WNS Fans View: Wilds' War Cry: Gail Kim is Tougher than You

TNA Lockdown was this past Sunday. No, I am not doing another PPV review, but just so we are clear, I could have done an entire article on WWE and TNA not knowing how to book their title matches. The show was overall entertaining, a bit on the mediocre side, but it was not bad. Something stuck with me though, and most readers will think it silly to linger on the last small tidbit, but that is what I do.

In the midst of the show was a good match for the Knockouts title between Gail Kim and Madison Rayne. This bout, like all of the others on the program, took place in a steel cage. Both women came to fight, took some hard bumps, and told a little bit of a story about two wrestlers who used to be best friends, once holding tag team gold together, turned rivals. In fact, they told that story better than Gunner and Storm did, and had a more entertaining match in my opinion. (Minus the double chair suplex)

Some avid fans may not be surprised that TNA lets their female competitors into a steel cage, especially in recent memory, having Knockouts street fights and ladder matches that have impressed. But for those wrestling fans who only watch the WWE Divas, or skip all female matches in general, this fact may come as a surprise. I cannot actually recall the last time WWE let their women’s division do anything that made them look as strong or tough as the TNA Knockouts. I feel like Gail Kim deserves a lot of the credit for this, as she is in most of the matches I really like or think the girls take sick bumps in. I think there are women in WWE who would want to do more and try more things like that though.

Paige recently tweeted that she wanted to be in the Wrestlemania battle royal style match, which I think would be awesome. I know that some people think female wrestlers need to be protected more, but kind of like military service here in the states, if women want to risk their bodies just like the male wrestlers do, why not let them? I know that the career of a female superstar is shorter than that of a male’s on average, but only a few of those reasons to why that is actually apply here, and in the end, it should be their choice. Some people just do not think female workers can draw unless they are naked. That is some sexist bullshit, and just inaccurate. Someone recently told me—in a different context—that they might as well just put the title belt on a Diva if it is all about popularity. I thought about it though. Would that have worked with someone like Trish or Lita? Is that such a horrible thought? I remember the Impact episode where the Knockouts match was the main event, and that was kind of cool, a little different and refreshing in a way.

The only thing that I thought hurt all of Kim and Rayne’s was the incident with Samuel Shaw. I am still not sure what I think of his gimmick, and will probably write more on that later. I understand Christy Hemme being afraid of him. She is not a wrestler anymore. In the scene where Velvet Sky is confronted by Shaw though, I hated that she seemed so scared of him. Especially since Sky recently stood up to her boyfriend Chris Sabin and dropkicked him in the middle of the ring. It is not a big deal, and I know that it could be inferred that Sky was in on the overarching plan, but if the Knockouts all knew this dude was creeping on Hemme, it would have been cool to see them stand up to him, but maybe that will happen later on. This is a small thing, but it made me realize even further that I would be okay with seeing a female wrestler stand up for themselves against one of their male counterparts. Overall, I am just an advocate for seeing talented female workers given more time and an equal shot, but it should stretch throughout the entire program, not just the women’s matches.