Mia Yim has recently explained why she did not follow her husband Keith Lee to All Elite Wrestling.
On 4th November 2021, WWE announced another spate of releases from the company, which included Mia Yim as well as her real-life husband Keith Lee.
Lee later joined AEW in February of 2022 and is one half of the current AEW World Tag Team Champions, along with Swerve Strickland.
Many had expected Yim to follow her partner to AEW, but the former Reckoning has recently explained to ‘Straight Talk Wrestling’ why decided against that:
“So the thing that I always tell people, even though me and Keith are together, we are our own separate brands. I never wanted to be one of those couples that are like, ‘If you book my husband, you have to book me’ or vice versa, or we’re a package deal. We’re not like that, so it’s like babe, you go do what you gotta go do.”
Mia Yim went on to say that she knew she wanted to return to IMPACT Wrestling following her release from WWE:
“So I’ve always wanted, like after getting released, IMPACT was the only thing on my mind, just because that’s kind of where I started to flourish. Like my first experience on TV was IMPACT, and then all my friends are there, Gail is there. I’ve gotten real close with Scott. So for me, it was more so trying to get this [points to head] under control and teaching myself that I can wrestle and I am okay in the ring.”
The former Retribution member also opened up about mental struggles she was battled over recent years and explained how IMPACT have helped her regain her confidence:
“The first couple matches, I’m a perfectionist so I’m like I know this wasn’t perfect, but was it okay? Just kind of second-guessing everything. But then the more it was like, you’re doing great. Keep listening to the crowd, go do what you gotta do, like you’re doing awesome, and we’re happy with it. It was a confidence thing for me more so than getting a wider platform or money or anything like that. It was just, I needed IMPACT, and I told Gail this from the jump, that like my mental is not where I wanted it to be, and I knew that they could get me back on track”
Mia Yim previously competed for IMPACT Wrestling, then known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, under the ring name ‘Jade’ and is a former TNA Knockouts Champion.
H/t to Fightful for the transcription.