Following him March 2010 exit from TNA WrestlingAwesome Kong (real name: Kia Stevens) left for free agency with a game plan in mind. Little did he know that fate would have an accelerated fate for him.
during an interview with “Wrestling without competition” Kong recalled how WWE, his ideal landing spot at the time, contacted him about a possible onboarding, long before he intended to personally approach the company.
“I left TNA. I was minus money and in the red. I felt like I didn’t care… So I’m like, I’m going to wait a little bit, I’m going to go back to India and I’m going to call WWE as soon as my no-contest is over,” Kong said. “Give it a couple of months, I’ll get in shape a bit, then I’ll call, but they called me.
“What happened was obviously all the girls who sent in the tapes sent in their best games,” she continued. “Because TNA was pimping me left, right and center, all their best matches were me. So even though I hadn’t sent my stuff yet, they had seen my stuff and of course they had seen the stuff at TNA.”
When he got the initial call from WWE executive John Laurinaitis, Kong admitted he thought it was a joke. However, once he absorbed the legitimacy of it, he proceeded to an interview and medical test, both of which he passed. Unlike most hires at the time, Kong bypassed WWE’s developmental areas and went right away In the spring of 2011, made her WWE television debut as Kharma.
Kong remembers hearing suspicious comments from his peers
Kong’s time in WWE was short because he left there in the summer of 2012. Still, he’s grateful to have had the opportunity to work with the promotion, especially after years of hearing dubious remarks from his peers.
“I swear everyone will always assume they know (former WWE executive) Vince (McMahon) and know what Vince likes,” he said. “People always said, ‘I’m sorry, Vince would never hire you.’ ‘Too bad. He says: “Yeah, but Vince will never hire you. Vince likes this and Vince likes that.” That’s all I would hear from my peers throughout my career. So for them to bother me, I was kind of surprised. When I went down there, I made sure I went down there with a pimp. I was a barbie doll pimp when I went down the Twin Towers. I went down there like, ‘Hey!’ They liked it because it was a different side of me. It was a fun ride. It was a fun little honeymoon.”
Kong competed in one match under the WWE banner, the 2012 Men’s Royal Rumble. In it, he managed to eliminate Hunico and scare commentator Michael Cole into removing him, all before being tossed out of the ring by Dolph Ziggler. Kong had previously bullied several members of the WWE Women’s Division, including Michelle McCool and Eva Torres.
Kong, 49, now considers himself retired from professional wrestling, but given the right opportunity and training, he recently noted that Internal returns may occur.
If you use any of the quotes from this article, credit No-Contest Wrestling with ah/t Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.