Exclusive with Gail Kim: Professional wrestling needs female leadership, ‘David and Goliath' Rhea Ripley is a dream match-up, 80% of wrestlers have body dysmorphia

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Speaking to Jackpot City Casino, Canadian wrestling legend Gail Kim says the industry would benefit from more female leadership, reveals most female superstars suffer with body image issues and names Rhea Ripley as her dream opponent.

Will you return to wrestling?

I'll never close the door, you never say never, but just right now, I've kind of run through all the options, and I do not believe I'll be working for any company anytime soon. I'll announce more about it, but I'm going to give you a little drop in the bucket: I'm going to be doing my own project that's going to be wrestling-related. I don't want to say more than that because I really want to just hard launch it, with all the details presented very right. I plan to do that in the new year.

How has wrestling changed over the years?

First off, there were fewer women and less opportunity. There are definitely way more women on the rosters now. I love the fact that women have main-evented WrestleMania, and that's become a normal thing now. People aren't surprised to see those things. I think, forward-facing and publicly, everyone sees the great improvements in women's wrestling.

However, I have personally experienced the challenge of the lack of women in leadership behind the scenes. These are things that fans don't get to see, such as the production team, producers, or any other leadership roles. We definitely need more women. That's why, when I did the little trial run at NXT, I heard every day from the talent and the coaches that they needed women really badly. They even knew they needed women really badly.

I think they're making moves to improve that, hopefully. I've heard a few rumors of some people getting hired, so let's see. I hope it works out. I hope that women have an equal opportunity to move up the chain. I found it a little more difficult, but hopefully, what you guys don't see behind the scenes will equal what's on TV. And on TV, I still feel like we can make improvements, of course, but I think that's across the board in terms of creative right now.

What did it used to be like?

When I first came into wrestling, I think it was a more cutthroat environment because there were less women, less spots, so people were kind of like, "how can I make this match make me look good?" I kind of just did what I was told because I was pretty new, and I remember kind of feeling like shit about it. So people don't want you to shine. But I'd never do that to someone else. If I ever wrestled someone else, I'd always try my best to make them look good, myself look good, the whole match look good overall, so that everyone wins, and including the fans.  They get a very high-quality, competitive match.

And sometimes the matches are not planned for that, the stories, they may want you to squash someone, and I had that storyline for a few months at one point, because we ran so low on girls. They just had me as the champion, kind of issue an open challenge to whoever was out there. And I remember them just wanting me to just squash these girls that came off the independent scene, who had never made it to TV at that point, and I was like, "That's so boring." Like, "Let's give them a little bit more, let's make it a little competitive." And if I gave them too much, then the producers would be like, "Okay, Gail, it's too much. Like, you gotta back it up." And so, I would always listen to them, but I always didn't want to have a boring match. I always wanted the fans to be entertained.

If you could compete against any wrestler of today who would it be?

Rhea Ripley, I would have to say. Her presence, her wrestling ability. She also came through the indies, and she's just so good and so young still, I just can't believe it. And she's so much bigger in stature, I think that we could have a little good David and Goliath-type match.

Which wrestler do you admire the most at the moment?

Natalya Neidhart. I remember on the independent scene of us coming together, and look, she's still going. I've been retired since 2017, technically. I came out of retirement twice just for two different matches, but that girl has been going, and it's almost 2026, and I always ask her, I'm like, “how does her body hold up because mine is broken down?”, and she's like, “I don't know, my body feels great”, and she's always maintained this level of passion. And she just wrote this book right now, and her positivity, and how great she is with the women. I love every aspect of her. She's Canadian.  We've always just really gotten along. I love her as a person. I admire her work ethic and everything that she's accomplished.

When you look back, do you have any regrets about your career?

You can't say you have any regrets. No, I wouldn't change anything. You just can't change anything. I'm a believer that everything happens for a reason. Even when I got fired from WWE, when I first got hired by them in 2002, but I debuted in 2003, and then I got fired in 2005. Even that gave me such motivation to show WWE, "Oh, you know what? You missed out. I'm going to work my ass off, and I'm going to bust my butt, and I'm going to show you what you missed out on." And luckily, TNA gave me that opportunity a year later, and the opportunity they gave me, Jeff Jarrett gave me that ball, and I ran with it, and women's wrestling became a thing. If I stayed in WWE, if anything had changed, that path may not have been what I experienced. So, I never have any regrets.

What are the characteristics of someone that survives in this business, do you think?

