Former champion says WWE must get one thing right with WrestleMania main events
WWE WrestleMania has featured a women's match in the main event twice in the last six years. In a recent interview, former Women's Champion Gail Kim spoke about pay equality between men and women at The Showcase of the Immortals.
Kim worked for WWE between 2002 and 2004 before returning for another run with the company between 2008 and 2011. Her second WWE stint ended after she realized then-Chairman Vince McMahon had no plans for her.
On Story Time with Dutch Mantell, Kim said female wrestlers deserve to be paid as much as men and acknowledged that while a lot has improved there is still scope for more. She especially insisted on equal pay for female athletes for WrestleMania main events.
"I'd say the only thing that's probably lacking right now that I hear, and I mean it's getting better slowly, is the pay, right? So, I'd love for the women to get paid equally as the men. Like, if you're gonna do a main event at WrestleMania, I would hope that you're gonna get paid the same as the men who are gonna wrestle the main event at WrestleMania," said Kim. [16:22 – 16:44]
Kim is viewed by many as one of the most influential wrestlers of her generation. She was inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame in 2016 and now works for the promotion as a producer.
Gail Kim on WWE's salary changes
In 2019, Becky Lynch defeated Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania 35 in the first women's main event in the show's history. Two years later, female wrestlers headlined the event again when Bianca Belair beat Sasha Banks in the headlining match on Night One of WrestleMania 37.
Gail Kim is unsure how much WWE stars get paid now, but she expects salaries to have improved from her days with the company.
"I think it's getting better from what I hear. I mean, us wrestlers don't really talk about pay too much because it is kind of more individual contractors, so everyone kinda has, on the most part, different contracts, so we don't talk about it so much, but once in a while you hear things," she said. [16:47 – 17:05]
In the same interview, Kim revealed the backstage reaction when she went off-script in her final RAW match.
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Please credit Story Time with Dutch Mantell and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.