The most recent episode of “After The Bell with Corey Graves” features interviews with Bayley, Dakota Kai, and IYO SKY as special guests. Speaking about her departure from NXT and subsequent return to WWE for the SummerSlam event, Dakota Kai said the following:
“So like when it happened, I was sort of at peace with it. In those months away, I didn’t take any outside bookings or anything like that. I really wanted to take time for myself, reset, and just remind myself of the things that are important, and during that time, I was able to do that.”
“So when that call came, like literally it was 24 hours before SummerSlam. It was weird how the timing worked out perfectly, like I hadn’t taken any booking or signed anything in stone. When that happened, it was like, oh my gosh. Was this meant to be? Then by the time SummerSlam sort of came, I was still in the stage of processing everything that was happening because that was a very small window to not only physically prepare, but mentally and emotionally as well. It’s a dream scenario to be alongside these two.”
Bayley was asked what kind of impact she hoped to have on women’s wrestling in general:
“I just want to see it keep growing. There’s been time periods and matches that have taken it to the next level and whether it’s a little bit, or whether it’s a big change, or it opens one set of eyes or thousands of eyes, I think it kind of got to a point honestly where it was just a little stagnant or you’re kind of seeing the same faces or you’re seeing the same style matches. You’re seeing the same structure matches, or the same like, okay the girls are going to be in this slot and it’s going to be this long. I think it got a little stagnant.”
“For me, during my injury, having to sit and watch what’s happening, and not that it was bad, I’m so proud of everything that’s happened like with Liv Morgan winning the championship. Things like that were exciting. I just felt like there needed to be an outsider view of some sort of change. We’re like, they can’t see what’s going on because they’re so close to what’s going on.”
“We’ve seen Bianca come up. We’ve seen Rhea Ripley come up. They came from NXT and they changed the game. They’ve done so much, but I think there’s just a little bit missing of like, ok, we’ve seen them, but they were also in the main events in NXT constantly. Someone may want to think, oh, Dakota Kai should be there too.”
“Sometimes when you’re on top in NXT for so long, they just expect you to show up. But when it doesn’t happen, you’re like, you overlooked Dakota. She should have been there a long time ago. Same thing with IYO. She’s been Women’s Champion, but then she’s also been overlooked. So for me, I wanted to bring girls that you thought like, ok, maybe they’re just going to stay in NXT. Maybe they’re going to stay at the same level. But there’s certain things that I see that I like, that I’m like, she has something different that she can bring to the division that some people may not see.”
You can listen to the complete podcast below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
