KimberLee became the new Chikara Grand Champion at the company’s “Top Banana” event, and made history by being the company’s first female to hold the top title. KimberLee talks about what it was like to win the title, her thoughts on intergender matches in wrestling, her overall thoughts on women’s wrestling, and more. You can read a few excerpts below:
KimberLee talks about her feelings after her title win:
It’s really hard to put into words. I was just thinking about when I started and was looking up to all the people who held the championships, just the women, much less the men. Being there and capturing one was completely overwhelming. I was crying in the ring, I was crying afterward. I was crying in the days since. All I ever wanted to do was make a change and make a difference. I wanted to show that women are just as tough as the men. This is a huge step in doing that.
Did she think she’d win a title that’s traditionally held by men?
I never really thought I would. Somebody who influenced me a lot when I was younger was Chyna. I never was allowed to watch wrestling when I was younger – my mom didn’t like it. So I had to sneak and watch it, and when I did, she always stuck out to me. She had the Intercontinental title at one point. So when I started to wrestle, that’s who I looked up to, and that’s what I wanted to do. Even from the beginning, I was saying that I wanted to wrestle men – I wanted to be looked at the same. I didn’t want to have to wrestle just girls. I didn’t want to have to do girly stuff. I wanted to do the same things that all the guys got to do. That’s how I’ve always been talking.
KimberLee’s response to fans who are against intergender wrestling:
I’m sorry that’s their opinion, but not everybody is a fan of every single wrestling company. Everybody has their flavor of choice. I think that intergender is becoming more popular and is becoming a bigger entity now. Not everybody is going to like the same artist; everyone has their own opinion. But I want to get as many people as I can to like intergender wrestling. That’s my goal, to turn everybody’s opinion around.
Does she hope to make it to WWE one day?
Absolutely. That’s the biggest platform that we have to perform. It’s a way to reach more people. It’s also one of the only avenues that you have to do this as a full-time job, which would be amazing. But I don’t want to go there to be what the Divas have been, I would want to make a change.
