Awesome Kong spoke to The Ringer about various topics. Here are some of the highlights.
Not liking her ring name:
“When I first went to Japan, I didn’t get to choose my name, Amazing Kong. In fact, I was training in Santa Monica at the New Japan dojo and Shinsuke Nakamura, who’s now a WWE superstar, called me Kong. I didn’t know if he was just unaware of the connotation that Kong would have for a black person, because he was from Japan, but I got really upset. Then they had to explain to me that they’d recently had a press conference, and that the company that was bringing me over had named me Kong.
So I had to go home and really contemplate and really consider what I’d be getting myself into, and whether or not I should just ditch the job, even though it would be a great opportunity for me. I was at home, in Hollywood at the time, and an N.W.A song came on. I remember thinking, “Hey, N.W.A stands for what it stands for.” Since they can be N.W.A, I could be Kong, and I would make this name my own, and make anyone who sees it, hears it, and relates it to me understand that it’s about respect. And that I did. Anyone who sees Amazing or Awesome Kong respects that name first. I feel that that’s a goal that my people should always work towards, not a meaning of ridicule or put-down, but always respect. I owned it, and I own it today.”
Crowds in Japan reacting to her:
“In Japan, the fans take it extremely seriously. They report wrestling in the newspapers as if they were reporting on baseball. They really buy into the magic of wrestling. And since I was Kong, a definite monster heel, and was definitely the opponent in the ring, there were a few fans that were generally upset and scared for their hero. They would try to knock me down a peg before I would even get into the ring. But I found that to be hilarious, because I felt like if they hated me that much, I felt like I was doing my job. It had nothing to do with my name. It was all about commanding respect, and they hated me for the character, not because I was black or my name was Kong or anything like that. I didn’t go through any of that.
There were people who, when they found out I was a wrestler, they didn’t know anything about wrestling. So when they heard my name, they were like, ‘Oh my god, girl, why would you let them name you that?’ Then I had to explain it to them—that if you’re a fan of wrestling and you hear the name Amazing or Awesome Kong, you sit up straighter.”