KiLynn King recalls how she landed her match at NJPW Rumble in 44th Street and discusses her future.
In the past, King was a regular on AEW, as she often competed on AEW Dark. Once her opportunities started to dwindle, she explored her options elsewhere, and she became a featured member of the NWA's women's division. King has continued to receive more opportunities with other companies. One breakout moment came when she worked NJPW Rumble on 44th Street, where she challenged Mayu Iwatani for the SWA World Championship.
Speaking with Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp, King described how she got an opportunity with STARDOM. She named Sumie Sakai as the person who reached out to her ahead of NJPW Rumble on 44th Street, which included some STARDOM talent. King emphasized that she was blown away when she heard from Sakai, as she is a big fan of her as a wrestler. She also noted that hearing from Sakai and STARDOM meant a lot to her, as it showed that her work was paying off.
"I got an e-mail from [Sumie ], actually. Yeah. It’s crazy to me that, going back to people paying attention, before I did the booking in New York with New Japan, I’d never met [Sumie]. So I got an e-mail from her saying, ‘Hey, we have a booking in New York. I really want to recommend you. Let’s get this done.’ I was like, ‘Okay. I’ve never met you. You’re incredible. I love your wrestling. I’ve heard nothing but good things about you as a human being and you want to help me out and get me booked here?’ It was incredible and it spoke volumes to all the work being put in," King said.
King continued to praise Sumie by pointing to her reputation. She stated that Sakai has a great reputation, as everyone likes her. King also recalled how she was proven right about Sakai when they met, and she indicated that the veteran is very friendly.
"She’s the sweetest human being. Her reputation, if you say her name to anybody, they’re like, ‘Oh, I love [Sumie.]’ That’s always the immediate reaction. So I already knew she was a great person. When I finally got to meet her in person, I was like, ‘Yep. This lady is the best.’ From the moment she sees you, it’s hugs," King said.
King, who returned to AEW for a few shows in August 2022, went on to confirm that she's still a free agent, and she teased that she could potentially pop up in another company. She then noted that she'll be doing more work with NJPW in 2023. King made it clear that she wants to compete in new places, and she'd also like to do more intergender wrestling moving forward.
"Yes. I’m still a free agent. There’s a possibility that there’s another company I’m about to pop up at. Maybe. Possibly. I am doing return [rep] in New Japan next year. I think I’m allowed to tell you that. I don’t know. I’ll be doing work with them next year. The goal right now is I just want to work places I haven’t been yet. I want to get back into intergender wrestling more. I haven’t done it in a minute and I miss it because there was some really fun stories I told in the beginning of my career in intergender wrestling and I would love to do that again. We’re just on the ride to see what happens. Wherever we end up, we end up," she said.
Additionally, King asked someone to book her and Billie Starks collectively. She noted that, together, they go by the Over Reactors, but they haven't gotten the chance to actually team up together, King stated that their careers have taken different paths, and it seems like companies only want to book them in singles matches.
"I know. Could somebody book this, please? We started this tag team, the Over Reactors. Billie Starkz is the one who booked it originally. We’d always joked about tagging, but it never ended up happening because our careers took two completely different paths. Then Billie starts having that birthday show, she booked us and we were like, ‘Oh, my God. We can finally do this.’ So gave her our tag team name, we set the tone. Then we got a couple more bookings and we were like, ‘Okay, let’s do this,’ and we tried to promote it and nobody wanted to book us as a tag team, just singles matches. So, yeah, if you guys are watching this and you’re a promoter or you know a promoter, book the Over Reactors," King said.
In the same interview, King shared her thoughts on her decision to bet on herself. Check out her comments here. [Update when article is live]
King also described how she started working with the NWA. Click here to see what she had to say. [Update when article is live.]
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