So, when I got home from being in the hospital and Gail came to visit me, she started talking about this other wrestling project that she was talking to other people about. I’m really excited to dig in and flesh her out. How do we make the best project possible, and who’s in alignment? I definitely had so many walls up, even after retiring.
The Miztourage(Axel & Dallas) Main Card: Singles Match […] Hemme: It's like a gritty modern-day GLOW, to the max. That’s the feel of it. It’s clear this project has been in the works for some time. It will definitely be a mix of both. Amy and I have been working together since 2005, 2004. We’re all have been the first of—I mean, I’m the first female producer in IMPACT!, [Christy] was the first creative in IMPACT!, and [Amy] was the first RAW and Smackdown producer. Get exclusive combat sports content on Fightful Select, our premium news service! AEW Dynamite 9/30/20 Results: 2 Title Matches, Britt Baker Returns & Cody Gives His Answer! It’s something that stands on its own.”, Gail Kim: "Totally different, hasn’t been done before. They will all be storyline driven.”. Primarily, what we’re watching is a scripted drama. That’s the whole point. Not wait around for someone to decide if this was good for us. Well, we have answers. WWE Hall of Famer "Lita" Amy Dumas is partnering with Impact Hall of Famer Gail Kim and former WWE & Impact star Christy Hemme for their new "KAYfABE… We want the cameras to go home with the talent. However, it’s not a documentary. Christy Hemme: "There was a very clear tipping point for me. Fightful: How much input did you have and are you looking to call upon that experience here as well? So, that’s what we thought was best to get to look in the eyes of people that we want to make this for.”, Christy Hemme: "Kickstarter is not an easy platform. So, we want to bring them to light, tackle them and progress the conversation for real change.”, Christy Hemme: "Right now in every other wrestling show is very family friendly. Hemme: We've been working really hard on this project for the past two years.
Then he was no longer working for them, so I was like, “We gotta get Tom. We’ve been having these conversations in society as a whole for the past couple of years, and it’s time to start bringing these stories into wrestling as well. What got them to this place? It took me a long time for me to be able to feel I could speak up about anything. Fightful: Other shows have elements of ‘the invisible camera,’ where you’re performing in front of the camera, but the camera’s not really there. So, we don’t have to be there every week or even how IMPACT! What’s happening at home? Then I got in with the production meetings and really got with Kevin Dunn and he taught me so much, which then lead me to producing RAW and Smackdown, so I really was excited to join up with these women to be on the production end and creating end because I’ve found so much stimulation. Hemme: Definitely built for a streaming service. Their team also includes industry professionals like Emmy-award winning writer Tom Casiello, GLOW stunt coordinator and wrestling veteran Chavo Guerrero and award-winning director David Sahadi. Eventually this idea really came to fruition and that has been where we’ve put all of our time and direction into. Who do we know? She very much saw it and then it became a whole other thing, just push the envelope even further on what it was going to be.”. Kim: It has been really awesome because you really don’t know what is going to happen with three people. You can view or donate to the Kickstarter at this link. So, we’ll see all different combinations in there. Hemme: I think we're influenced by our own stories, of course, but these are not our stories. This is our passion. Like, for me, I’m very drawn to the in-the-ring action and I want to have my hands all over that for sure. I think the two words we’ve been getting are curious and intrigued. Kim: For myself, my life is wrestling outside of this.
It’s been a really rewarding process doing it together and having the team that we do have surrounding us for this.”. I feel like the last time was, I guess WOW was the last all women’s thing.
I put my kids down, and I’m working until midnight or 1 a.m. That’s what my life looks like right now. I had so many opportunities in my career in front of the camera when I got to help people to become their best self in front of the camera it was really stimulating to me, and so that feels [like] a really good spot to be in here.”, Christy Hemme: "The whole time she was doing that—“, Christy Hemme: "Yeah, and I was doing it over at IMPACT! We’re very involved in the creative and we have some really talented partners that are also in the creative team.”. So it’s duck out of what you’re doing to talk in a corner, alley, somewhere. Is the woman shown going to be the main character and everyone else built around her? What can you tell us about the show? The presentation of wrestling in its many forms has changed thanks to accessibility and technological advances. Amy Dumas: I think because it meant so much to us or means so much to us that we knew we wanted to make this. We know our goal of 400,000 seems like so much money, I know it seems like a lot to us, but we just want to be transparent about how that’s all spent and to make the quality of show that we want to make.”, Gail Kim: "Especially the authenticity of it. Christy Hemme: "When I was in IMPACT! Make it better.”. It will always be a series because we have to take our time to shoot this thing.