I've always told people, for example, if I was already part of a TV company, or I had other wrestlers try out for an opportunity, if they did ask me my advice, I'd always tell them, “I know the physicality of the business is hard, but honestly, the emotional and the mental part is way harder. Way harder.” You really need to have some grit, and you do develop a thick skin over the years. I always say, listen, our wrestling fans are the most loyal and hardcore of them all, but they can also be the biggest trolls online of all time. It's funny, they'll insult us, but the minute someone from the outside world comes in and insults pro wrestling, they'll be fiercely defensive. So, you have this love-hate relationship, but I would say, and I think everyone in this world now, social media-wise, has a challenge. But wrestlers take a lot of flack because they also play characters, so sometimes you're a heel, and you're a villain, and you're playing it up, and people want to be really mean. I think I have a pretty thick skin now, but you gotta be ready. You gotta be ready mentally. And also, the pressure to always look good. I mean, I honestly developed dysmorphia in my adult life from it, and I think every girl that I am friends with in the business all have some sort of dysmorphia, and some of the guys too. So, you just look at yourself and you nitpick to death, and I'm sure now normal people kinda have that as well, just because of social media, but it's on another level, I'll say.

Is that dysmorphia something that is shared between the male and female wrestlers?

I would say the majority of females have it. If I was going to say a percentage, I've noticed at least 75-80% of the women. The men. Yeah, I've noticed way more men, compared to any other type of field, that are very hard on themselves physically.

Who was Vince McMahon to you?

My unapproachable boss. I think he made himself somewhat unapproachable unless you developed a relationship with him. That's partially on me; I was very intimidated. He's a very intimidating man, and even the times when I took the risk to try to talk to him one-on-one, I got shooed away by someone else, they're very protective. So, I can give him respect for what he's built in the business, but of course, there are a lot of other controversies out there that I don't agree with, obviously, as a woman.

What legacy does Hulk Hogan leave?

Hulk Hogan brought pro wrestling to the mainstream audience in the 80s. I remember as a kid, watching wrestling. Me and my sister being children and, like, waiting up really late on Saturday Night's Main Event. It was so special to us, and the storylines and the characters back then. There was no internet, so everyone just believed everything in pro wrestling. It was such a wonderful time.  I don't know if you watched wrestling as a kid back then, but it was very real, very memorable. But Hulk Hogan wasn't my favorite, I'll say that. I liked some of the mid-card guys, I guess you would call them the Intercontinental champions at the time: Tito Santana, the British Bulldog, Bret Hart. I kind of liked more of the smaller guys, I guess, or the ones that moved around quicker, or certain characters, like Ricky Steamboat, and Jake "The Snake," and Rick Rude, and Miss Elizabeth.

How would you put the finishing period on John Cena's career?

I've worked with John, and he is incredible. I can't say enough about him in terms of how hard he works. Always the first one to the building, and when you walk in, he's signing massive piles of autographs, and doesn't stop. I always said him and Miz were probably the two that I noticed were the hardest-working guys in the company at that time. I just respect people who work so hard and sacrificed so much. If I was the booker, I would leave it up to him in terms of who he wanted to wrestle in that last moment and make it special. Of course, they say on your way out, you're supposed to build someone up, but I don't know who that would be right now. It's really hard to say. No one's springing out as the top choice there. And I don't even know if they're gonna do that. John is so special that he may just get a special farewell on his own, and he doesn't have to do the traditional thing of putting someone over. And I wouldn't have a problem with that, because I think he's earned that right.

Is the criticism of Tony Khan harsh?

AEW fans already hate me, so I can say whatever I want. They have a hardcore fanbase. I've seen some of Eric's comments. I'll say the one thing I do agree with him on is, he recently said that Tony should surround himself with people that are better than him in certain departments, for example. It feels like, just looking from the outside in, and from what I hear, you know, because the wrestling business is small, we all talk, Tony pretty much controls everything. And just for his sake alone, honestly, I would think that it could make his life easier if he just had a team of people. I am a true believer in having a well-oiled machine that is built up of a team, so that you guys can all lean on each other, as long as the communication is right, I feel like that would be the best formula, just like he said. Surround yourself with, like, the best creative team members, the best production members, the best talent relations people. You come together and you have a great product, and Tony doesn't have to micromanage everything. I think it would be probably easier for him, and you'd probably get a great product out of it as well, I just like more voices in the room, and having an open mind, because everyone's got great ideas, and you don't have to take them all, but, you know, one day this person could have a great storyline that could be the top storyline for your company.