Awesome Kong vs. Gail Kim

[9.0] "Incredible work from one of TNA's best rivalries. Gail is constantly crashing against Kong but can't get the monster off her feet. Kong's fury at both Gail and the refs is amazing, with one of the best flash pin finishes ever."

[8.0] "To quote Mike Tenay, "get that comeback started, girl! " There was a nearly 20-year-gap where none of the major U.S. wrestling promotions wanted to give female competitors a fair chance, and this probably *is* the best overall, non-indies women's match we got on U.S. soil between 1985 and 2015 (my math could be and probably is off, though, so forgive me if I'm woefully mistaken.) For all the crap we give TNA, in hindsight, the promotion actually WAS kind of forward thinking, albeit in a totally unplanned and accidental way. And you certainly NEVER would've gotten this match in WWE during the Great Recession years. It's classical David vs. Goliath wrestling, with Awesome Kong immediately setting the tempo with a RAD spinning back fist shot and some downright fantastic audience brawling. There's one part where Gail Kim grabs a fan's empty plastic Coca Cola bottle and starts smacking the HELL out of Kong with it and it's kind of a perfect pro wrestling moment. In an era where bra and panties match were the norm, this match felt like an Americanized AJW blood feud from the '80s. The final stretch is just terrific and had it gone another five minutes, we'd probably be talking about this one as a legit MOTY contender. No, seriously."

[7.0] "This one approaches really good but just barely fails to reach it. I do still like it but it does a couple things wrong, in a way where I just didn't like it. I thought the overall vibes of this match were immaculate, it is very David v. Goliath. My two gripes with it though come with Gail's selling and the ref attack near the end. For the ref, I'm okay with the ref getting beat up. But the chair just felt way overboard. The roll-up at the end was great though. I think Kim sells well on the ground, but everytime she gets back up, its the same routine. Some sort of point to the sky, tries to rally up the crowd, and moves like she wasn't just getting her ass beat. It just didn't make much sense to me. The match is about Kong dissecting her prey. Taking it slow and methodical. Kim flips this dynamic on its head with her selling. Still though, there's some real good stuff here. Apart from the selling, Kim & Kong pull this off very well. It feels almost like a slasher film in some way. The crowd brawl was real good and Kim's desperation here and here alone was fantastic. Picking up the coke bottle? So good. [***.5]"

[9.0] "I'm someone who has heard of their feud but never watched. I'd only seen Gail in WWE for the most part since I saw her and Kong wrestle, and both of them are former WWE wrestlers. All I knew was Kong is very good as I've seen her in WWE and Gail was mostly put in short nonsense matches so I had no way to know how good she really was. This feud tells me exactly how good Gail was. She can sell and play the struggling underdog babyface role very well, and Kong is able to be a cruel monster heel well. Gail is the kind of wrestler who can do everything right, she just doesn't have hundreds of moves. She's a fantastic pro wrestler, athletic, can work, can take a beating in the ring to tell a great story, she's really special with Kong who seems to compliment her skillset amazingly. Watching this match on the right mood and really getting into it makes me emotional, It's not super flashy but very well done."

[9.0] "Oh my God, what a fantastic match. In the same year WWE created the Divas title and handed it out to wrestlers like Maryse and Michelle McCool, TNA delivered one of the best women's matches of the century. Of course, many of the match's special spots and moments have happened many times, but considering this is 2008, this is certainly a very special match. The classic David versus Goliath, done convincingly and violently. Gail Kim is undoubtedly extremely underrated, and Awesome Kong was truly incredible."

