The following are thoughts written by a pro wrestling fan since the 90’s, nothing more. I don’t write this to imply importance. I’m not. I run a fansite about the subject’s work and wanted to write a retrospective about her work. If you’re checking this out, I want to Thank You for your time. I put my heart and soul into making this site the best resource I can with my limited if even skills, if you regularly visit this site and/or follow the social media, Thank You for your support, it means the world to me.

July 30, 2022. WWE SummerSlam. Bayley’s music hit and she came out. Dakota Kai’s music hit. Bayley had to be trolling… I expected her to burst out laughing. But Bayley wasn’t trolling. Dakota Kai came out, joined moments later by IYO SKY. For most that show, I was in a haze waiting for my alarm to go off to wake me up from my nap so I could go pick up food. I think by the start of the main event, it hit me that Dakota Kai’s return was real.

May 2, 2025. I just finished the latest ZELVX and CHARLIE GIRL content. The hype post was preloaded to go out on X. Team Kick Source was a wrap until Monday. Hershee the Chocolate Labrador had gone outside to do her business, ready for her second favorite part of the day: Dinner. Can you guess her first? Anyway… Hershee eat while I sat down to catch up on the day’s happenings via the internet. Shortly thereafter, the WWE releases began. I was sad as is always the case because people lost their jobs. Refreshing a page and seeing names add up. This time with Dakota Kai amongst them after being off weekly WWE programming since March 31, 2025. Her second WWE tenure had come to an end.

Dakota Kai’s first WWE tenure, as an NXT wrestler, ended on April 29, 2022. Her second tenure, as a main roster wrestler, ended around the same time three years later. The first time, I immediately got to work on a retrospective about her first WWE run. This time I waited a bit longer, mapping out thoughts since 2022, questioning if there was even a place for her in the current WWE landscape. Wondering if her singles push since November 2024 was pushing her, or using her to only push someone else. As the countdown to her 30 days left before she becomes a free agent nears, it’s fitting this retrospective is finally finished.

July 2022. Bayley encouraged Dakota Kai’s WWE return as her part of The Role Model’s new faction Damage CTRL with IYO SKY (formerly Io Shirai) as the third member. Kai and SKY were finally on WWE’s main roster, thrust immediately into the top women’s storyline on the RAW Brand. Although Triple H bringing Dakota back at some point felt inevitable, would she have had the same upward trajectory during most of her second run if not for Bayley’s idea bringing her back?

Kai and SKY had two runs with the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles. But Dakota’s true main roster breakout moment – when she had truly shown up and showed out – was Survivor Series 2022 weekend. Competing in her fourth WarGames Match, coming in at #1 for her team and lasting all 40 minutes. Selflessly bumping and selling like only she can. Then 48 hours later on RAW, having a banger against Candice LeRae that firmly established Dakota had all the makings to break out as a top singles star in the future.

I was initially concerned Damage CTRL versus Becky Lynch, Lita and Trish Stratus at WrestleMania 39 was going to be a quick massacre of Damage CTRL. Instead, it thankfully turned out to be a fun 15 minute match, highlighting everyone nicely. Thank You Trish for letting Dakota counter the initial Stratosphere spot, giving Kai her WrestleMania Moment that year, followed by Kai selflessly taking an insane variant of the move to the floor.

The end of the original Damage CTRL. I’ve always thought Bayley being the heel while Kai and SKY turned face, with Bayley putting both over with wins against her, would have actually benefited Kai and SKY way more. That’s even what the tone of the storyline until Crown Jewel 2023 felt it was building to, along with a triple threat match at some point. Whether Bayley turning face and Damage CTRL remaining heels was always planned or the creative direction was changed to it from something else, who knows.

Bayley forming a new heel group against Dakota, IYO, Kairi Sane & Asuka could have worked. Bayley as the face and the rest of Damage CTRL as heels is a Triple H creative call I’ll never be a fan of. Personally, Bayley will always be the heel to me in that while Damage CTRL are the antiheroes standing up to a manipulative, selfish snake who fooled her sheep into believing she was the hero of the story. Although, that’s not why the storyline was covered that way on Team Kick Source. No matter how it played out, it would have been covered to show bias in favor of Dakota and whoever were her present allies. That’s just how things roll in these parts.

