Gail Kim recalls the time she was offered shockingly low pay by TNA Wrestling, which led to her leaving the company.
During a recent appearance on the HUGE POP! podcast, the former multi-time Knockouts World Champion revealed that TNA offered her just $36,000, despite her feud with Awesome Kong consistently drawing top ratings during the Spike TV deal.
“I actually had this conversation with Vince Russo, probably two weeks ago,” Gail Kim said. “I think now, ‘cause he was the head of creative when I left TNA. Right after the success of me and (Awesome) Kong, and I didn’t wanna leave TNA, but they offered me $36,000.”
“We were pulling in the highest ratings, and that was the Spike TV days… And not saying I’m a Kurt Angle, I’m not saying I was Dudley Boyz. But we were the highest-rated segments consistently. All I wanted was a fair payday, and I was offered $36,000. I was like, ‘I owe more money than that, Vince,’ you know? And he didn’t know the number at the time…” [H/T: Fightful]
Gail Kim on wrestling promoters trying to lowball her
Elsewhere in the interview, Gail Kim revealed that promoters tried to lowball her and, at times, outright refused to pay her simply because they thought her husband was rich.
“I’ve had promoters literally admit to me that they didn’t wanna pay me because they thought my husband was rich,” Kim said. “When I met my husband, he wasn’t rich, okay? He worked his ass off to get where he is in his successes, to this day, and I’ll say, I used to resent it so much.
“Now, I’m so grateful, and I’m like, you know what though? Because he is successful now, I’m not in a place where I can be pushed around or accept less than my value and all those things, so it’s kind of a double-edged sword in a sense, but, it’s just mind-blowing. It’s either — I don’t know.”
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READ MORE: Gail Kim Reacts To TNA President’s Comments About Her Release, ‘Reinvigorating’ the Roster
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