Opinion
Book Club: Making a Star Out of Dakota Kai
Dakota Kai has been someone I’ve had my eye on since last summer. She was one of the standouts of the Mae Young Classic and has recently been thrust into the spotlight of the NXT women’s division. With Billie Kay, Peyton Royce, and Ember Moon all called up to the main roster, the next class of talent is going to need to create their own legacy from scratch. Nikki Cross is the longest tenured name left among the current crop but she will likely be joining Sanity on Smackdown before the summer is over. Drawing many comparisons to Bayley, Dakota has a chance to be the next bright face of the division. Admittedly, she has experienced a pretty fast rise so if you have 15 minutes to spare, I recommend watching the documentary on her journey if you’d like to get more familiar.
Dakota Kai currently finds herself in a unique position. Every week she continues to be tormented by locker room bully and current NXT Women’s Champion, Shayna Baszler. This is unique because it’s not often we see one wrestler afraid of another, especially not someone of Shayna’s stature. When a story is going in that direction, the domineering figure is usually someone more physically imposing like Nia Jax, Kharma, or Braun Strowman. This all started when Shayna injured Dakota’s arm on an episode of NXT a few months back. Dakota has since recovered but was left traumatized from the incident. Her ring work has not been affected but she always shudders or grows cold at the mention or sight of Shayna Baszler. Shayna has complete control over her.
Let’s Book It

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My first step in the booking process was going to be to put Dakota Kai in a championship match on an NXT taping in the near future. Amazingly enough, that match was just announced on Wednesday’s episode and will be taking place next week. I should mention that I have no knowledge of what’s to come in future NXT episodes. Spoilers aren’t for me. I actively try to blind myself from any news that emerges from tapings. In this match, I would have Dakota Kai lose after a rigorous effort. If possible, I would prefer it end with a referee’s stoppage after Shayna re-injures Dakota’s arm. Let a week or two pass then have Shayna return to announce that she will be instituting a weekly open challenge.
I decided to do this for a couple reasons. NXT has never had a weekly “open challenge” segment issued by one of the champions. Also, the two more notable weekly segments were created by John Cena and Seth Rollins – both babyfaces. I know there are still people that were not initially sold on Baszler as champion so weekly matches can showcase her worth while accumulating maximum heat. Since we are so close to NXT TakeOver: Chicago, her first challenger should also be her opponent for the pay-per-view. The match could end in DQ or a no-contest leaving the rematch for the big show. I was initially going to have this be Candice LeRae but she is likely going to be ringside for Johnny Gargano’s match again. Then I thought Kairi Sane but she just lost on Wednesday. That’s why it needs to be Nikki Cross. She has never had a 1-on-1 TakeOver match and this would be a perfect send-off before moving up to the main roster. With that being said, it means Nikki would have to lose.
In July, Shayna would properly bring back her weekly open challenge. Dakota is still injured and Nikki is gone. Shayna is reigning supreme over NXT. The month of July is where she would run through the division. At the end of July or beginning of August, Nixon Newell would challenge Shayna Baszler. You probably aren’t familiar with Nixon. She’s a Welsh wrestler with major potential. Last summer she was forced to withdraw from the Mae Young Classic due to injury. If you want to get acclimated, I bet she can win you over with her inter-gender matches against Mark Andrews and Pete Dunne. She also has an interview on WWE’s website to read. I know I said I stay away from spoilers but I do know she has recently recovered and has since made her debut at Full Sail. However, she may now be going by her real name, Steffanie Newell. If you follow Dakota Kai through social media, you know that her and Newell are best friends. For this reason, toward the end of their match Shayna would try to injure Newell just as she did to Dakota. Before the deed is done, Dakota runs down the ramp and returns from injury to save her best friend. Dakota Kai has finally faced her fear and now you have your women’s title match for TakeOver: Brooklyn.
Brooklyn is where I would eventually have Dakota dethrone Shayna to win the championship just as Bayley did to Sasha three years prior. After Brooklyn, the story is pretty open ended. Dakota could go in any direction as the new face of the division. Kairi and Candice could finally get a proper feud and Bianca Belair would have had a whole summer’s worth of momentum behind her at that point. If the timing is right, maybe even a heel Steffanie Newell could emerge to challenge her best friend.
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Opinion
Chris King: The Wyatt Sicks’ Wasted Potential By WWE
Chris King takes a look at the WWE and their wasted potential of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks faction.
Chris King takes a look at the WWE and their wasted potential of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks faction.