Of course we want it to succeed with everything we have, but I feel very honest with what’s out there, if that doesn’t align, then it wasn’t meant to happen that way. Kim: I think the women are going to be able to relate to our characters, especially the women in our industry. We have our hands full there, and that is a priority. It’s completely different products.”, Lita: "But, their match parts are scripted, too. It’s not good for you. Which is why we thought it was really appropriate to do this whole tour.
It ended up falling apart, and then I ended up moving to L.A. and I entered into a two year writing program. Dumas: Telling these stories from the lens of a woman because we’ve all been in this male-dominated sport for so long. Set to be a female-based, led and female-centric wrestling show, a Kickstarter was opened in order to help fund the series.
Hemme: It’s a scripted drama.
Dumas: Anyone who is around any of us has become used to us ducking out of dinners, meetings, whatever I’m doing at that time for multiple FaceTime calls.
Fightful: Why don’t you all individually tell our viewers a little bit about the Kayfabe Project, Gail Kim: "Okay, well, Kayfabed was this little dream that became something two years later now. Why are they willing to go on the rollercoaster and, it’s not easy to travel the world and put yourself time and time again in these shoes. People are just so curious. So that, to us, felt important.”. It really felt like something that we were peeling the onion back of, it was already something we could see, something that was created we just had to put the pieces together and make it.”, Gail Kim: "It was literally, Christy thinking about her own kind of thing and even though we’re friends, and me thinking of a totally different wrestling project and then it was just all came together. If you look at our product, it’s not competition. At the same time, we’ve already seen the challenges of wearing so many hats to make this thing work behind the scenes. Shortly after the announcement, the three spoke with us for an exclusive interview to talk about the direction. Speaking of priority, you all have other commitments in your personal and professional lives. Their match parts are driving the show, but we’ll have matches, like matches you see on wrestling shows.”, Gail Kim: "It’s based on that promotion that happened in the past, and WOW, for example, is a revamp of the same thing, and that is through a man’s lens. Having those different perspectives, we’re all very passionate and open-minded at the same time. It’s hard to split the time in front of the camera and behind. Fightful: Will this affect any of your work with IMPACT!, Gail? Lita, Hemme & Gail Kim have all posted b&w images of themselves with tape across their mouths reading ‘KAYfABE’ on Instagram. But, with a scripted story just like the other wrestling shows you see, but through our content, through our eyes, our vision, our lens and we really want our roster to be involved in their characters.”. We’re was so proud of ourselves.”, Fightful: I look up and down the list of people involved and I’m like, “How did I not hear a peep about this?”, Christy Hemme: "That’s a testament to the belief because if you have that many people that believe in something they want to protect it. Fightful: How do you feel this compares to previous all women’s wrestling shows like Women of Wrestling or GLOW? So, when the story is calling for wrestling and in-ring action, that will happen. Are you going to be training people, or is it going to be just a creative thing? It will be shot very similar to a documentary. It just all gelled together and we were like why weren’t we all making our own women’s wrestling product? Lita, Christy Hemme, Gail Kim Talk Kayfabed Project: New Racy, Women-Centric Wrestling Show, Report: WWE Set To Take Control Of Talent Twitch Accounts In Four Weeks, Tenille Dashwood Explains Her Time Off From IMPACT, Why She Came Back, Victoria Talks Having Nicki Minaj And TATU Do Her WWE Themes, Fightful Wrestling Weekly 9/29: COVID, AEW, WWE News, NWA Release, More, Victoria Says She Was Never Planned For 2020 WWE Royal Rumble, Aiden English Explains What WWE Instructs Talent To Tweet, WWE NXT UK Results for 10/1/20 The Heritage Cup Tournament Begins. You’ve been on a whirlwind tour getting the word out about KAYfABE and received such a supportive response from your peers. So, we want our women to be the lens, the lens of women. Hemme: For me, it’s full-time.