Mick Foley participated in Chef’s Robert Irvine’s Live Show this past Sunday night at the Paramount Theater in Huntington, New York. During the show, Foley was handcuffed to celebrity chef Irvine for a cook-off.
But after a couple minutes behind the wheel, I started thinking about Chef Irvine’s wife, TNA Knockout Gail Kim – and her contributions to the wrestling business.
I have written quite a bit about women’s wrestling in the past year and a half – since I saw the Natalya/Charlotte match at #NXTTakeover that I absolutely saw as a game changer for women’s wrestling in #WWE. But in all that time, I think I only mentioned Gail Kim once. That’s a shame. For while it was the Natalya/Charlotte match that made me see the potential for women’s wrestling in WWE, Gail Kim had raised the bar years earlier with her classic TNA matches with Awesome Kong. I remember being blown away by their series of matches, and getting caught up in the emotion and excitement that pro wrestling is still capable of creating when things are done really well.
Gail Kim did so many things really well. No discussion of the best current female wrestlers in the business is complete without the inclusion of her name. In my opinion, no discussion of all-time great female wrestlers is complete without the inclusion of her name.
I will never understand why Gail wasn’t better utilized during her time in WWE. That’s the danger of working in a business as subjective as professional wrestling – sometimes the swift don’t always win the race.
I hope some of you will take the time to look up some of Gail’s great matches. She gave so much, for so long – and in my opinion, her contributions to our business are often overlooked. I’ve been guilty of overlooking them myself.
Thank you, Gail, for everything you have done. Funny how being hand-cuffed to your husband made me feel so much closer to you.