Gail Kim was a WWE Women’s Champion, which, on the surface, might suggest she had a successful run with the company. However, that title reign happened within her first month on the main roster, and ultimately lasted for less than a month total. The rest of her nearly five years with the company (spread across two separate runs) saw her wholly undervalued, picking up relatively few victories at all and often left off TV for extended stretches. Add up these factors, and she might come across as one of dozens of forgettable female talents who spent multiple years in WWE. There’s the complicating factor, however, that Kim had two exceptional runs in Impact Wrestling. That included her proving instrumental in putting their Knockouts Division on the map in the mid-2000s, earning recognition as one of the top women wrestlers of the time. Why didn’t she enjoy success like that in WWE, particularly when their women’s roster on the whole wasn’t as strong?

Gail Kim Is One Of The Best Talents Of Her Generation

The consensus among serious fans is that Gail Kim is on the short list of the greatest female wrestlers of her generation—and some would go far as to say she ranks among the greatest women to ever step in the ring, period. Most of that praise can be attributed to her run with Impact Wrestling. In the mid-to-late 2000s, she was a staple performer in the Knockouts division. That included being the division’s very first champion and legitimizing the title via a number of rock solid defenses.

Kim went to the next level opposite Awesome Kong, the perfect monster heel rival to highlight how good Kim was in the underdog babyface role. The size disparity—with Kim billed at 5’4” and 120 pounds, compared to Kong at 5’11” and 272—told a story in and of itself. Kim sold resilience, agility, and speed to stay in the fight, while Kong established herself as a dominant bully character. Kim would remain relevant in the division through that run, and then have another noteworthy Impact tenure from 2013 to 2016.

Gail Kim Got Off To A Great Start As A Heel In WWE

Though Gail Kim debuted as a babyface and won the WWE Women’s Championship in that role, her first run with the company is better remembered for the heel version of herself that developed thereafter. She offered a unique presentation as an acrobatic and technical heel, and her Flying Dragon submission hold in particular worked extremely well opposite Victoria, who both had the strength base to physically support the hold and sold it brilliantly as a deadly finisher that Kim could use to take down a much larger opponent.

Related: 10 Most Shocking Female Heel Turns EverIn the end, though, any division in any promotion only has so many top spots available. With Victoria and Molly Holly around, not to mention Trish Stratus and Lita already approaching icon status, Kim simply didn’t have a spotlight after her first few months. When she came back for her 2008-2011 run, Kim was a babyface and found herself all the more lost in the shuffle.

Gail Kim Arrived In WWE At The Wrong Time, And Returned At An Even Worse One

When fans reflect on Gail Kim’s WWE career, one phrase comes up again and again: “She was a head of her time.” A smaller athlete was agile, technically savvy, and able to play the babyface or heel about equally well, she’d be a much more obvious fit for the women’s division in WWE from 2016 to the present day.

For her original run, Kim was overshadowed by bigger names in an era when WWE didn’t dedicate a great deal of time to its female talents. For her second WWE run, the issue was only exacerbated in a period when WWE placed less emphasis on serious wrestling for its women, and had even fewer true stars in its women’s ranks. Fortunately, Kim did have an opportunity shine in Impact Wrestling, which in hindsight feels foundational to WWE’s Women’s Revolution for offering a nationally televised home for serious women’s wrestling earlier on.

When it comes to the limitations of Gail Kim’s WWE legacy, it mostly comes down to being among those women who were simply signed to WWE at the wrong time. Her time in Impact Wrestling demonstrated her immense talent for a substantial audience, and in that era it was a much more appropriate stage to showcase what she brought to the table.