Gail Kim On Retirement: “I Couldn’t Honestly Picture A Perfect Way, Other Than This”
Time is winding down for Gail Kim, but is happy about how she's going out.
Kim recently spoke to Main Event Radio where he talked about her impending retirement, which she is set to do at Bound For Glory. With her back injury being more severe than originally thought, it was best for her not to gamble her well being later on in life:
I announced my retirement coming up. I couldn’t honestly picture a perfect way, other than this, to retire. This is definitely near the end, if not the end. We generalized my retirement to be at the end of 2017, basing it on how I felt. I had a back surgery last year, and was having a lot of issues. When I went in to have the surgery, the doctor said I could get back in the ring after 7 weeks but I wasn’t ready and that 7 weeks turned into 7+ months. I don’t want to take a gamble with my quality of life in the future. I have up’s and down’s. The last few times I’ve been in the ring it has been good one day and bad the next. I’m working with a physical therapist to break down the scar tissue that creates all the pain and discomfort. I have a couple of matches coming up and we’ll see how they turn out. I just don’t want this to end seeing me deteorating in my performance. It’s definitely close. When it comes to in-ring, it’s a gamble for my body and I don’t want to do that to myself or my future. I hope to still contribute, but more behind the scenes. I have no L4/L5 right now so it’s walking a fine line
When asked about her career overall, Gail Kim has no regrets, citing how she helped build the Knockouts division and how the first group of women were a big success.
When I look back at my career I am so satisfied with everything that I accomplished. Helping to create the women’s division in Impact Wrestling. At the time, women’s wrestling was essentially dead. People within the business who were females would say to me that they don’t want to see women’s wrestling, that it’s a bathroom break. I would get angry and I feel that we proved them wrong. We brought in a great group of girls and it was a success. For me it’s kind of a personal satisfaction that women can be as good as the guys and we can draw. It’s a nice feeling to know that we can do that. We’ve got the backing of the people we work with and the fans. I can walk away from the business knowing that I did something meaningful.
As mentioned, Gail Kim is expected finish her in-ring career at Bound for Glory. She made the announcement back in August that she wanted to win the Knockouts title one more time, and will get a chance to do so at BFG when she faces champion Sienna and Allie in a triple threat match.
