Gail Kim Sheds Light On Why She Chose To Retire From The Ring
Impact Wrestling Hall of Famer Gail Kim had quite the run in professional wrestling with her in-ring career spanning from 2001 until 2019.
Kim opened up on "Ad Free Shows" about her decision to retire from her in-ring role in 2019.
"I couldn't walk after my matches like, legitimately couldn't walk. I was using my luggage as almost like a walking stick to get myself from spot to spot," Kim revealed. "... Once I felt like I slowing down in the ring, and maybe the fans couldn't tell but I knew. That was the first part and then the second part was, 'Well, what's the next thing that I want to accomplish?' And honestly, I had accomplished everything I wanted to ... The icing on the cake was just the Hall of Fame."
Kim joined the Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2016 and was the only inductee that year. Kim had a very successful run with the company, as when the company first developed a women's championship, she became the inaugural titleholder. Their title was called the TNA Knockout's Championship due to their women being labeled as Knockouts. Following that first win in 2007, Kim went on to win the title an impressive six more times, most recently in 2017, when she held the title for one day before she vacated the title.
Kim also won TNA Knockout's Tag Team Championship with Madison Rayne in the first iteration of the championships. The tag titles were brought back at "Hard to Kill" 2021 where Kiera Hogan and current Knockout's Champion Tasha Steelz, a.k.a Fire N' Flava, became the first Impact Knockout's Tag Team Champions.
In WWE, Kim did not have as much success as she found in Impact, however, she was able to win the WWE Women's Championship in 2003 by winning a battle royal in her first televised match. Kim held onto the title for 28 days before losing it to Molly Holly. Kim had two runs with WWE, the first being from 2002 until 2004 and the second being from 2009 until 2011.
Kim's last match came at Impact's "Rebellion" Pay-Per-View in 2019 where she was defeated by Tessa Blanchard. Blanchard became the company's first female world champion defeating Sami Callihan for the title at "Hard to Kill" 2020. However, she was forced to vacate the title when her contract was terminated due to controversy surrounding her.
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