Posted on 4/28/126 by Colin Vassallo
Former WWE Superstar Dakota Kai sat down with Chris Van
Vliet in Las Vegas to discuss being released from WWE, her
first match in over a year against Kris Statlander at Pro
Wrestling EVE in London, being a part of the Damage CTRL
faction with IYO SKY and Bayley, Wrestling Trish Stratus,
Lita and Becky Lynch at WrestleMania, training with
Stephanie McMahon for her match with Ronda Rousey, what’s
next for her in wrestling, dream opponents, and more!
You just had your first match in a year last month. How are
you feeling about that?
“I took almost a year off. I don’t know, I think after
leaving WWE, I didn’t want to necessarily rush back into
anything. I wanted to get back into wrestling on my terms
and just find that passion and that love for it and just do
it for fun. Basically, I wanted to do it for fun, and it was
just a matter of the perfect time. Then when Will Ospreay
hit me up. He’s basically like, we’d love to have you on the
show, here’s what it is. When I found out I’m wrestling Kris
Statlander I’m like, oh my god, perfect. She’s been on my
bucket list for years, literal years. So it just worked out.
It was weird, because during that time off, the longer I was
away from wrestling, which was needed for me, personally,
just mentally and emotionally, it was like the thought of
wrestling again was looming over me. I have very severe
performance anxiety, so the longer I was away, the more
anxious I got about it. But then she made it so easy, she’s
the best.”
Did you have an idea of how long you wanted to be away,
because it was almost a year from your last match in WWE to
your first indie match?
“There was no real time limit of I want to be away for this
amount. It was just more of a feeling, I guess. As soon as
the opportunity came up that it was going to be there at
that show on the big Wrestle Queendom show against Kris, I
was like, Ah, this was meant to be. Yeah, it was cool. I
mean, I just really needed to take a step back for me in
terms of just finding the passion and the love for it again.
I didn’t mean for it to be a year. I know everyone was like,
‘Why did you take a year off?’ I’m like, I didn’t mean to,
and for that to be that amount of time, I just kind of took
the time I needed. Then when the opportunity came up to be
against Kris, it was perfect.”
Are you looking at some point to maybe get signed somewhere
again?
“If that happens and everything works out that would be
awesome. But I think at the moment my path right now is just
indie bookings here and there, just have fun and wrestle.”
I feel like you’d be a great fit in AEW or TNA. Have you had
conversations?
“Not necessarily on that level. Yeah, nothing too crazy. But
also, I took the time off. So I think getting back into it,
they might happen, who knows. But at the moment, I just want
to, like, focus on me and just, do you know, fun matches and
shows here and there. Yeah, have fun with it.”
Do you have any dream opponents on the indies?
“I have dream opponents, just in general. I would love to
wrestle Willow Nightingale. I know she’s all over the place
right now, but there’s a bunch. Obviously, I’d love to run
it back with Shotzi too. And there’s a lot of newer girls
coming up too, that I just want to be able to wrestle and,
not show them the ropes, but help them get to a point where
they can have more matches and things like that. So, yeah, I
don’t know, it’s so weird. I’ve got a list on my notes app
of girlies I want to wrestle. Steph DeLander, another one
that I’d love to wrestle again. We kind of had some matches
in NXT, but not many. But I would love a singles match with
her too, because she’s another one that’s insanely strong
and just, I love being able to be rag-dolled around, kind of
my thing. But yeah, I don’t know, just having fun with my
opponents and just looking at that perspective.”
Stephanie McMahon had some very nice things to say about you
on her podcast. Recently, she talked about how you helped
her prepare for her WrestleMania 34 match against Ronda
Rousey.
“Yeah, that’s so weird. I mean, she’s the sweetest person in
the world and always said hello to me, but the fact that she
remembers that is insane to me. Because I don’t know, again,
I don’t look at myself in that light, you know what I mean?
But she’s honestly one of the most sweetest people ever, and
I was just grateful to be able to be in the ring with [her],
training with her and Ronda and Kurt and Hunter as well. She
got to DDT me. I was like, yes! Beat me up, Stephanie. This
is so freaking cool. But she’s the nicest person. I think
that was our first ever time meeting. Every time after that,
backstage or wherever, she would always make a point to come
up to me and be like, ‘Dakota!’ I’m like, Oh my God, you
know me.”
How did you get chosen for this?
“I think I just got told. I think coach Sarah just pulled me
aside one day and was like, hey, you’re going to be flown up
to Connecticut to train with Ronda. It was very hush-hush,
obviously, because it was their first match. So yeah, just
kind of got told that I was getting flown up there to train
with them. So that was cool.”