At least getting booked as a dominant heel faction would have been a positive if that was the post WrestleMania XL direction for Damage CTRL. Instead, they were turned babyface, which happening just a few months after the Bayley storyline was a genuine surprise yet one I didn’t mind because it felt a more natural fit for the remaining members. But was that actually the original post 2024 WWE Draft direction for the ENTIRE group? You may recall, in the wake of Damage CTRL losing all the titles they had and stacking up a losing streak, friction within the faction was teased. IYO hinted a revert back to her psychotic persona from a time in NXT. SKY blamed Dakota and Kairi for loses that resulted from them being put in situations because of messes that SKY herself created. IYO affirmed: Damage CTRL had to change or she’d change it herself. That’s dark and foreboding verbiage.

On RAW July 8, 2024 the new trio faction Pure Fusion Collective (PFC) assaulted Damage CTRL who were now a trio since May 6, 2024 due to Asuka being sidelined with an injury. Damage CTRL did the old school babyface turn as the result of a heel attack. The way it was done sat well with me, although I wish they had done a better job getting from “Damage CTRL has to change” to the face turn, considering IYO didn’t sound like she wanted them to turn face when making the threats to change the faction herself.

WWE actually had the perfect setup to explain this during the 2024 Summer Tour with the trio returning to Japan where Dakota, Kairi and IYO first met some years ago. They could have filmed a vignette where the trio reflects on Damage CTRL being in a broken state but the reminder of the bonds they share bringing them back together to face the new threat of PFC. For many, that is their canon to explain the trio getting back on the same page.

So, did the Damage CTRL has to change storyline in fact change? Or was psychotic IYO just there to throw people off from seeing the faction’s face turn coming? Another possibility is psychotic IYO would have burst out full-time after the PFC feud but was dropped because SKY got too over as a face. That IYO and Asuka team pitch from the board in the trailer for WWE: Unreal does at least make me wonder if at some point (not WrestleMania 41) it was going to be heel IYO and Asuka versus face Dakota and Kairi.

During the Summer of 2024, Dakota suffered a torn meniscus, keeping her off television from August 6, 2024 until RAW November 11, 2024. She returned in a trios match with Kairi and IYO against PFC. Dakota got a huge pop from the crowd. Instead of scoring the win for her team, Kai opened the door with a Kaio-Kick to Shayna Baszler so IYO could get the winning fall... even though it would’ve been more fitting for Dakota to pin her old NXT rival since the story of the match was Kai's revenge since PFC, Shayna in particular, took her out on RAW August 5, 2024 to explain her television absence during injury rehab. Ah well, I'll chalk it up to a show of good teamwork with a side of revenge.

Kai’s comeback was on fire with crowds warming up more and more to her as the weeks went by. A key piece was that emotional and honest vignette on RAW November 18, 2024 where Kai simply, effectively, was real about her passion for pro wrestling, along with her drive to finally win her first singles WWE championship. You could see every time she got screentime on programming there was an extra pep in her step. Like I said in the recent Tegan Nox Retrospective, some people have characters, others are just real. King Kota, Dakota Kai, Evie, Charlie… she’s real and that’s why people connect with her and her journey. Dakota had been a heel since November 23, 2019, minus some time as a face during the end of her NXT tenure. She had done a great job as a heel but a face turn was long overdue. To their credit, WWE did an excellent job playing out the transition and Dakota as excellently bringing it to life.

The introduction of the Women’s Intercontinental Championship was tailor made for Dakota to be the inaugural champion. Real life Charlie had more than earned such an opportunity, consistently selfless and giving going back to NXT. This was the golden moment she dreamt of, the dream we as her fans shared, for the performer Charlie and the character Dakota Kai. A banger of a semifinal against Zoey Stark put Kai in the finals of the tournament to decide the first-ever on RAW January 13, 2025 against Lyra Valkyria. I had two X posts prepared for that night pending the outcome. The preferable, celebratory victory post. And simply three words if the opposite: “This is Bullshit”. Dakota lost, that outcome not what many of us wanted. After my offline cussing storm, I chose to take a positive from the loss because of the bigger picture: Dakota’s babyface turn was solidified by how she took the loss. So, I put out a hopeful X post, looking toward what the future might finally bring.

In the weeks that followed, Kai lost her rematch against Lyra but seemingly stayed in the Intercontinental Title hunt. That rematch with Lyra and the first, I will say both deserved more time yet still delivered making the most of what they were given. The same for Dakota’s RAW February 17, 2025 match versus Ivy Nile. On WWE Main Event March 6, 2025 Kai had another banger versus Zoey Stark, my favorite of their matches. It was laid out to get the crowd even more behind Dakota which they did. In the weeks that followed, the crowds in Brussels and Glasgow popped big for her. To no surprise, Dakota Kai was getting over as a babyface.

