Awesome Kong Recalls Being Told She Was ‘Too Big’ For WWE During Tough Enough Tryout

AEW

Awesome Kong has recalled being told that she was ‘too big’ to make it in wrestling during her tryout for season two of WWE Tough Enough.

Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, the wrestling veteran noted that she had to come up with a promo in addition to completing the physical tryout.

Awesome Kong revealed that Jim Ross told her that she’d never make it in WWE because of her size:

“They said we had to come up with a promo, didn’t know what a promo was, and then like, we were going to have to do some physical stuff in the ring,” Kong said. “When it was time for me to audition they had me do the physical stuff first and they had us rolling around for thirty seconds, then they had us do some jumping jacks, and blah blah blah, and we had to the kip-up last

“By the time I had to do the kip-up, I didn’t impress anybody … I was proud of my promo because I grew up in acting … I was proud of myself and then it was like, crickets.

“(Jim Ross) was like, ‘Okay, thank you. Goodbye. I was like, ‘No, no. I’m not going anywhere. I just drove my raggedy ass Kia from LA through the mountains of Las Vegas to get here.’

“JR, bless his heart at the time, he was in a certain type of thinking that make it hard out there for people like me, he was like, ‘I’m sorry but, I don’t think a girl your size could ever make it in wrestling. You’re too big to ever make it in wrestling. You would never make it’, and I was like, ‘What?’ And he was like, ‘You would never make it in WWE, you’re too big’.”

Awesome Kong went on to note that she and Jim Ross are now friends, having previously reconciled.

Between 2010 and 2012, Kong wrestled as ‘Khama’ in WWE, becoming the third women ever to compete in a men’s Royal Rumble in 2012.

Kong signed with AEW in 2019, joining Brandi Rhodes’ Nightmare Collective stable. She last wrestled for AEW in January 2020, before AEW decided not to renew her contract when it expired in June 2021.

She announced her retirement from wrestling in August 2021 at NWA’s EmPowerrr event.

Transcription via Wrestling Inc. 

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• Awesome Kong
• tryout
• jim ross
• wwe

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