Gail Kim

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Gail Kim
An image of Gail Kim.
Statistics
Ring name(s) Gail Kim
La Felina
Billed height 5 ft. 4 in. (163 cm)
Billed weight 125 lb. (57 kg.)
Born February 20, 1976 (1976-02-20) (age 32)
Toronto, Ontario
Resides Tampa, Florida
Billed from Tampa, Florida
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Seoul, South Korea
Trained by Ron Hutchinson
Rob "El Fuego" Etcheverria
Fit Finlay
Debut December 2000

Gail Kim (born February 20, 1976) is a Korean Canadian professional wrestler, valet, model and actress. She is currently working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling where she was the first ever TNA Women's Champion. She is also a one-time WWE Women's Champion, having won the title on her debut match for World Wrestling Entertainment. She is the first, and only, female wrestler to win the women's title in both WWE & TNA.

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[edit] Early life and training

Kim attended the York Memorial Collegiate Institute in Toronto, partaking in numerous sports and twice being named "Athlete of the Year". Upon her graduation, she began studying kinesiology at the University of Toronto, but later switched to nutrition at Ryerson University.

After obtaining her degree, Kim decided to become a professional wrestler and joined Ron Hutchinson's "School of Pro Wrestling" in Toronto. She received supplementary training from Rob Etchevarria at the "Squared Circle Pro Wrestling Gym". She debuted in December 2000, wearing a mask and wrestling as "The Queen of the Cats" La Felina in the Southern Ontario-based Apocalypse Wrestling Federation and was eventually unmasked by Tracy Brooks in a "mask versus hair" match. Kim worked on the Canadian independent circuit for two years, wrestling for promotions such as Border City Wrestling. On September 27, 2002, Kim reached the semi-finals of the WXW Women's Elite 8 Tournament in Danbury, Connecticut, defeating Nikki Roxx and April Hunter before losing to Tracy Brooks.

[edit] Professional wrestling career

[edit] World Wrestling Entertainment (2002–2004)

Kim was introduced to World Wrestling Entertainment employee Molly Holly by Jason Sensation at WWF Fan Axxess in 2001 and gave Holly a videotape of herself to show to WWF officials. In October 2002, she was hired by WWE. She spent eight months training in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) and appearing in house shows and dark matches before being called up to the main roster in June 2003. After several weeks of vignettes showcasing Matrix-like effects aired on RAW, Kim debuted on the June 30, episode of RAW as a face, with a Matrix-like gimmick including shades and a long trench coat.

Her first televised WWE match was a seven-woman battle royal in Buffalo, New York with the WWE Women's Championship, then held by an injured Jazz, on the line. Kim won the match by lastly eliminating Victoria. It was the quickest acquisition of the title by any female (she being the only WWE diva to have ever won the title in her debut match on the roster), and she was the first female with a Korean background to win the Women's Championship. Kim held the title for four weeks, feuding with both Victoria and Molly Holly. Kim lost the title to Holly on the July 28 episode of RAW. Following the bout, Stratus was double teamed by Holly and Victoria until Kim ran to the ring. Kim helped Stratus up, but then turned heel by leveling Stratus with a spinebuster.

Kim forged an alliance with Holly, and the duo defeated Stratus who partnered with both Ivory and Jacqueline on two separate occasions. The following week, on the September 15 episode of RAW, they defeated Stratus in a handicap match. Following the match, Kim and Holly were prevented from further assaulting Stratus by the returning Lita, who had previously been absent since injuring her neck in 2002. At Unforgiven on September 21, Stratus and Lita defeated Kim and Holly in a tag match. The four women continued to feud until November 10, when Kim was sidelined with a broken right collarbone that she suffered after tripping off the top rope during a Sunday Night HEAT match against Stratus. Kim returned to RAW on April 5 and immediately reforged her alliance with Holly. She dropped her high flying style (possibly to avoid further injury) and adopted a new submission-based offensive technique. She even dubbed herself "wrestling's submission specialist". At Bad Blood on June 13, she faced Lita, Stratus, and WWE Women's Champion Victoria in a title match which was won by Stratus. Kim continued to compete in the women's division, receiving several more shots at the title (including a battle royal on October 19, at Taboo Tuesday) and joining fellow heel divas Stratus and Holly in a feud with diva Stacy Keibler. Her last appearance was aiding Stratus in an attack on Lita on the November 1 edition of RAW.

