Just a year after she was released, Mia Yim returned to WWE looking for a second chance.
Following a six-month run in IMPACT Wrestling, the “HBIC” initiated her comeback in WWE. On November 7, she aligned herself with The O.C. stable, reviving the Mia Yim character. Prior to her WWE departure, Yim served as a member of the Retribution faction, performing under the name of Reckoning. Unfortunately, the group slowly disintegrated from television. Yim’s last on-screen appearance occurred in March 2021, before her unceremonious exit in November.
Yim later re-joined IMPACT in April 2022, signing a contract that led her through the beginning of October. Before her contract with IMPACT expired, though, Yim revealed WWE had extended interest in bringing her back to their company. “I was very, very happy at IMPACT. Still, I got nothing but positive things to say about them, but it was one of those — so many things happen in life where like real life and business, where there were so many changes in one year that it was like,’ okay, stay with IMPACT or try again in WWE to have a better outcome, to have a better narrative,” Yim told Out of Character with Ryan Satin.
Yim explained that while her time in WWE, specifically NXT, was great, there were things she wished she could’ve changed. Upon her internal debate of staying with IMPACT, and returning to WWE, Yim didn’t want there to be any sense of “what if.” In addition, Yim wanted to take care of those she loved the most. “The main motivator too, is me and Keith [Lee], we want to have a nice nest egg for our future children,” she said.
“I want to be able to take care of my mom. Going to WWE would allow me to do that easier and faster. So, it was kind of a decision where I need to take care of everybody else. I need to do something for me mentally to know that, ‘okay, if I could be myself [as a character], how far could I have gone in WWE to know how far it could have gone, but also to help my family as well?”
Despite the initial heartbreak of her release, Yim kept herself occupied. In early 2022, she married long-time partner Keith Lee. Soon after, the couple bought a house, relocating from Florida to Texas. “So all that, within a year, that was a lot,” Yim recalled, “but I’m kind of glad that the release happened when it did.” Lee went on to sign with All Elite Wrestling, allowing Yim to keep busy with work at home as she contemplated her next moves in wrestling.
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