10 Female Wrestlers Ignored In WWE's Revisionist History
5. Gail Kim
Moving into the second half of this list, the reasons for WWE’s snubbing changes.
While earlier entries were mostly
questions of notability or longevity, the second half exclusions are far more political.
With that in mind, there’s no better wrestler to start with than Gail Kim. With a long history in the business,
Kim built a legacy for herself that anyone passionate about women’s
wrestling would be foolish to ignore, but that’s hardly stopped WWE.
Debuting on the 30 June 2003 episode of Raw, Gail Kim won the WWE Women’s Championship in her first match, a battle royal for the vacant title. A short, four week stay at the top was ended by Molly Holly, but Kim’s rise seemed inevitable. Despite being a rookie, she looked comfortable in the ring alongside the other stars of the division, including Lita, Trish Stratus, Molly Holly, and Victoria. A broken collarbone derailed her for a spell, but she came back stronger than ever, only to be let go of the company in November of 2004. The alleged reason was a desire to take the women’s division in “a different direction.”
Jumping to TNA, Kim continued to improve and garner a following as she helped lift TNA’s Knockouts to new heights. The WWE came calling in 2008, and hopes were high that she’d return to her previous status in the company. Sadly, it wasn’t to be, as Kim soon found herself jobbing to Maryse, Alicia Fox, and Melina, and fell short at every opportunity to become WWE Diva’s Champion. The final straw for Kim was when she took part in a battle royal on the August 1st, 2011 episode of Raw. Instructed to be eliminated in the first minute, Kim simply eliminated herself and walked out of the company, deeply unsatisfied with the direction, and vowing never to re-sign with WWE.
Even all of that could probably be ignored by WWE if the money was right, but Kim’s return to TNA and work to elevate the Knockouts Division to something that could rival WWE’s own women’s division (becoming a seven-time champion in the process) have made her persona non grata in the current WWE lore.