Gail was released on November 2, 2004 by WWE. Following her release and the expiration of her ninety-day no-compete clause, Kim made sporadic appearances on the independent circuit, wrestling matches in Mexico, South Korea, and Australia. She posed for several magazines, and appeared topless in a mobile phone advertisement.

[edit] Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

[edit] 2005–2006

Gail with America's Most Wanted.
Gail with America's Most Wanted.

On September 6, 2005, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling announced that they had signed Gail Kim to a contract. On the October 8 edition of TNA Impact!, Kim made her debut, aligning herself with Jeff Jarrett and America's Most Wanted by attacking Team 3D. Shortly thereafter, she helped AMW regain the NWA World Tag Team Championship from The Naturals. On November 26, Kim was attacked by the debuting Jackie Gayda. She spent the remainder of the year and early 2006 filming her part in the film "Royal Kill" before returning to TNA and rekindling her feud with Gayda. Between February and April, Kim was the guardian of Jackie Gayda, who had been blackmailed into joining the Planet Jarrett stable. The two women frequently fought one another during matches featuring members of Planet Jarrett as Gayda attempted to cost them the match. Gayda was "fired" by Kim at Sacrifice on May 14, after announcing that she was pregnant.

On May 15, Kim wrestled Traci in a dark match to be featured on the TNA Knockouts DVD. The match was the first women's match in TNA in over a year and Kim's first match on American soil since her WWE release. Since then, Kim was attacked at Slammiversary by Sirelda. The weeks after this, the two traded blows until Victory Road, where Sirelda's team defeated Kim's team. At Hard Justice, they faced off against each other in a one-on-one match, which Kim won.

On the October 19, 2006 Impact!, Kim was kayfabe injured in the ring by Hernandez when he gave her a Bordertoss following a loss in an eight man tag match where Latin American Exchange (Hernandez and Homicide) teamed with America's Most Wanted, with whom she was valet for at the time. At Genesis, America's Most Wanted lost to LAX after James Storm was hit with a blowtorch can. After the match, Homicide tried to use Da Gringo Killa on her, but she was saved by Petey Willams, who beat LAX with a lead pipe. AMW got another shot against LAX in a flag match at Turning Point where James Storm accidentally hit Chris Harris with shards of a beer bottle allowing LAX to win again. AMW then got one more shot in a Title vs Team match where if AMW lost they would have to disband. AMW lost when Storm hit Harris with the beer bottle on purpose. Kim went by Harris' side as Storm left.

[edit] 2007–present

At Final Resolution, Kim accompanied James Storm who defeated Petey Williams with his feet on the ropes. However, she helped Williams from further assault by taking Storm's infamous beer bottle out of his hand and giving him a low blow. Kim was then jumped from behind by a returning Jacqueline Moore, who became Storm's new manager. In response, Kim became Williams' new manager. Kim and Williams faced Storm and Moore in a mixed tag match at Against All Odds; Moore was able to pin Kim after Storm collided into her. After the match, "Wildcat" Chris Harris returned to chase away Storm. A rematch with Kim against Storm was made in a Double Bullrope match which Storm won. At Lockdown, Kim faced off with Moore in a TNA Cat Fight Steel cage match, the first women's cage match in TNA. Kim won the match after a flying crossbody from the cage. Gail & Moore had a rematch in a street fight, where Kim once again defeated Moore after a running front dropkick on Moore who was holding a chair, which resulted in Moore losing some teeth.

