Awesome Kong Talks AEW And Her Time There: 'The Timing Just Wasn't Right'

TNA Knockouts veteran Awesome Kong had a brief stint with AEW, aligning herself with Brandi Rhodes to form a stable that unfortunately went nowhere. After months of no on-screen appearances, Kong decided not to renew her AEW contract, parting ways with the promotion in June 2021 before retiring later that same year.

On "Busted Open Radio," Kong looked back at her time in AEW and expressed how appreciative she is of the response her short stint received in the promotion. 

"I think the timing just wasn't right, you know? AEW was in it's honeymoon/teething stage, and I was busy with GLOW and other things, and whatnot, and so there were a lot of moving parts to my career at the time," she explained, adding that she believes that things would've worked out better had she instead made her way to AEW a bit later, while also expressing that she thinks she might have even still been there today if this was the case.

Kong then looked back at the initial success AEW had, recalling how she once told Dixie Carter that having a promotion reach that level of buzz was doable. 

"You don't have to play second fiddle, or you know, second team or whatnot. The want, the desire for a true competitor wrestling company was out there, and they found somebody to truly invest into it," she recalled. "I feel like with TNA it was always just... You know... We're gonna spend a Dime and expect Five Dollars back?" 

Kong then recalled how she left a six-figure job at 24 years old to pursue wrestling, and while everyone thought she was crazy, this was the kind of dedication that was needed to make a competitor to WWE work.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.