Dakota Kai Says 2022 Return For Damage CTRL ‘Came Out of the Blue’

Dakota Kai returned to WWE as part of Damage CTRL at SummerSlam 2022, and she recently recalled how it came out of nowhere. Kai was released from WWE in April of 2022 as part of the post-WrestleMania roster cuts. But she would return just a few months later when she and IYO SKY joined Bayley in Damage CTRL, making their debut as a group at SummerSlam.

Kai, now working as Charlie on the independent scene, spoke about how the return was a surprise to her in her interview with Chris Van Vliet on Insight. She said that Bayley called her and said she’d pitched the idea to Triple H just a couple of days before SummerSlam. She didn’t believe it would happen but two days later, she was at the show and back with the company. You can see highlights below:

On Her 2022 Release & Return At SummerSlam:

“That whole thing came out of the blue. It was probably two days before SummerSlam, and Pam, Bayley, just texts me out of the blue. She’s like, ‘Hey, I just pitched this to Hunter.’ I’m like, What are you talking about? So she was talking about an all-women’s faction for years, like, since I was starting at NXT, she’d always been pitching this idea of, I want an all-women’s faction. Think this would be so cool. I hope we get the chance. And then the year before SummerSlam, we actually were at the Performance Center. It was me, IYO Bayley, and also Raquel and Alba Fyre, and we were taking photos together as a female unit to try and have Pam basically pitch to Hunter and like, be like, Hey, this is what I want. This. Nothing really came from that. But then she texts me a few days before SummerSlam, ‘I pitched it again, I really want you to be a part of this.’ And even at that point, I’m not with the company. I’m like, ‘Yeah, right, dude. You really think this is gonna happen? And then next thing [I’m there].”

On If She Was Prepared For It:

“I was in the mindset of doing things away and outside the company. That’s a big deal to try and fall into that space of being mentally out of there and then Hunter sent a message, I think it was the day before, basically confirming that he loved her idea and that it was going to be Bayley, IYO and myself. Holy sh*t, I need to pack, because it’s the day before, and get my hair done, there’s too much to do. Oh my gosh. And then, yeah, and the day of is very chaotic, just hiding in a bus. I’ve never been in that position where I’ve had to be hidden before. I thought that was so cool, because you always see it happen with others, where they have a surprise and they’ve been hiding in the bus or wherever during the day. So we got that, and they took us over to Gorilla in a golf cart that had like, black curtains on the side.”

On Flying In For the Show:

“Yes, the morning of. So I wasn’t there. They flew us in, and I think no one really knew. I don’t think it was spoiled at all. I think it was genuine surprise, right. I actually remember I brought it up a few times, but the golf cart with the black curtains on the side, it kind of moved, Tommaso was standing right there, and he was like, oh, and I’m like, hello. So that whole moment was so special, especially because Bianca was in the ring, and she’s one of my closest friends in this business, too. So her reaction, I don’t know. People watch that clip back, her reaction to me was like, coming from a place right here. So that was that felt special, too.”