Dakota Kai discusses her history with WarGames.
Kai competed in her fifth WarGames Match at WWE Survivor Series 2022; in the first Women’s WarGames match in the history of WWE’s main roster, Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair, Mia Yim, Alexa Bliss, and Asuka defeated Kai, Bayley, IYO SKY, Nikki Cross, and Rhea Ripley.
During an appearance on the Getting Over podcast, Kai reflected on her history with WarGames, dating back to her memorable betrayal of Tegan Nox at NXT WarGames 2019. She then competed in the match for the next three years, and she started the bout for her team on all three occasions. Kai looked back on the first Women’s WarGames Match and made it clear that everyone involved was grateful for the opportunity to be part of it.
The very first one, where I turned on Tegan, I didn’t even enter the cage that year. Technically, I was still a part of it, but I didn’t get to enter the cage,” Kai said. “Then the next three years, they had me start every WarGames match. They were probably like, ‘You know what, you didn’t even get the opportunity to do it the first year, let’s just put you in right at the start.’ I love the WarGames match so much. I think it’s just due to many things, like the NXT Women’s WarGames Match, it was the first-ever Women’s WarGames Match.
“I think at the time, our NXT women’s division consisted of Rhea Ripley, Shayna Baszler, Bianca Belair, Candice LeRae, myself, Io. We were very close-knit, and we all had the same goal in terms of elevating women’s wrestling and just doing the best we could for it. So to have the opportunity to be in the first-ever Women’s WarGames Match, we were very grateful, and we just didn’t want to drop the ball.”
Kai went on to describe how competing in WarGames is grueling, and there’s no way to prepare for it, but having experience with the bout helps. She noted that she had been concerned about starting the match at WWE Survivor Series 2022 because she hadn’t wrestled in a long match in w hi;e. However, she also emphasized that she enjoys the way there are moving pieces with the match, such as the weapons.
“Every year since then, I have started, and it’s very grueling. There’s no way you can even prepare for a match like that,” Kai said. “I am lucky to have been in a couple before, but how do you even prepare for a WarGames Match? You can’t really. I was worried about being in there for so long this year because I hadn’t been in anything that big since returning back so I was like, ‘Oh gosh, I hope my cardio holds up. I don’t know, 50 minutes; and I’m starting with freaking Bianca Belair, ‘The EST of WWE.’
“There’s so many different elements to a match like that that I love. There’s a lot of moving pieces, there’s two rings and a cage and weapons. There’s so many things that you can play around with, and I Iove that unpredictable element of a WarGames Match. I’ll take the moniker of Ms. WarGames [laughs].”
Overall, Kai has a 2-2 record in WarGames matches, but her teams have lost in her last two times inside the cage.
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