Gail Kim Reveals IMPACT Locker Room Voted To Retain 'Knockouts' Name
IMPACT’s women’s division have been known as Knockouts for decades
Since IMPACT’s formation in 2002 the wrestling landscape has changed dramatically in the United States, especially with regards to women’s wrestling.
Once treated as somewhat of a sideshow, women’s wrestling has been given greater time and prominence, with women’s division matches treated with the same regard as the men’s in most mainstream wrestling companies.
IMPACT’s vaunted Knockouts division has been the standard bearer for many for years now, although the name seems antiquated by 2022 standards. However, IMPACT’s GailKim has revealed that the Knockouts division itself voted to keep the branding, saying the following on TNA 20 Years Later:
“I’m glad you brought this up because when it first became our name, the Knockouts, the Divas were happening in WWE. So it’s kind of like the Women’s Division was always this special division, which it still is, but we had our own name that kind of made us stand out from the bunch. So obviously, they got rid of that and kind of made it all one into a superstar kind of thing,” Kim said.
“To be honest, a lot of fans don’t know this, but it was a topic of discussion probably in the last couple of years in terms of whether we change that name and kind of take that away. The Knockouts in my generation were very sentimental about it. We love the name. We thought it was still strong,” Kim continued.
“I guess, in a way of how the fans would interpret it, outsiders, but we loved it, because it felt like a strong, you know, someone who can knock you out, but also be a Knockout, the double meaning there. So we never felt like it was anything negative in any way. If anything, we felt stronger because of the name and more special.
“So as the generations started switching over, Scott D’Amore had even brought it to us saying there was a discussion on whether this name was still something that we should be using right now. I felt strongly about it myself. I love it. I have a very sentimental attachment to it. I feel like all the girls do. So we took a vote. We had an open discussion about it. It was really a blended generation at that moment, maybe even now. Actually, it was more of a current generation to be honest. It was pretty unanimous. I would say 98% said they wanted to keep the name. That was because all these girls from the previous generation, who is the current generation, said, ‘I grew up watching the Knockouts. You guys were the ones that inspired us. We wanted to be a Knockout.’ So ultimately, as you know, we still have the name and that’s for a reason, because the girls wanted it. So I totally agree about this. I feel like we are still a special part of the company. It’s not like we can’t hang with everyone else. It’s just that we like being that special part.”
H/T: WrestlingNews.co