Gail Kim did not leave TNA with any heat from management. The general impression was that she was very grateful for her time there and wanted to stay, yet the WWE contract offer was too lucrative for her to turn down at this stage of her career. She had also won a lot of supporters backstage from the hard work she had put into improving her knowledge over this past year, which saw her take over from the agents to lay out her own matches.
WWE signing Gail Kim is a direct link to criticisms that have been made of John Laurinaitis over his handling of their women wrestlers. TNA’s Knockout Division has been a tremendous success for them and it has been done largely with women Laurinaitis released from WWE – ODB was very over in OVW but never got a developmental deal; Angelina Love was cut from her developmental contract; Taylor Wilde was also released from developmental. Gail Kim was fired by Laurinaitis in November 2004 in what was a big surprise to most people in WWE at the time, especially the creative team, who had no idea she was in danger of being released whereas they are usually kept informed. She had been in the middle of a storyline on TV at the time when Laurinaitis and Vince McMahon decided to release her, presumably because she did not fit in with the ‘Barbie Doll’ look WWE was after for their women. Now, with one eye on international expansion, they are looking for an Asian superstar that they can push.
Her onscreen nemesis in TNA, Awesome Kong, signed a one-year contract around ten months ago. Kong has spoken up in meetings in the recent past about how happy she is in TNA, yet as with Kim if WWE offers a lucrative deal she too could wind up leaving. A woman with Kong’s look would never have even been considered by WWE a few years back but they are slightly more accepting of variation nowadays, particularly if that person has already managed to get themselves over in the USA.
There are also a number of other key names in TNA on the verge of either joining or leaving the promotion. Ric Flair is basically a free agent now and they are using his name for Sting’s storyline, although Flair actually signing with them depends on whether or not he truly believes that he will never be with WWE again. Rob Van Dam has been mentioned too, although given his wife’s health concerns at the moment it will be some time before he would make such a decision. Bobby Lashley is the one who seems likeliest to sign with TNA, with both Kurt Angle and Booker T trying to secure a deal for him, although it does depend on how his MMA career turns out.
On the other hand, Kevin Nash’s contract is up soon and he has had some recent heat with management due to walking out of a recent TV taping. That led to the planned main event match with Samoa Joe at No Surrender being altered and, at present, they have no plans to book any major match for Nash at Bound For Glory after all. Nash is well-liked by many in TNA who were supportive of the reasons behind his walk-out, yet given his physical limitations and the difficulty in using a guy his size as a manager, his TNA future is in question.
Perhaps most harmful for TNA would be Christian Cage leaving. When he left WWE he was burned out on the schedule, wanted time to pursue acting projects and was good friends with then TNA booker Scott D’Amore, who he broke in with at the same time in Canada. Now Cage appears to have stopped looking for acting gigs, has like most grown critical of TNA’s booking and is unlikely to get a top heel or face role in the immediate future, which was another major temptation that led to him joining the promotion. WWE has expressed an interest in bringing him back, since there is an obvious major angle to be done with him and Edge on Smackdown, and the burn-out from a few years back has gone. Much like Chris Jericho, Cage is at the age where he is both mentally ready to go back on the road with WWE and, like Gail Kim, keen to reap any lucrative rewards on offer before it is too late.
Team 3-D’s deal is also up soon, yet most in TNA expect them to stick around.
Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 01 September 2008 (subscribe here)
