Canadian Gail Kim is a wrestling legend and Sunday, she steps foot in the ring for what she says will be the final against one of the best young wrestlers in the world in Tessa Blanchard.
Kim had retired, but she returned in the hopes of teaching Tessa a lesson inside the squared circle and the bout, which goes down in Toronto, figures to be epic! Ahead of the match, we caught up with Gail to ask her about Toronto's sports scene, intergender wrestling, and her comeback.
Luca Celebre: Were you a big Blue Jays fan growing up?
Gail Kim: Yes, I was a huge Blue Jay fan. I was obsessed. My first love (laughs) as I call it was Kelly Gruber and then Pat Borders. I came to all the games when I was younger, anywhere between the ages of 10 to my teenage years and I just loved it. I was truly a dedicated fan and I got to the point where like the Blue Jays players knew who I was and I could get tickets so it was very cool.
LC: Any other sports you liked growing up other than baseball?
GK: Once I started wrestling, it was really hard to keep up with sports, but I love tennis and during that time as well I loved Stephie Graff. She was just to me the epitome of a strong women and that was one of my role models growing up.
LC: Toronto has had a long championship drought (major sports teams), which team do you think has the best chance of ending it?
GK: What I want for the city is the Toronto Maple Leafs (winning). No matter how bad they do, I feel like the city is always for them. Impossible, even when I lived here 20 years ago, to even get tickets for the games, but being Canadian and loving sports, hockey for sure. I hope that the Leafs win because the city would explode.
LC: Intergender wrestling is a hot topic in wrestling right now, and this question entered my mind after the Royal Rumble due to the negativity towards the Nia Jax spot in the Rumble. What was your reaction to that negativity?
GK: I think right now, because it’s such a great time for women, I think people are more sensitive. People are able to interact a lot more on social media and be more negative so I think that contributes to the negativity. I’m not opposed to intergender wrestling, as long as the story is right and it’s believable. For me, I’m about believability and making the fans believe because that’s what I fell in love with when wrestling was in the 80s. I’m don’t want to see it all the time, but I’m not against it. I think a lot of people are just pro for it and I appreciate them thinking that the women can hang, and a lot of them can, but I’m also old-school in the sense of watching them, knowing that there are kids in the audience watching this and sometimes they don’t know the difference between believable and what’s a work.
LC: In your own company, Scarlett (Bordeaux) is a perfect example of an inter gender story really told the right way. What have you enjoyed most about her and her run in Impact.
GK: You know what I love, and I’ve always said this because I feel like everyone looks at me and they think “Gail’s only for women’s wrestling” and I’ve always said no, I believe the best time in wrestling was when I first entered because there was a nice mix of the women’s division on Raw who were stronger wrestlers and then we had more characters on Smackdown like Torrie Wilson and Dawn Marie and Stacy Keibler. People love that balance. There’s something for everyone. I love Scarlett, I think she’s sexy. I think she’s impressing people in the ring because they’re surprised because I think they’re like “Oh, she’s just sexy” and then she shows what she can do and it’s great. I love that our company integrates women in various story lines and with the men. They like to utilize all the women, so we’re going in the right direction.
LC: You are heading back to the ring which is extremely exciting! What has been the most difficult part about getting ready for another match?
GK: Getting ready for it! (laughs)
LC: It’s just getting back into ring shape!
GK: Even my husband will say, “Gail you’re in great shape, you workout every day” and I tell everyone being in shape and being in ring shape are completely different and so, to this moment, I’ve trained my butt off for over a month now, I’m still nervous about the wind. That’s the one thing I’m nervous about. I’m not really nervous about the wrestling moves, I’m worried about running out of breath, but I have confidence! Like I said, I’ve been working my butt off. I don’t ever want the fans to see me anything but my best so just know that I’m going to put my best effort forward.
LC: Is this a one time comeback?
GK: Yes. I mean I’m 42, I’ve accomplished everything I’ve wanted to and this was a special circumstance.
LC: What makes this circumstance so special for you?
GK: It’s a lot of things. I’ve said this many times, but I think people who know me and who have seen my career and people who have worked with me know what my level of excellence I demand of myself and so Tessa Blanchard is an opponent that doesn’t come along very often. She’s a third generation wrestler. I look at her and she reminds me of me so much in her dedication to be the best, her passion to be the best. Some attitude problems and I’ll take that down to immaturity. The only way she’s gonna learn a lesson is through her heart which is wrestling so I’m looking forward to that. I had to get a lot of doctor clearances to make sure I was going to be safe in the long-term and once they gave me the green light, I said let’s do this.
LC: What can people expect on Sunday?
GK: I hope the match of the night, and even better, the match of the year! That’s what I’m striving for!
