Awesome Kong Announces Retirement At NWA EmPowerrr

The legendary Kong makes a shock EmPowerrr appearance to announce her in-ring retirement.

by Andrew Pollard
Awesome Kong NWA EmPowerrr
NWA

With NWA EmPowerrr now in the record books, one of the biggest news stories to come out of this all-female PPV is the in-ring retirement of Awesome Kong.

Kong made a surprise appearance at EmPowerrr, coming to the ring to join forces with long-time rival Gail Kim.

After Kim was interrupted by Taryn Terrell, Jennacide and Paola Blaze, Kong made her way to the ring and attacked Jennacide and Blaze. Following a staredown between the two famed foes, the real-life Kia Stevens praised Gail as her greatest rival, before then announcing her retirement and sharing an emotional embrace with Kim.

Advertisement

A 19-year veteran of the wrestling business, Awesome Kong is revered as one of the true greats of her time, serving as a pivotal part of making TNA's Knockouts division must-see in the late-2000s and beyond - including two stints as Knockouts Champion and one run as Knockouts Tag Team Champion.

The powerhouse Kong also had a brief spell under the WWE banner as Kharma, and more recently made a handful of fleeting appearances for AEW. Away from the squared circle, Stevens played Tammé "The Welfare Queen" Dawson in Netflix's GLOW.

Advertisement

Since Awesome Kong confirmed her retirement, the wrestling world has reacted with plentiful praise for this legendary figure:

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.