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'''Gail Kim''' is a female Canadian professional wrestler of Korean descent, known for her high-flying innovative moves. She first had a two-year run in Wrestling/{{WWE}} where she won the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwf-wm.html WWE Women's Championship]] on her very first night on Raw. She was abruptly released with many others in late 2004 and spent a year honing her craft in Mexico and UsefulNotes/SouthKorea.

She signed with Wrestling/{{TNA}} in 2005 to help build up their fledgling women's division. Kim received rave reviews for her in-ring work which paid off in 2007 where she was crowned the first ever [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tna/tna-wm.html TNA Knockouts Champion]]. A feud with Awesome Kong followed, which was highly praised by critics and helped draw a huge amount of ratings for TNA. She left the company in 2008 over a pay dispute and resigned with WWE for the next three years. She has recently re-debuted in TNA, regaining the Knockouts Championship and becoming one of their top female talents.

Is married to Chef Robert Irvine of ''Series/DinnerImpossible'' and ''Series/RestaurantImpossible'', whom she met while doing an episode of ''Dinner Impossible'' as a WWE Diva.

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!!'''This wrestler provides examples of:'''
* AbortedArc: There was never any real resolution to her mini-feud with the Bella twins. It got transitioned into a Divas' Championship feud with Gail in Wrestling/EveTorres's corner but Gail never really had much of a part in it.
** Justified in the case of her storyline with Jackie Gayda in TNA because Gayda had to leave because she got pregnant.
** Interestingly enough, both times she left WWE and TNA she had just begun a possible new storyline. In WWE in 2004 she had done a run-out attack segment on the ''Raw'' before she was released. And in TNA she had just begun an angle with her kayfabe sister.
* ActionGirl
* ActorAllusion: The WWE announcers sneakily billed her as a 2-time Women's Champion during her second run. They just didn't elaborate that the second title was in another company. One of the closest WWE has ever come to acknowledging TNA on screen.
* AmazonChaser: In a segment, [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] said he got turned on by watching Gail apply submission holds.
* ArchEnemy: Back in Glory it was "Anyone who steps with me inside that ring!"
** Awesome Kong was built up as this in TNA.
** Maryse for a bit in WWE.
* AscendedExtra: Was initially a valet in TNA, but later helped build up their women's division.
* BadassLongcoat: Early in her career.
* BareYourMidriff
* BattleCouple: Both with Wrestling/EvanBourne and [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]].
* BeautyBrainsAndBrawn
* BewareTheNiceOnes
* BilingualBackfire: During their feud, Maryse started trash talking in French while pretending to be friendly. Gail then dropped a bombshell that she was a fluent French speaker and hadn't been fooled at all.
* CatFight: With the Bella Twins.
* CoolShades: During her first gimmick.
* DarkActionGirl: She's actually played one in the movie ''Royal Kill''.
* DemotedToExtra: Both her WWE runs. The first time she was Women's Champion for five weeks, then turned heel and paired with the woman who took the title from her. The second time, around early 2010 it became fairly obvious that WWE wasn't going to do anything with her.
* DragonLady: Considering how many other ethnic stereotypes ProfessionalWrestling has chewed up and spit out (SassyBlackWoman with Jacqueline, FrenchJerk with Maryse, SpicyLatina with... anyone applicable), the fact that she wasn't turned into a Dragon Lady is a notable aversion. They did veer close with her first WWE run, when they played up the "mysterious" and "dangerous" parts of the trope. However, since she debuted during the popularity of ''Film/TheMatrix,'' the "Asian" part was ignored in favor of giving her sunglasses and a BadassLongcoat and turning her into a kind of Cyberpunk Dragon Lady. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb7mpOAAL5c Her intro sums it up.]][[note]]Considering that the last women before Gail of any kind of Asian ethnicity to have had a role in WWE were [[Website/{{WrestleCrap}} "Mrs. Yamaguchi-San" of Val Venis vs. Kaientai "Me Choppy-Choppy Your Pee-Pee" infamy]], and Hiroko, who didn't wrestle much but accompanied Kenzo Suzuki to the ring in full geisha makeup, she was '''VERY''' fortunate to avert the trope.[[/note]]
* EpicFail: She once was meant to throw glitter over Vickie Guerrero. Instead she missed and ended up hitting Vickie with the bucket instead.
* FinishingMove: Among the more notable is the Necktie Breaker, which is like the Regal Cutter with two arms, which she used in TNA. Eat Defeat, an innovative jawbreaker done with the foot which she first did in her second WWE. Sometimes the Flying Dragon/Christo, a headscissors into an octopus stretch which is also innovated. She formerly also had the air raid crash, known the Celtic Cross of Finley or more recently White Noise of Wrestling/{{Sheamus}}.
* FragileSpeedster
* GirlishPigtails: She does often like to wrestle with her hair like this and makes the style badass. She even won the Knockouts title with her hair in pigtails.
* IHaveTheHighGround: Holy hell and how.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Her current storyline in TNA.
