Transcript
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Welcome to the Battleground Podcast, you play.
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And exclusive interviews with some of your favorite wrestlers. Podcast
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stop What's up you guys? Welcome back into iHeartRadio's official
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wrestling podcast, The Battleground Podcast, and it is gonna be
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a fun time down in Florida. TNA Wrestling returns to
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Tampa for two nights of live pro wrestling August two
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and third at the Florida State Fairgrounds. And today joining
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me is somebody who is no stranger to TNA. We
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have the one, the only, the legendary, the Hall of Famer,
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Miss Gail Kim George Show. How are you?
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Thank you so much? I'm great. How are you doing?
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I am great? And it's glad to have you on
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the show. Last time we had you on, there's been
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a lot of things that have changed since then. Let's
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find out, dive dive right into it. TNA Wrestling making
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a big return to Tampa for two nights of live
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action this weekend. What fans expect from these events and
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what makes Tampa a special location for DNA.
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Well, I'll just say definitely Tampa. We haven't been here
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for eleven years, I've been told, so, I mean we've
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been in the Orlando area, but that's still kind of
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you know, a two hour drive, not too bad, but
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we have been Tampa in a long time. I'm super
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excited because I feel like Florida's kind of like a
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historical state for you know, old school wrestling, and we
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just never know what you're going to see. Because we've
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been doing a lot of work with NXT. You never
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know it's going to show up this weekend. We have
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the Hearties back, we have Nick Nemeth as our newly
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crowned champion, Jordan Grace. The hottest pro wrestler right now
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in pro wrestling is Joe Hendry. He'll be there this weekend.
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So pretty exciting. You just never know. I think we're
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pretty good at you know, little surprises here and there.
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So I'm excited.
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Absolutely, And of course a lot of US wrestling fans
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are excited to see what's going to take place this weekend.
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And you know, you mentioned Jordan Grace, and I want
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to go back and give you your flowers now because
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you've had an incredible career both in the ring and
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behind the scenes. How does it feel to see the
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evolution of women's wrestling in t and A and who
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do you think is the next big star to challenge
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Jordan Grace for that Knockouts championship Because she's ran through everybody.
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She's pretty dominant. I just love her. I love how
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much she's you know, progressed evolutionized herself throughout the years.
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And when she first came in, I remember, like Little
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Talk said, have with her, like, come on, I just
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want to feel your emotion, and she's gotten to that
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point obviously. You see how intense she is in the ring,
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and she always brings it. She's like, you know, as
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a person behind the scenes, she is always that person
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that's going to deliver. She's consistent. You know you're gonna
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get a five star if you're going by star ratings
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if I've start match out of her. Just so proud
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of her. I'm proud of the Knockouts division in general,
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and you never know what's gonna happen in the very
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near future. I'm dropping little seeds here, but you know,
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for example, we have a Kyline King who's been injured
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all year, and I'm really excited she was gonna be
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the She was the TNA star in general, not just
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the women, but the men to the start a watch
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for this year, so I kind of felt bad that
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she's you know, she got injured at the very end
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of last year, so I know she's at home right now, hungry.
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And you know, I know when I was injured, I
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hated watching everyone do what I love and I was
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so anxious and hungry, and I just came out of
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it even better. So I expect the scene for.
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Her, Yeah, absolutely. And that's a name that that some
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wrestling fans kind of have like forgot in a way
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of Kyland King of being a TNA superstar because it
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was like last year they announced that she had signed
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and then, like you said, she got injured, kind of
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got put on the shelf. But I think if anybody
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has the momentum, the charisma, the potential to beat Jordan
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Grace and give her a run for the money, it's
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got to be Kylie King.
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I feel like it's got a good shot. Yeah. I
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can't wait to see what she's got to bring when
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she comes back. Let's see. I mean, I don't know
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if she's gonna come into rusty. I'll give her like
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a little bit of grace period, but I think she's
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just gonna come in strong and just kill it.
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We're excited hopefully that recovery for her is coming along
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very well. And you mentioned, of course the partnership right
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now with NXT and t and a's. It seems a
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lot of people are talking about this thing and it's
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been a hot topic lately. How do you see this
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collaboration benefiting both promotions and considering your previous experience, is
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it bittersweet to see WWE and TNA so strong at
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this moment?
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You know, I honestly feel like it's just great for
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wrestling in general, just not for WWE and TNA. I
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I just think because it's such a polarizing time right now,
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you know, social media, a lot of people have their
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opinions and wrestlings may be exposed a little bit more so.
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People feel like they know it or know how wrestling works,
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so they're trying to predict it. And I love that.
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It's you never know what's going to happen. You never
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know who we're going to work with, You never know
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what kind of dream matches you're going to get out
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of it. I mean, ever since the collaboration, all I
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see now from fans are I want to see this
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person wrestle this person and they're just excited, right for
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wrestling in general, It's not this tribalism. It's just I'm
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a wrestling fan and I love to see that. Yeah.
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Absolutely, as a wrestling fans myself, it's it's fun to
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watch these these you know, cross promotions of this over here,
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this over here, Like all of a sudden, you're seeing
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the rascals back together on NXD and it was a
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moment that you thought, could this ever happen again? And
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there it is. It's a moment for sure, and uh,
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it just puts more eyes on the brand. And uh,
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you know, speaking of the brand in TNA, you have
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always been a vocal advocate for women's wrestling. In your opinion,
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what are some of the biggest challenges still facing female
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wrestlers today and how can the industry continue to improve
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on that.