"Usually when I watch a critically acclaimed match, I expect technical chain wrestling and perfectly executed big moves. Not this match though. this one was very fast paced and felt informal in a way I really enjoyed, not clean and neat. I loved how scrappy and relentless Gail Kim is; Awesome Kong overpowers her easily, but Gail always comes swinging with a flurry of believable strikes. Kong felt huge and monstrous, moving slow but convincingly powerful. The steel chair bumps looked like CTE fuel in the best way possible. Ref bumps are often corny but Kongs character work made me believe that she would be so filled with rage and destruction that it would make sense for her to lash out at the ref. The finish was genius with Gail exploiting this for the win. This was pure david v Goliath storytelling in the best way possible"

[9.0] "As usual Dave hates women. The ref bumps are awesome, by the way, you just don't get it. Never seen a finish like that before."

[8.0] "The peak of TNA's women's division, simply because it represented the classic professional wrestling formula of a talented, attractive, sympathetic babyface valiantly defending a championship against a brutal, monstrous, threatening heel. As with most of their matches, Kim and Kong went all out here, using the no disqualification stipulation an appropriate amount and the match coming due to Kong's violent, unpredictable nature being used against her."

[7.0] "A nearly excellent match, reduced by unnecessary ref bumps. Kim and Kong engage in a brutal, physical battle, even before the steel chair is introduced. The brawl through the audience, with Kong pummeling Kim through a section of the arena, has become iconic for good reason."

[10.0] "INCREDIBLE match, historic on every level. We all know how hard was to be women's wrestler back then but those 2 proved that women's wrestling matters and can be as good or even better than men's. Giving them NO DQ was such a perfect idea. Typical david vs. goliath but executed PERFECTLY, their chemistry was amazing - every punch, kick or throw very brutal and hard-hitting, those lethal chair shots on top as well - pure cinema. Crowd was 100% invested, they loved every second of it which helped them build the structure of the match. They changed history here and showed the direction where women's wrestling should go. Absolutely MUST WATCH! *****"

[8.0] "[****] Kong immediately goes after Kim, and they brawl on the outside, where Kong is dominating. Spinning chokeholds, manhandles into the turnbuckles, and getting Kim to the outside. She chucks Kim into the stairs as she has gotten 99% of the offense throughout the first 5 minutes. Kim exploits Kong's mistake, and grabs a soda bottle, and hits hit with a hit, hits the top of the barricade axe handles, and drives her into the ringpost in a hammer lock. However, Kong did not sell the sequence and clubbed the freak out of Kim. Gail kicks Kong's chair back into her face to set up a crossbody, but Kong catches her and slams onto the apron! Kong's in-ring believability is iffy since her strikes looked soft. Gail countered the Awesome Bomb into an attempted roll-up, almost got Bonzai dropped on, got caught from an axe handle, and got him with a sit-down facebuster! Kong hits a clean Awesome Bomb to the ref and hits him with the chair. Gail hits 3 chair shots to Kong to knock her down. She hits a frog splash, another ref comes, and Kong kicks out. The ending of this match was awesome, since Kong was about to powerbomb the other ref, but Gail rolled up both for the pin and win. That second half was really fun and brutal with those chair shots and powerbomb. Gail wasn't THAT technically proficient since she sold most of the match for Kong."

[7.0] "Maybe the best US women's match of the 2000's? Really liked the way Kong used her power to dominate and Gail sold awesomely. Finish was pretty innovative but I would have liked to see a few more minutes. 3.81/5."

[8.0] "This match was hard-hitting, intense, and showed American fans what women can do in the ring when actually taken seriously. Gail Kim and Awesome Kong are two excellent wrestlers, and TNA gave them a platform to show how good they are years before the "women's revolution". Wonderful stuff."