* {{Kayfabe}}: Is a big believer in preserving it, to the point where she was proud that various TNA superstars kept approaching her and asking if she and Jackie Moore really hated each other. Ditto for Awesome Kong. She said she was annoyed when Melina admitted on Twitter that the "horrible friend" thing was just a storyline.
* LovelyAngels: With both Wrestling/EveTorres and Wrestling/KellyKelly in WWE.
* MeanCharacterNiceActor: She is very nice at autograph signings.
* MoneyDearBoy: She's said that's really the only reason she returned to WWE. To elaborate, TNA is the company that made her a star. She was one of the pioneers of their women's division, was their first Knockouts Champion, and her feud with Awesome Kong was one of the highest-rated segments in TNA at the time (including main-eventing ''Impact,'' unheard of for a women's match). However, when it was time to renew her contract, sources claim that the deal offered to her was pathetic and a little sexist. Gail had already had one disappointing run in WWE, and had no reason to assume that the second time would be any better, but reportedly her WWE contract was three times that of her one in TNA. She then returned to TNA, because money was no longer an issue.
* MsFanservice: Yes, she is a lot more than just this, but, it's insulting to leave it out. She was actually rarely used as this in WWE and has commented on it, saying it was likely because she gave off the impression that she was sexy in her own way.
* NoodleIncident: We never did find out why she was supposedly "a horrible friend" to Melina.
** People have suggested it involves Skittles.
* RapunzelHair
* TheRival: She considers her best WWE matches to be the ones she had with Nidia on ''[[BShow Heat]]''.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge
* ScrewedByTheNetwork: ''Twice''. The first time, WWE turned her heel abruptly without giving her a chance to get over, and the second time, WWE barely used her after they hired her back. TNA also offered her a pittance back in 2008 when her contract was up, despite her being a proven ratings draw with Awesome Kong. Then when she had no other choice but to sign with WWE, TNA officials called her a "sell-out".
* ShipTease: With Wrestling/EvanBourne. People had been shipping them for a while because of their similar movesets.
* ShoutOut: Her initial outfit and entrance music in her first WWE run were an obvious nod to ''Film/TheMatrix''.
* SignatureMove: A climb up arm drag, an {{ass kicks you}} counter to a shoulder ramming opponent, a corner cross chop and the, neck tie breaker was [[{{Irony}} downgraded to a signature move called the Happy Ending]] in WWE.
* SpotMonkey: A rare non-high flying example (though she is a high-flyer). When she started a submission based style in 2004, she would often bust out holds with no rhyme or reason. Ironically when she wrestles as a high flyer she shows more awareness of the story and is able to utilize those moves in the right way. She's shown the same awareness using submissions in TNA now.
* StepfordSmiler: This became apparent in 2011 when she started criticizing how she and her fellow divas were being used on Twitter. On television, she was all the while a smiling {{face}}.
* {{Stripperiffic}}: All of her outfits really.
* TakeThat: Coupled with a bit of LeaningOnTheFourthWall where she said to the Bella Twins "since there aren't any guest hosts around, you guys really have nothing to do". Don't get started on her Twitter rants.
** The best example is her shoot interview after leaving WWE.
** Another was during a Divas Battle Royal. She walked in to the ring, and immediately jumped back out, disqualifying herself. When she was asked on Twitter later that night, she said she did it just to see if anybody backstage would notice. No one did.
** They also told her to make sure she was out in the first minute. She was more than happy to oblige...in her own way.
* TheatricsOfPain: Her less than stellar match with Mickie James? It was so off because Kim had actually knocked herself out, not that any spectators could tell at the time.
* TokenMinority: The first woman of Korean descent to win the Women's title.
* TookALevelInBadass: Around 2007-ish. She was in cage matches, street fights and even a ladder match.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Rumours were that she was going to feud with Mickie in WWE, though people weren't sure which of them was going to turn heel. There was also talk of [[Wrestling/KiaStevens Kharma]]'s first WWE match being against her.
* WhoWearsShortShorts: Was once booked in a "Legs Match" (because the Guest Hosts that week were Music/{{ZZ Top}}) where all the girls had to wrestle in short shorts, never mind the fact that she wrestled in hot pants normally.
* WildCard: Very briefly when she first turned heel. They had a mini feud with Molly going on but Molly quickly prevailed and made Gail her sidekick.
* YouGoGirl: Has never competed in an actual intergender match but she frequently got offense in against men whenever she was in mixed tag matches. The list includes Chavo Guerrero, Tyson Kidd and Primo (who got this in three different matches).
** Not to mention early in her first run with TNA, when she was helping Wrestling/JeffJarrett and America's Most Wanted ("Wildcat" Chris Harris and [[Wrestling/JamesStorm "The Cowboy" James Storm]]) - her interference at times would famously include crisp hurricanranas delivered to the likes of Wrestling/AJStyles.
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