Dakota was now focused on her singles career. The same for her faction mate IYO SKY. Damage CTRL was still a thing, supporting one another and coming together to handle business when necessary. Such was the case when Kai & SKY had a banger against Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez on RAW February 10, 2025. A match that would have been a perfect tag to run back at WrestleMania 41 had IYO’s road traveled differently.

SummerSlam 2025 would have marked the third year event anniversary of Kai’s WWE return. Since she didn’t win the tournament to crown the first-ever champion, this was now the logical place for her to finally win the Women’s Intercontinental Title. A good build capped off with her first singles WWE title win. Remember “the bigger picture” solidified on January 13, 2025? I thought, her loss there, it was just a matter of time… getting fans more invested in her as a face so when she finally wins the title, it would be to a massive pop. A moment years in the making. Tears would be shed. Emotions would run wild. That could, hell it should have been what we’d see at the upcoming SummerSlam 2025 event.

Having reflected on it, I don’t think building Dakota up was done only to build up Lyra. At least I hope it was to build Dakota up as a babyface for an eventual title run but plans changed. This brings me to whether there was still a spotlight place in WWE for Dakota Kai in the post WrestleMania 41 landscape. You have a women’s division presently comprised of the usual suspects along with standout NXT callups Stephanie Vaquer, Giulia and Roxanne Perez. I HATE to say this but I’m not so confidant there would be a spotlight place with a sustained push for Dakota in this landscape, let alone that long-eluded singles title. Now personally, I DO see a spotlight place and sustained push for Dakota… bumping and selling to make Giulia look even more a killer… having bangers with everyone… even finally winning her first singles WWE championship. But that’s me, a fan. I don't know if WWE would map stuff out to ensure Dakota finally gets her flowers. There’s a world where Dakota gets her title run flowers while others are built up. Sadly, we live in a world where that was possible but now we’ll never know if such still could have been.

Dakota’s main roster tenure delivered quality more than it did not. The Damage CTRL storyline would have benefitted from Bayley staying heel with Kai and SKY going face and Bayley putting them over with wins against her… or even that with the alignments as they ended up being. But Damage CTRL’s later face turn made up for that. So, not getting to see Dakota standing on the ropes, being cheered by millions of fans as she holds up a title instead of making the motion with her hands, was the one truly disappointing mark across her nearly three year main roster run. Otherwise, it was a hell of a run I enjoyed. From a badass heel I cheered, to the antihero who liberated Damage CTRL from a selfish snake, to getting to be a face again including challenging for a first-ever championship. In the end, winning what would be the final match of her second WWE tenure on WWE Main Event March 27, 2025.

There’s a moment in the final months of Dakota’s second WWE run that might have been but understandably couldn’t be since Dakota wasn’t cleared to compete in the 2025 Women’s Royal Rumble Match. Remember how IYO, Bayley and Bianca Belair simultaneously eliminated PFC? I have the feels that was originally supposed to be Dakota, IYO and Bayley simultaneously eliminating PFC.

Charlie’s WWE run is full of memories that will be fondly looked back upon even as we all shift gaze to see her future unfold. But just like with Nixon Newell’s WWE run, going forward I will not dwell on what could have been and/or what was disappointing about Dakota’s. Like with Nixon’s past works, I will celebrate Charlie’s past works in Daily Posts on X and on here with that bag full of source material for archive content. But I see no reason to dwell on the past otherwise, for it’s the future that must now be looked to for that is where the best is yet to come for Charlie and her alter ego King Kota.

In a little over a month from the day this is posted, King Kota will be a free agent, the wide-open pro wrestling world before her. Obviously, a Team Kick reunion tour with Nixon Newell is something I keep hope will someday happen. Off the top of my head, Hikaru Shida and Sareee are two previous opponents I’d like to see her run it back with. That first-ever Kanji match needs to happen. The bevy of new opponents and rivalries mixed with some potential nostalgia frames a promising future for King Kota and her fans. Outside of wrestling, Charlie will continue to entertain as cohost of the insanely fun ZELVX and CHARLIE GIRL podcast alongside Zelina Vega and Josiah Williams.

Passion. Drive. Selfless in a world that isn’t always so. HEART. You connect with her because she’s REAL. The King Kota Movement grows as new fans take notice of her work, be it from pro wrestling, streaming and/or ZELVX and CHARLIE GIRL. Hershee and me wish Charlie all the best in the next chapter of her pro wrestling journey. In an X post on May 3, 2025 she expressed hope fans would continue with her on her journey. I can assure my fellow fans and Charlie that Hershee and I will. Wherever the wind and destiny take The Captain of Team F’N Kick, King Kota.