised episode, to Awesome Kong, a 5 ft 10 in, 250 lb immense performer. Of course these days Gail wants her belt back where it belongs, but is now also involved in a love/hate relationship with fellow grappler O.D.B., after some communication problems of late.
Take my word for it: Gail Kim delivers in all departments. There’s a lot of her matches available on YouTube, so you can now program your own kick-ass Gail Kim Bone-Crunch Festival! I can just salute TNA for the quality given to their Knockout division: of course there’s much inflated boobs galore but these gals give their all in sometimes very brutal spots; in fact, there’s no embarrassing lingerie matches/sketches like those too often than not served by rival company WWE, a flagrant disrespect towards their own female roster wasting their time in limbo. It just irks me that McMahon likes more to waste his time in discovering a Diva of the Year when real wrestlers could be under his command.
Gail Kim is also now considered one of America’s Most Eligible Bachelorettes, to her own astonishment, as claimed by Forbes, coming at #32 on a list of forty!
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