Mia Yim Says WWE is "Night and Day" Compared to Her First Run (Exclusive)

World Wrestling Entertainment is in the middle of its biggest paradigm shift. Following weeks of alleged misconduct accusations and internal investigations, long-time WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon officially retired from his corporate and creative positions within WWE, passing his mantles to Stephanie McMahon, Nick Khan, and Paul "Triple H" Levesque. With Stephanie and Khan handling the business side of things, Levesque has headed up main roster creative and has wasted no time in molding Monday Night Raw and WWE SmackDown in his vision. Since July, Levesque has brought back over a dozen of previously-released WWE superstars, specifically those who he saw success with in NXT.

One of the most recent additions is Mia Yim. The HBIC competed in both editions of the Mae Young Classic tournament in 2017 and 2018, with her performance in the latter earning her a WWE contract. Yim officially joined the NXT women's roster that fall and rode momentum to an NXT Takeover: Toronto title opportunity against then-champion Shayna Baszler.

Roughly a year later, Yim joined the main roster as Reckoning, a masked member of the infamous Retribution stable. This disgruntled band of WWE superstars rarely took home Ws and were dissolved less than a year after forming. Yim would return to her old name and look, but was released before she really had a chance to showcase herself.

Now back and aligned with The OC under the nickname "Michin," Yim finds herself in a main event program entering WWE Survivor Series. Speaking to ComicBook.com's Liam Crowley, Yim described the WWE locker room as "night and day" compared to her initial run with the company.

"It feels a lot more like NXT now with the same people," Yim said. "A year ago, I still had friends in the locker room but it's nice to see my other friends come back as well. It's night and day. I don't know how to really explain it. It's night and day."

That NXT vibe that Yim describes is evident. Current titleholders like Raw Women's Champion Bianca Belair, Intercontinental Champion Gunther, and WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Dakota Kai and IYO SKY were all top NXT talent just over two years ago. Top singles stars like Karrion Kross and Johnny Gargano are former NXT Champions. Barring the mystery partner on Yim's War Games team, every women in that match came from the black and gold brand.

Yim competes inside the two-ring steel cage structure this Saturday, November 26th at WWE Survivor Series.