Dakota Kai last competed on the May 12th episode of SmackDown, where she and Bayley faced Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez for the Women’s Tag Team Titles. Dakota suffered a torn ACL during the bout. Two weeks later, she underwent surgery.
The 35-year-old made her return to WWE after Iyo Sky captured the WWE Women’s Championship at SummerSlam. Since then, Dakota Kai has appeared on WWE television along with fellow Damage Control members.
Dakota Kai has stated on numerous occasions that she is still not medically cleared to compete. However, some fans accused her of faking the injury. In a recent Twitch stream, Dakota responded to those fans.
“Bro, you want me to be in a wheelchair until I’m cleared? That’s not how rehab works. I’m able to run and jump. This isn’t a shocker. I’m like, ‘Why would I do that? Why would I choose to sit on the sidelines? Like, no one wants that. No one wishes that on anyone. But I’m able to… like, I can run. I can jump. It’s not like my leg is amputated. But rehab is just one of those things where… in all sports, no one is getting back in to play like before six, [or] seven months. Certain places have things that they have to abide by, like certain medical teams. For us, it’s like usually it’s like eight to nine, slash twelve months, depending.”
Damage CTRL is scheduled to face Bianca Belair, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, and Shotzi in a WarGames match at Survivor Series.