A former WWE star has opened up on their release from the company, saying that they were ‘caught off guard’.
Back in May 2025, WWE held a wave of talent releases coming out of WrestleMania 41, with many surprising names on the list.
Perhaps the most surprising of those names was Dakota Kai, who had been featured prominently on Raw in the Women’s Intercontinental Championship scene in the months prior to her release, including taking part in the finals of the tournament to crown the inaugural champion, where she lost to Lyra Valkyria.
Dakota Kai ‘Caught Off Guard’ By WWE Release
Speaking to Ring The Belle, Dakota (Charlie) opened up on her WWE release in 2025, where she noted that she was caught off guard by it as she believed she was ‘finally getting traction’ in the company.
She said:
“It was one of those things where I thought ‘I’m finally getting some traction, I got a new song’ and things like that, so it caught me off guard too.
“At the end of the day it is business, for better or for worse, and now I can just do what I love and go out there, I’ve got a whole bucket list of girlies I want to wrestle.”
If you use this transcription or any portion of it, please credit WrestleTalk.com and link to this page.
Dakota Kai (Charlie) Addresses Fans Labelling Her ‘Injury Prone’
Following her release, the typical wave of WWE fans on social media gave Dakota’s injury history as one of the reasons the company could have chosen to release her, calling her ‘injury prone’.
During her WWE career, Dakota suffered two notable ACL injuries, one in 2018 during her time in NXT, and the other in 2023 on the main roster, as well as another knee injury in 2024.
Charlie was asked about the fans giving her the injury prone label, with her saying that, while it does get to her sometimes, it’s unfortunately something that will always be there for her career.
She said:
“I understand it because I did have a bout of injuries and things like that, it was just bad luck on my end.
“It’s one of those things that will just unfortunately be there, a lot of people go through it that have had injuries as well, and it is what it is.
“It does tend to get to me sometimes because I’m like ‘no, I’m not! I’m friggin strong!’ or whatever.
“But that’s just the perception they have and all I can do is go out there and continue to do matches and hopefully change the perception of that, but I did have a bad bout for a second there, it was just bad luck. It is what it is.”
If you use this transcription or any portion of it, please credit WrestleTalk.com and link to this page.
To make sure you stay up to date with all the biggest wrestling and WrestleTalk news, follow us on Threads by clicking this link!
Comments.
Loading comments…