Gail Kim On 'KAYFABE' Receiving Backlash From Fans, What It's Like Producing For Impact
In her 20-year career, Gail Kim has paved the way for women's wrestling. From being the WWE Women's Champion to becoming the seven-time TNA/Impact Knockouts Champion, and also, being the first woman to be inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame, Kim has busted her chops on trying to make women's wrestling significant.
Now a producer and talent scout for Impact, Kim mentioned on this week's Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia, that she loves her backstage role, but being the only female producer can be difficult at times.
"I'm the only female producer on Impact, and they're very supportive; the men," Kim began. "But, I was told one day 'No Gail, you need to be more aggressive.' I'm like 'I'm very direct, but I can't yell, because then, I'm a b–ch.' I have to balance that fine line of how I'm perceived. Yeah, I clawed my way to receive that respect that I wanted in the ring, but when I became a producer, I had to do it all over again. It's always been a constant fight and a constant battle."
In addition to being a producer for Impact, Kim, along with Christy Hemme and Lita (Amy Dumas), are launching a new project called "KAYfABE," which is described Kickstarter page as, "An edgy, racy, cinematic television series about a female-led professional wrestling start-up. This show is a dramatization and collection of female stories inspired by real-life events."
Kim knew that after they launched their first post about "KAYfABE," they were going to receive backlash from the public. Kim noted that she was surprised that the people she thought were going to be supportive of this project, weren't at all.
"When we went into this project – I even said it out loud- we're going to get backlash," Kim stated. "You have to expect it. You're never going to please everyone. But, we were just going to go forward, and do our thing and just hope that people will support it...The people that I expected to support us, didn't. It was totally the opposite. It hurts."
You can view Kim's full interview above. If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Chasing Glory- Lilian Garcia with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.