Kim made her return at Slammiversary when she kissed Eric Young to get him to concentrate for his match as he was being seduced by Ms. Brooks. She also aided him by taking out Brooks allowing Young to defeat Robert Roode. Kim later defeated Brooks in a match on Impact! by order of Jim Cornette. Kim would then go on to team with Eric Young to defeat Ms. Brooks and Robert Roode at Victory Road. She would then reappear to help Eric embarrass Ms. Brooks at Hard Justice by tarring and feathering her. At Bound for Glory, she became the first ever TNA Women's Champion, when she won a 10 Woman gauntlet elimination match last defeating Roxxi Laveaux. She defended the title one month later against Laveaux, O.D.B., and Angel Williams in a four-way match at Genesis and retained the title when she pinned ODB with the Happy Ending. In the next couple of weeks, she competed in the TNA Knockouts Santa's Workshop Street Fight. She immediately ran to the ring going after her rival Awesome Kong. After fighting ensued between Gail and Kong, they even took the fight to the backstage area where Awesome Kong reappeared from backstage with Gail appearing to be missing. Awesome Kong won the Street Fight after delivering an Awesome Bomb to Christy Hemme. After the match, Gail reappeared attacking Awesome Kong with a steel chair, ultimately knocking her down. Security would have to break the two up. Gail defeated Awesome Kong at Final Resolution in a No Disqualification match to retain her TNA Women's World Championship. However, Gail would lose the TNA Women's Championship to Kong on the main event of the January 10 episode of TNA Impact! after Kong dropped her with two pick-up powerbombs followed up with an Awesome Bomb to pick up the win. On the January 24 edition of TNA Impact! Gail was named as 2007 TNA Knockout of the Year, where she called out Awesome Kong telling her that Kong will never put her out. Kong came out and went in the ring and started beating down Gail. Just as Kong was about to drop her with the Awesome Bomb, O.D.B. hit the ring to make the save. On February 21st on Impact, Kim and tag team partner O.D.B. had some miscommunication and started brawling with each other. At Destination X she lost a 3-Way match, which included ODB, to Awesome Kong. On April 13, 2008, at TNA's all-cage Pay-Per-View Lockdown, she and ODB defeated Raisha Saeed and Awesome Kong in a tag-team match. On the May 8 edition of Impact!, Gail won immunity from having her head shaved bald, in a Clippers in a Pole Match. She went on to win the Makeover Battle Royal at Sacrifice which resulted in her winning a TNA Knockout Championship match and fellow Knockout Roxxi Laveaux getting her head shaved bald. The following episode of TNA Impact! Gail failed to win the Knockout Championship because of interference from Angelina Love.

[edit] Outside wrestling

In 2005, Kim posed topless multiple times for a popular cell phone ad campaign in Korea, immediately creating a sensation on the internet amongst her international fans and increasing her worldwide fame and popularity.[1][2][3] In December 2007, Kim was featured in the top 40 list of "America's Most Eligible Bachelorettes" by Forbes.[4]

In 2008, she appeared in the film Royal Kill as "Nadia".

[edit] In wrestling

  • Theme music
    • "International Woman" - By Dara Shindler (WWE)
    • "Anime Girls"
    • "Guilty" - By Dale Oliver (TNA)
    • "Gail Force" (TNA)
    • "Unstoppable" (TNA)
    • Unstoppable (remix) (TNA)

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

[edit] References

  1. ^ AsianWeek.com
  2. ^ The News Vault - WWE Gail Kim Nude / Naked Photos, Pictures Topless WWE Diva WWF Sexy Gallery Images
  3. ^ Gail Kim - FamousWhy
  4. ^ In Pictures: America's Most Eligible Bachelorettes - Forbes.com

[edit] External links

Professional wrestling
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A.J. Styles • Alex Shelley • Angelina Love • Awesome Kong • B.G. James • Black Reign/Dustin Rhodes • Booker T • Brother Devon • Brother Ray • Chris Sabin • Christian Cage • Christy Hemme • Consequences Creed • Crystal Louthan • Curry Man • David Penzer • Don West • Eric Young/Super Eric • Frank Trigg • Gail Kim • Hernandez • Homicide • Jacqueline • James Mitchell • James Storm • Jay Lethal • Jeremy Borash • Jim Cornette • Jimmy Rave • Johnny Devine • Karen Angle • Kaz • Kevin Nash • Kip James • Kurt Angle • Lance Hoyt • Lauren Thompson • Matt Morgan • Mickie Knuckles • Mike Tenay • ODB • Petey Williams • Raisha Saeed • Rellik • Rhaka Khan • Rhino • Robert Roode • Roxxi • Salinas • Samoa Joe • Scott Steiner • Shantelle Taylor • Shark Boy • Sharmell • SoCal Val • Sonjay Dutt • Sting • Tomko • Traci Brooks • Velvet Sky