During the Empowerr PPV, there were so many moments that would cause any women’s wrestling fan to yell, cheer or get a little misty eyed.
In my opinion, no one moment in the night did that more than Awesome Kong returning.
During the development of the Empowerr PPV, we heard of a lot of legends in the business coming to contribute to this show. Madusa, Jazz and Gail Kim all lent their time to make sure that this show would be absolutely perfect from the first match to the last.
As bookers for Empowerr, these icons led the young performers to feel that they could have an all women’s show that would not disappoint and would exceed everyone’s expectations.
During the middle of the show, no one was expecting Gail Kim to be saved by Awesome Kong during her confrontation with Taryn Terrell.
When the first gong of Awesome Kong’s signature theme song went off, there was a hush and intake of breath that left the audience. Then an eruption of applause that filled the St. Louis arena. Kong entered the ring in her usual menacing and intimidating presence.
We didn’t know who she might attack. It was quite surprising to see her come to the aid of Gail Kim. Considering their in ring history. After the ring was clear of Taryn Terrell and her minions, Gail Kim and Awesome Kong had a bit of a stare down.
Awesome Kong grabs the mic and makes it clear that this is going to be her last in ring appearance.
She also added that last year hasn’t particularly been easy, but if anyone can get her off the couch, it would be Gail Kim.
Awesome Kong and Gail Kim became very emotional at this point. Kong made it clear that she has had so many great memories with Kim and that she loved her. This led to a beautiful, genuine embrace between both women as they hugged and soaked in the crowds applause.
This was an appearance in the ring that I will always remember and I feel is important to document for many reasons.
For one, I feel that Awesome Kong has done so much for women’s wrestling in the states during the mid to late 2000s. Her reign as TNA Knockouts champion and Shimmer champion helped to solidify women’s wrestling as marketable in the US again.
Awesome Kong was able to show that the TNA knockouts could main event and establish a strong division within a span of a year.
Awesome Kong brought a mysterious allure with her after her super successful run in All Japan Wrestling. Kong was made in Japan.
She would show up in Shimmer and annihilate every women that she came across, and leave you wanting more.
During Kong’s US run, the divas were all the rage in the industry and most of the women who possessed conventional beauty were talked about and praised on a main level scale.
I think that Kong started to feel like she wasn’t being pushed the same as she was when she first arrived in TNA.
Also, add in the way that shock jock Bubba the Love sponge (one of Hulk Hogan’s best friends at the time) treated her backstage after he made racist remarks about Haiti and the punishment that she received for standing up for her black community and you can see why she was probably looking elsewhere.
With Kong’s arrival in WWE as Kharma, there was a possible push to make her a big star. To have an audience become really excited about Kharma destroying the Barbie doll divas and take over the division was promising.
Honestly, I believe they were building properly toward that. She would take her time and stalk out her prey after every divas match at that time.
You didn’t know who she was truly after.
Kharma would be one of only three women that would enter the men’s Royal Rumble match. There were hints of Kharma getting into a feud with the Bella twins. However, that was cut short because of Kharma announcing that she was with child. She was very happy about this pregnancy. It seemed like a guaranteed feud and spot was awaiting Kharma when she returned. Unfortunately, Kharma lost her child during her pregnancy and she did not return to WWE.
Fans like me were confused and enraged. Why would WWE not bring her back? Especially after everything that she went through? Kong did return to Impact Wrestling and had some stellar matches.
Then a huge shift in Kong’s career happened when it was announced that she would star in GLOW. Kong was killing it on a highly rated show on Netflix and helping to shape the opinion of women’s wrestling for mainstream audiences.
Right at the time of WWE’s self proclaimed evolution.
As AEW came onto the scene in 2019, many legends that weren’t really tied to WWE anymore were brought in to add prestige to the new company.
Kong stated in a Starrcast interview that she didn’t know if people were going to remember her. Kong was brought in and even had a reunion with a former rival, Aja Kong.
Both Kong’s had an epic stare down and of course as viewers, we thought that the women might have another feud. This time on US soil. The months and months went by and nothing happened.
Kong returned to AEW, but her role there was rather lackluster. She came back as a bodyguard of sorts for Brandi Rhodes. Sure, I liked that Brandi was trying to build a faction. But it started to get weird towards the end.
There was so much that I feel that they could’ve done with her and Aja Kong and I feel that they dropped the ball.
Everything was still going great for Kong. The Glow TV show and a AEW spot….until the pandemic hit.
Everything was put on hold. No one knew what to expect.
Sadly during 2020 the GLOW tv series was canceled.
This was disheartening for fans of the show like my self. There were no signs of Kong during this time. So, for her to show up at Empowerr, such an important show in women’s wrestling history was so validating.
Kong contributed so much. However, I don’t think that she fully recognized that knew until the show and press day that occurred the next day.Throughout many of the interviews that Kong did, she was showered with praises, thank you’s and such wonderful sentiments for what she did to inspire this generation of women.
You could see that Kong truly took that in and finally realized how impactful her career was. One thing that I noticed about the female wrestlers from the 00’s, is that they truly might live a life not knowing how much they touched and inspired this generation.
This is why we as women’s wrestling fans must continue to crown this women. They layed out the framework for what we see today.
They dealt with so much, so that this generation can demand better working conditions.
Kong’s appearance meant so much because legends like Sherri Martel and Luna Vachon didn’t get a chance to fully receive their flowers from this new era of fans.
I want to say as a fan of 15 years. Thank you Kong. For everything that you did.
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