Former WWE Women’s Champion Gail Kim has had a rough week on X. Just days ago, she faced backlash for calling for peace following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Now, Kim has drawn more criticism, this time for her comments about AEW star Riho.
The TNA Hall of Famer was discussing Deathmatch wrestling on X and mentioned Jim Cornette, who is famously against that style. One fan asked her what she thought about Cornette calling Asian Women’s wrestlers “schoolgirls” and “$ex dolls.” Kim requested a link to Cornette’s comments, and a fan sent her a playlist from Cornette’s YouTube channel that included his rants about Riho.
After watching, Kim said she felt uncomfortable seeing Riho wrestle, pointing to camera angles going up her skirt and her being dressed like a little girl.
“I listened to this whole clip. Which I said I didn’t want clips, but that’s fine. The only issue that I had was that he made a comment about her teeth. I will say, and I haven’t watched AEW in a very long time, but when I did watch Riho and nothing against her at all bc I am (1/4)
The biggest supporter of all women who wanna make it in this business, but I did feel uncomfortable watching her because the camera shots would go up her skirt and she was always dressed like a very little girl and it felt improper(2/4)
I am also into very believable Wrestling. Not everyone is especially nowadays. And it was very hard for me to believe a little girl that was being portrayed of that size was fighting the women they had in that division. (3/4)
To put it into context, I find Io, Mia, Asuka, Kairi and Lei Ying to be more believable and I don’t feel uncomfortable watching (4/4)”
When a fan pointed out that Riho is the same size as AJ Lee, Kim clarified:
“OK, I’m not taking anything away from her talent. I’m talking about what I saw years ago and what made me feel uncomfortable.She looked like a very young girl in a frilly skirt and the camera man was up her a$$. It just felt inappropriate to me.”
Kim later posted a follow-up statement telling fans she was done addressing the topic:
“I’m not going to comment on the Riho thing again. I have stated my opinion. It was a four part tweet so you can look at that again if you don’t understand what I was saying. It was more than about her size. It was a combination of things. I was asked about it, and I answered.”
She later told her followers she’s taking a step back from X for a bit:
“OK, I’ve been on a Twitter rampage for days now… thanks to those who had reasonable conversations. I will be back for more when I hear about some interesting topics that arise.”
When a fan told her not to get bullied off the platform, Kim assured them she wasn’t leaving:
“I’m not. lol. I just actually have other things I have to do now. I was under the weather for a few days and was active online. Now I have to get back to real life bc this isn’t real life. lol.”
