Mia Yim says she has found her passion for wrestling again.
WWE released Yim in November 2021, and after she took some time away from the ring, she returned to action on the independent scene. She then landed in IMPACT Wrestling and spent a few months with the company until her departure in October. Yim then returned to WWE on the November 7 episode of WWE Raw, where she aligned with The O.C. (AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, and Luke Gallows).
Speaking with CBS Sports’ Shakiel Mahjouri on SHAK Wrestling, Yim looked back on her WWE release and described how focusing on her personal life helped her get through it. Yim noted that she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to keep wrestling, as she questioned whether she could keep up with other great competitors.
“When that happened, it was very discouraging and disheartening. But it helped that me and my husband, we supported each other, and we had other things to focus on, like the wedding, and we just bought a house, so we were planning on moving right after the wedding. We were very occupied with real-life stuff. It kind of helped me through, and along with just focusing on that aspect, like wrestling kind of took a backseat. It made me realize wrestling isn’t everything. Life still goes on, and to focus on the people you love. I had to really evaluate if I wanted to continue to wrestle because I wasn’t sure if I did. So thankfully I was able to reignite my love for wrestling with the friends of Gail [Kim], Scott [D’Amore], Gisele, being surrounded by great people and being able to go out and kill it, and have that support. At that moment, it was very much like, not only was I not sure if I wanted to do it, but I felt like maybe my time was up, like I’m not as good as I was five, ten years ago. So maybe it’s just time to hang it up,” Yim said.
Yim then stated that her time in IMPACT Wrestling helped reignite her love for the sport, and she was excited when she was presented with the opportunity to return to WWE. She highlighted her respect for Triple H and her previous connection with her new stablemates in The OC..
“So I just needed to find myself in wrestling and see if I could still go with all these new talent, but also the talent that are killing it now, like can I keep up with them? I was able to, and coming back, it was like, ‘Let’s go.’ I have such high respect for Triple H and what he’s done for NXT that I was like I’m ready to go. When I was told, ‘Hey, the boys want you, think they think you could help them out,’ and the fact that I knew them months prior, and AJ years prior, it’s like hell yeah, let’s go. So it was nice to come back to everybody just welcoming,” Yim said.
Yim recently discussed her alliance with The O.C. Check out her comments here.
In another interview, Yim shared her thoughts on her new nickname. Click here to see what she had to say.
At WWE Survivor Series, Yim will compete in the Women's WarGames Match. Check out the updated card here.
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