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Awesome Kong recently shed light on why AEW commentator Jim Ross thought she wouldn't make it to WWE.
Kong had a decorated 19-year wrestling career with different companies such as NWA, where she is a former world women's champion. However, she gained popularity and massive success on TNA (IMPACT Wrestling) and became a two-time Knockouts Champion. She was inducted into the IMPACT Hall of Fame last year.
Kong tried her luck and auditioned for WWE's Tough Enough season two in 2001. Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, she revealed that no one was impressed with her promo cuts and physical tests.
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Ross then told her that she wouldn't make it to WWE because of her size.
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"JR, bless his heart at the time, he was in a certain type of thinking that make it hard out there for people like me, he was like, 'I’m sorry but, I don’t think a girl your size could ever make it in wrestling. You’re too big to ever make it in wrestling. You would never make it', and I was like, 'What?' And he was like, 'You would never make it in WWE, you’re too big'," Kong said. [H/T WrestlingInc]
Years later, Kong managed to sign with the company in 2010 under the name "Kharma." Her most famous moment was her 2012 Royal Rumble appearance when she intimidated Michael Cole and eliminated Hunico. Kong was released by the company in 2012.
Former WWE star Awesome Kong on creative differences with AEW
After her IMPACT release in 2016, Awesome Kong made her wrestling return to AEW on May 25, 2019 at Double or Nothing. However, she was involved in the poorly-received angle of "The Nightmare Collective" alongside Brandi Rhodes.
Discussing her AEW run in the same interview, Kong felt unheard and wasn't in control either. She once pitched an idea in a meeting but was completely ignored.
"All I could do was say, 'I have this idea of XYZ.' I couldn't get in the room where final decisions were made. I would stay there after big meetings and pick up the water bottles and cups like, 'Huh, Y'all need...you need me to go? Okay' (laughs)."
After not appearing on AEW for a year, her contract wasn't renewed by AEW on June 1, 2021. She announced her retirement on August 28, 2021 at NWA EmPowerrr and appeared on October 23, 2021 Bound for Glory for her IMPACT Hall of Fame induction, led by Gail Kim.