[8.0] "This match is just straight heat. I don't think I've ever seen a match from either of these two women so I didn't exactly know what to expect going in, but both of them looked really great here. Kong puts in a great performance as this huge, almost invincible Goliath, almost wrestling like how Nia Jax does today. She controls most of the match, and rarely bumps or sells for Gail, making it seem like a huge achievement when Gail finally manages to stagger her. And speaking of Gail, she puts in an amazing performance as the David to Kong's goliath. She takes a few brutal bumps in this match and a lot of really stiff strikes from Kong, but always finds some way to fight back by any means necessary. There's a really awesome part where they're brawling in the crowd, and Gail just takes a bottle of coke from someone and just starts hitting Kong over the head with it. She's also capable of throwing some really heavy strikes of her own too. Her elbows and forearm looked super stiff in this match, like honestly almost Misawa-esque. There was some goofiness with Kong constantly taking out referees, but I didn't mind it and it did lead to a couple of great moments. After Kong takes out the first ref, takes a chair and delivers two unprotected chairshots to Kong's head and then get a really close nearfall after hitting a splash. Kong then goes to take out the second ref after a chokeslam nearfall, but Gail is able to roll her up while she has the ref in a powerbomb position to get the win. This match was just awesome. Super violent and stiff, but managed to tell a really compelling story throughout. Will definitely have to check out more from these two. ****1/4"

[8.0] "These two smash it out of the park once again. Such a simple match story told exceptionally well. Gail Kim throws a better elbow than your favourite wrestler. This was just so much fun, even the incredibly dumb finishing stretch kept me entertained."

[9.0] "This was a fanstasic match, the highlight of their rivalry and one of the best Knockouts match in TNA's history. This match followed an already a very good match they had at Turning Point at the end of 2007. Here, the action spilled through the crowd, who remained ecstatic throughout the match. To put it simpley, this was a great example of how a David v. Goliath kind of matches should be. Kong pushed Gail to her limits, brutally may I say, while Gail refused to give up. Many great moments here, from the brawl to the crowd, Kong catches Gail's huge plancha, to Gail reversing a chockslam only for Kong to hit a great sit out facebuster. Creative ending to the match as well, with Gail taking advantage over Kong, who were about to powerbomb another referee. Incredible match. [****1/4]."

[8.0] "Another super cool match between Kong and Kim right here even better than their Turning Point match and it's perfectly understandable because where they got only ten minutes and a DQ finish the month before, here they got more time as well as a stipulation, a No Disqualification perfectly justified considering what happened at the previous PPV as well as during the TV shows, these two spent their time brawling so it was obvious that a match of this magnitude had to happen. And there too they completely stole the show, we never thought we would see a women's match of such quality in a major US promotion at that time and yet it happened, and it ruled so hard with good spots and a very creative ending."

[9.0] "An utterly fantastic, brutal David v. Goliath battle between two of the greatest female workers in North America. Quite frankly, the match that made both women's careers, along with the famous TNA Knockout's division that came with it. Kim was such a sympathetic underdog here, and it's even easier to get behind her when she's in there with Awesome Kong out of all people, who kick all kinds of butts in this match. The finish was honestly smart too, very creative and well thought. TNA was nearly a whole decade ahead of the WWE in revolutionizing the women's division in the US, and this was an ample proof of that. [****1/4]"

[9.0] "Kim shows plenty of fire as she lays in multiple barrages of elbows into Kong. Her elbows aren't the snuggest, but Kong doesn't over-sell them so that cancels that out. Nothing worse in wrestling when a heel sells a weak-looking move like a death blow. They brawl through the crowd and actually keep things interesting! Kim is fantastic at fighting from underneath and constantly being on the look for an opening. The finish involving multiple referees could have easily come off as contrived, but I thought they pulled it all off well. These two had the crowd in the palms of their hands here, with the fans buying into every near-fall. We need more women like Awesome Kong in 2021!"

[6.0] "I really like Gail Kim. She's cool. But I don't like Kong. Log. I never liked fat women. This is straight ugh. And in wrestling, you don't need them at all.. 3. 25 stars"

[6.0] "I gave this *** stars out of 5. Awesome Kong hit some really impressive power moves on Gail Kim and the refs. The near falls were really good, but I was not impressed by Gail Kim's strikes on Kong."

[10.0] "The greatest TNA Knockouts match in the history of the company. It told a perfect David and Goliath story, and both Gail Kim and Awesome Kong worked their parts perfectly, and the amazing crowd reaction is a testament to the hard work by both wrestlers."