Andrew Thompson from Post Wrestling recently conducted an interview with rising star KiLynn King about her run in AEW and the NWA, and how she’s enjoyed working for both. Highlights are below.
KiLynn on the recent conversation surrounding a second NWA EmPowerrr event, says there’s plenty of talent out there, also understands not wanting to just book anyone so the show can happen:
“I think there’s plenty of talent out there [for a second EmPowerrr show]. I don’t know if everybody who is a part of creating a second EmPowerrr is aware of the talent. I have the ability where I get booked on a lot of all-women shows. So I’m constantly experiencing women from all over the world whether I’m wrestling or I’m just on the same show with them. I don’t run NWA, I don’t have the wherewithal and say in all that stuff but I can’t imagine that there won’t ever be another EmPowerrr. We had a lot of women from different companies come in for EmPowerrr to represent and have a really strong roster for that show. So I think it’s just a matter of becoming aware of what’s available and finding an equally strong if not better roster for the next one because you never wanna run a pay-per-view and be like, oh, we need women so just book all these people. You wanna make sure that every booking matters for an event like that so I don’t think it’s a matter of not ever running an EmPowerrr. I think it’s just becoming more aware of what’s available and finding what works. Finding the stories and the talents that make sense.”
KiLynn reacts to praise Tony Khan gave her after AEW Dynamite matches in August 2022, KiLynn mentions that she stepped back from competing for AEW from April 2022 until August:
“That man [Tony Khan] has his eyes on a lot of people so to know he’s paying attention to my work on the independents means a lot. It was one of those things where it’s like, I really enjoy working there but I — and I said it in my promo on [AEW] Dark so I don’t mind re-stating it. It was one of those things where if you’re working at a place for a certain amount of time, you know whether it’s gonna happen or not and as much as I love the stage that AEW has, I could feel it. I was like, they don’t have anything for me right now. I said, they appreciate me, they like my work and they trust me with a lot of things but, main roster-wise, they don’t have anything for me right now and it was kind of like a really hard thing to accept. But once I accepted it, I said, this is what you do and this is what I said earlier, if they don’t have a spot for you right now and they don’t have camera time for you right now, go find a camera and show them you’re a TV star. So that’s what I did. I went on the independents and it was kind of crazy. Almost immediately, when I started working independents full-time again, several different promotions wanted to put their titles on me and I said, all right. These promotions that wanna take time and invest in me, I’m going to give them TV quality product. Once I made the decision to back away from AEW a little bit and start doing more on the independents, I just crossed my fingers and I said, I hope the people who are behind the backstage curtains are paying attention and watching because we can sit here and say that, you know, we love wrestling but at the end of the day, we all secretly want to work somewhere permanently, have a contract, have a steady paycheck… That’s my goal for sure. Where I end up? I don’t know. Right now, I’ve been doing a lot of incredible work with the NWA and they have blessed me with so many incredible opportunities and put so much faith in me. So that’s where I ended up and I love it. But yeah, you just got to do that for yourself and I really appreciate the fact that Tony was paying attention and saw and I got to come back and have that really cool, special moment two weeks in a row on Dynamite and I got to wrestle Toni Storm which again, a match I never thought would happen because not that long ago, she was in a company that I never saw myself at so, you never know, and then getting to wrestle Britt [Baker] in my hometown, the Browns versus the Steelers whole thing, whole vibe and my parents were in the crowd for that show and believe it or not, they’ve never seen me wrestle live. So it was really cool — as quick as that moment was, it was really cool to know — it was kind of like a little blessing because I don’t get booked in Ohio very often so I wasn’t sure when my parents were actually gonna see me wrestle. They go on YouTube and all that stuff and they watch my matches but it’s very, very different when you can look out in the front row and see your mom and dad and brother and his kids just sitting there and you’re like, oh my God, these are the people that’s supported me and they sacrificed this for me and were there for me on my darkest days and now they’re sitting front row watching me on a huge platform. So, it was a very, very cool and a very special moment. I’m always very grateful to Tony for that.”
KiLynn further comments on choice to step back from AEW earlier this year, says it was a difficult decision but felt they did not have anything for her beyond what she had been doing, mentions that promoters thought she was exclusive to AEW, when Mickie James found out she wasn’t exclusive, KiLynn’s dates with NWA picked up:
“It was a very difficult decision to make [stepping back from AEW] because it was a steady paycheck, it was great exposure. Every time I had a match, followers would increase, more interest would increase. But, it got to a point where I felt stuck and not in the manner of I didn’t like being there, it just felt like my work wasn’t progressing and that was the biggest thing because to kind of contradict what I said earlier, yes, we all wanna be a part of a big company and make a good steady paycheck but at the end of the day, I got into wrestling because I love wrestling. So, as somebody who is very passionate and loves wrestling and hopefully one day be considered one of the best, if you don’t feel like you’re progressing, it kind of kills your soul a little bit. I’ve just told myself, I need to go out and experience new bodies and experience new atmospheres and just grow as a performer and as a wrestler and just start having some title defenses and some bangers and just start elevating my product because I was having a lot of quick matches and they’re always so much fun, but I wanted to start experiencing those 20 minute bangers and those stipulation matches that really make you push through and I just wanted to do that for myself and so, I remember the first couple of months after I stepped away, I was in such a panic. I was like, did I make the right choice? Because it took a minute for the bookings to start coming because I don’t think people realized that I was back on the independents and there was a short period of time where I think a lot people thought I was signed and I wasn’t so, I think that’s kind of what happened with the NWA is I had reached out to Mickie James. I was like, ‘Hey, I just recently discovered that people think I’m signed to AEW, I’m not and I would really like to start experiencing other companies and start getting more work in other places and just, you know, growing my name’ and she was like, ‘Oh my gosh, yeah, I thought you were signed too. That’s why I never inquired about other stuff with you.’ I was like, ‘Okay’ and then a week later, I was working with NWA so I was like, all right, people do care [King smiled]. They just didn’t know I was available.”