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Yeah, I think it's definitely made huge strides. I mean,
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I said it. I just did an interview with Dutch
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Mental not long ago and we're talking about you know,
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he's asked me some kind of a similar question and
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I said, honestly, if you told me when I started
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wrestling and fighting for what I wanted, which was women's
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wrestling to be at the forefront. I never would have
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thought today I'd be saying this right now that they're
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main eventing WrestleMania is the main eventing Sunniversary whatever pay
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per views for every company, and it's not a surprise anymore.
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People are like, yes, they deserve the main event spot.
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They killed it, you know, and they deliver, and they
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know that women's wrestling is strong, So I'm really happy,
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I would say. The only thing is and I think
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it's getting better too, and it's kind of more of
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a taboo subject to which is pay. I think that's
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where we can always hope that the women who are
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gonna main event a certain night can get paid equally
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to the men that are gonna main event a certain night.
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That's ultimately, I would say, once we're in that type
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of area where it's not something, it's just normal, then
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I think I'll feel pretty satisfied.
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Yeah, for sure. And again, you know, we're here to
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talk about TNA Wrestling returning to Tampa two nights of
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live pro wrestling this week in August second third at
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the Florida State Fairground. You can still grab your tickets
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TNA Wrestling dot com. You know, you have a historical
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career there. There's a regional reason why we say legendary
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when we mentioned gel Kim's name on this show or
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any other wrestling show that we've done. And your contributions
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to TNA have been very monumental looking back, What are
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some of your proudest moments in TNA and what legacy
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do you hope to leave behind what you step away
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from wrestling completely, which probably won't happen because you were
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finding a new role to stay in it because it's
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something that we can tell that you love doing.
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One day before a stet from fighting for something, and
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I would have fought the good fight.
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You know.
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I just want everyone to know that I always said
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this about wrestling because I kind of got the same
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question when I was a talent in the ring, and
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I said, I want fans to remember my body of work. Mostly,
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I want them to remember me for my wrestling ability,
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because I that's what I felt like was my strength.
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Because hey, I'm a realist. I know my promo skills
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and all those things were not the strongest when I started.
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I got used to it near the end, and I think, honestly,
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the fans because when I entered the business maybe a
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Korean woman. There were no Asians in WW at the time,
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so they hadn't really seen that for a long time
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and it wasn't a regular thing. So I just feel like, well,
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I lost my train of thought. I just had wrestler brain,
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the brain, repeat the question.
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Just wanting to see you know, your your thoughts looking back,
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some of your proudest moments in DNA and what legacy
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do you hope to leave behind once.
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Yes, I just want them to remember that that I
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fought for something that I really was passionate about. And
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like I said, we talked about the payd thing throughout
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my career. I really didn't make a lot of money,
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and I talked about that in previous interviews. So it
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was very easy for me to just follow my heart
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and my passion. And I think that's honestly what fans
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connected with me on because we have a shared passion
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for wrestling, and I think that's really what fans are
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looking for. They want to relate to something, whether it's
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a feeling, a character, I don't know, whatever it may
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be for that wrestler, and I think that's where we
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aligned and that was our passion and I want people
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to remember.
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That, absolutely, and that right there is a great thing
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to remember Gilka, although she's not walking away from wrestling
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any I soon, because she's going to have to be
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forced out to actually, if I.
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Could ever walk out, just not. I mean, obviously I'm
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totally invested in the whole roster. But obviously the knockout
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division holds this kind of because you when you fight
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for something and the creation of it and you're able
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to watch it from the beginning till present day, it's
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just kind of hard to walk away from that. You know,
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the investment, and you just care so much and just
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you know, I care about the girls feeling good and
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I want them to feel fulfilled.
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Absolutely absolutely. You know, as someone who has mentored many
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up and coming wrestlers, especially for young female talent looking
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to make their mark in the industry, do you have
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any words of wisdom that you would like to share
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to them right now that's watching or listening to this.
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Yeah, I would say in general, just not knockouts or
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women's wrestling in general. I feel like what's kind of
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lost is this work ethic in a sense, And you know,
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Joe Hendry is a great example. He came from my
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generation though, and he I think a lot of people
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just because he's like the hottest thing right now, they
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don't realize how long Joe Hendry's been wrestling, right. I
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mean I wrestled with him back fifteen years ago or
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something like that, a long time ago. And to see
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him understand wrestling and what gets over with the fans
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and hustle and put in that work, it pays off.
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I always tell everyone it sounds so cliche, but honestly,
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you putting in the hard work. People notice that the
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way that you carry yourself behind the scenes as well
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as in that ring of professionalism, it goes along way.
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It goes a long way with me, especially me being
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management in TNA. If I see someone trying so hard
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and they do everything right behind the scenes, of course
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we want to give them more of a chance. Of course,
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we want to get behind them because they deserve it.
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And you know, just try to stay humble and keep
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on following your passion and don't forget where you came from.
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That's some great advice. So all you people out there
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that are watching this are trying to be a wrestler,
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take what Gail Kim just said. Take it to heart,
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print it out, transcribe it, whatever you got to do,
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put it in a locker somewhere and look.
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At that every day.
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I know your time is very uh uh short today
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with us, so I just want to wrap things up
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here shortly. We always like to go to chat GPT
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at the end of our interviews and have the robot