Tonight WWE is kicking off the weekend with SummerSlam, and tomorrow night they will follow that up with a loaded NXT TakeOver. TakeOver 36 will feature several Championship matches across the card, including one of the most anticipated matches of the night in the NXT Women’s Championship. NXT Women’s Champion Raquel Gonzalez will defend her title against her former best friend Dakota Kai, who turned on Gonzalez with a kick heard around the world. Since then the two have traded words but tomorrow night they will finally take each other on in the ring, and ComicBook.com had the chance to talk to Kai all about what went wrong with her partnership with Gonzalez, what winning the NXT Women’s Championship would do to Kai’s legacy, and more.
Videos by ComicBook.com
First we asked when she knew that this partnership was over. “I said this in the promo I did a few weeks ago too, and I think it’s just one of those things where I’ve been in this situation before, with Tegan, and I think that Raquel winning the NXT Women’s Championship was… That was one thing, but it wasn’t really that, it was more like the relationship afterwards was it seemed a bit… We weren’t really seeing eye to eye on a lot of things.”
“I really wanted gold too, so we tried to go after the NXT Tag Team titles again, and just a lot of things weren’t clicking. And I think, in my mind, I… I’ve been in this situation before. I know how to turn on my friends because I am the HBK of the modern era. I just think I had to put myself first and look out for myself and have my own back in that regard. Because, man, I’ve been in NXT for three-plus years now, and I’ve seen a lot of change. I’ve been there for a lot, but I feel like I’ve been in the background of a lot too. So I think it’s my time. I’ve been the workhorse of NXT, I’ve been consistent with this brand. I’ve been a key player in the women’s division, so why not now?”
Speaking of turning on friends, Kai’s fellow NXT star Tommaso Ciampa also has some experience with that and shared a photo of the two of them after her falling out with Raquel. That got people talking online, and so I had to ask if she expected any of that.
“No, it was so funny. It’s so weird, people are like, ‘I didn’t know they were together.’ Like, ‘They’re not together, he’s got a daughter.’ What the? Just people are just so weird, but he has been a really key part of influence, I guess. He’s always the one that I ask for feedback from, backstage. He’s always willing to give it and help me out. He doesn’t even have to. He’ll come up and give his feedback, and his work over the last few years has been so amazing and I’m really thankful to have him as a mentor.”
Kai and Gonzalez didn’t end up winning the NXT Women’s Tag Team Titles again, unfortunately, but if they had, things might not have fallen apart.
“I definitely think it would have been a case of us being on the same page again. It wasn’t just about like having gold, it was more like are we still a cohesive team to be able to get to that point again? And yeah, we were the first, but we only had them for an hour before they were taken from us. So I think it was just more about are we still a cohesive team, are we still on the same page? Do you still have my back as I do yours? And then things started like… I don’t know, we started hitting bumps in the road. So I do think we would have been good,” Kai said.
So, the question then becomes does Kai regret taking Gonzalez under her wing? “I think no, definitely no regrets. Because as much as she was able to get the platform to shine under me, she gave me a lot of confidence throughout the last year too,” Kai said. “I think that we helped each other with a lot of that. I’m definitely a different person than I was before we were paired up, so I think we definitely helped each other. And I guess you could say she gave me the confidence to be able to kick her face off. She’s a beast. I must be super confident if I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to kick her head off and take that title.’”
She also gives props for that side kick for a sidekick line to Kevin Owens. “When Kevin Owens tweeted that, I was like, “Oh my gosh, I didn’t even think about that,” Kai said.
Because Kai has been so dedicated and a consistent deliverer of great matches in NXT, winning the Championship would mean a great deal to her and all the work she’s put in.
“Definitely see it as a cementing of my legacy and what I’ve done within NXT. My character arc has changed so much, just from the start when I debuted on NXT as a singles competitor. I went straight into that storyline with Shana, where I was the timid, not confident person, and I was sprinkled throughout that storyline, just in the background. And just that, to when I turned on Tegan, to being paired with Raquel to now, it’s definitely a huge change. And I’ve put in a lot of work to NXT. I love this brand with all my heart, and having the championship would definitely be… Yeah, cementing the legacy is a good way to put it,” Kai said.
Now, Kai also recently got her first WWE Elite figure, so if she were to have her own Ultimate Edition figure, what gear would she want to be featured and what accessories would it come with? We went ahead and threw a possibility of including her adorable puppy in and she was sold.
“Yeah, I didn’t even think about that, but yes. Okay, so my Ultimate figure gear, that’s a hard one,” Kai said. “I think… Okay, so I have this gear that’s sequinned. It’s like that mermaid sequinned stuff that changes color when you flip it. That might be too much, but that one would be cool. If they could make the little sequin things be, I don’t know, glitter or something, that’d be dope. The denim jacket, and yes, the puppy. The puppy would be a little accessory, and she could be there, sitting, and that would be cool. That’s all I need.”
It was also brought up that Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae might be jealous that Pawdme wasn’t the first, and Kai added “I want to be the first.”
You can catch Kai taking on Gonzalez for the NXT Women’s Championship during TakeOver 36, which airs on Peacock at 8 PM EST.
Do you want to see Kai holding NXT gold? Let us know in the comments and as always you can talk all things NXT with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