It’s that time of the year again, folks; it’s unfortunate and downright awful that so many WWE superstars got released today. I’m not going to list all of them, but I am going to talk about one of my favorite factions,
The Wyatt Sicks. Nikki Cross, Joe Gacy, Erik Rowan, and Bo Dallas (Uncle Howdy) were something special. After Bo’s brother Bray Wyatt’s tragic passing, WWE felt like there was a hole that needed to be filled. Wyatt was one of the most creative and brilliant characters, and Bo would be taking over his brother’s concept and bringing it to life. In 2024, at the end of an incredible documentary highlighting Wyatt’s career and struggles, Bo appeared on the screen portrayed as Uncle Howdy. The last time Uncle Howdy was seen on-screen was at the 2023 Royal Rumble, where Wyatt defeated LA Knight in a Pitch Black Match. Howdy jumped off a structure onto Knight.
This post-credit scene sparked so much speculation and excitement that Wyatt’s brother would carry on his legacy and possibly debut the faction that was Wyatt’s concept. On the June 17th episode of Monday Night Raw, The Wyatt Sicks made their dramatic debut ,destroying the backstage area as well as “murdering” Chad Gable. It was such an iconic arrival for Howdy as he made his menacing walk from the back into the audience who were chanting “Holy Shit.” The Sicks and American Made (Chad Gable and The Creed Brothers) battled for months, with The Sicks being victorious. On the September 9th episode of Raw, The Sicks defeated them, with Howdy getting the win with Sister Abigail.
The following year, The Sicks would move over to Friday Night SmackDown, and it seemed like WWE had a plan in place. They would win the tag team championships from The Street Profits and start to look dominant. Now, what should have happened next is Howdy should have won the United States title. The Sicks could have held all the gold over on the blue brand, but it never happened. The Sicks entered into a never-ending feud with The MFT’s (Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, JC Mateo, and Talla Tonga.) It started off exciting, and the WWE Universe was red-hot for their interactions.
After months of repetitive matches and The MFT’s stealing their lantern, the feud grew tiresome and boring. Even Tama asked Solo why they are still holding onto the lantern, as it was destroying them as a whole. Finally on the SmackDown before Mania, Tama
gave the lantern back to Howdy against Solo’s wishes. Please explain to me why both factions fought almost every single week instead of just having one final blowoff match at WrestleMania.
It should have been either a massive street fight or a falls count anywhere match on the grandest stage of them all. Instead, it turned into a meaningless week-after-week extravaganza that benefited no one. The MFTs won the rivalry, and The Sicks don’t even work for WWE anymore. This was the same criminalized creative process that Wyatt dealt with during his first run in the company.
We’ll never know how much of a dangerous force The Wyatt Sicks could have been in the WWE. For all their careers’ sake, I hope they stay far away from the company for as long as possible. Every superstar that was cut deserves better!
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Opinion
Chris King: Bloodline Saga: Is This the Right Call For WWE?
Chris King questions the WWE’s logic in setting up Jacob Fatu as the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns
Chris King questions the WWE’s logic in setting up Jacob Fatu as the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns
Roman Reigns is once again World Heavyweight Champion after his dominant win over CM Punk at WrestleMania 42. On the following night on Monday Night Raw, The OG Bloodline came back together as a well-oiled machine as The Usos stood side by side with Roman. With the WWE Universe asking who would be the first to challenge “The Tribal Chief,” Jacob Fatu shocked the world by answering the call.
Fatu is running hot after his impressive win over Drew McIntyre and feels like he is ready to become the new world champion. This bloodline segment ended Raw, and it picked right back up on SmackDown with even Solo Sikoa and the MFTs involved. This is now two shows that have been centered around The Bloodline saga, and it’s made me question whether or not WWE should be retelling this story.
The Bloodline (Roman Reigns, The Usos, and Solo Sikoa) ran WWE for over four years as Reigns’ henchmen, doing his dirty work to retain his title. Even though Roman has declared he doesn’t want Jey and Jimmy to serve him, it sure seems like WWE are spinning their wheels. Fatu could add a whole new chapter into the story, even if he’s not able to beat Roman at Backlash. “The Samoan Werewolf” could be forced to do the same thing as Jey did all those years ago and fall in line.
In my opinion, I feel like Fatu should be challenging for the Undisputed WWE Championship because that’s a title I feel like he should win. I understand standing up to your blood and trying to prove you’re the best, but I don’t think this is the right move. It feels like 2022 all over again, as The Bloodline is the central focus on both shows. If Fatu doesn’t win, what happens to all his momentum he’s been building over the last two years?
Why did WWE make this the best choice for storyline purposes? Why couldn’t creative have come up with a different challenger for Roman? There are so many other superstars that could challenge The Tribal Chief, such as Rusev, Bron Breakker, Gunther, or even a returning Sheamus.
I just can’t help but question WWE’s logic here, and it kind of reminds me of all the times The Shield reunited. Could WWE be pushing the same storyline too many times here? Could the WWE Universe get tired of this rinse and repeat cycle of The Bloodline Saga?
Are we about to see all the weekly episodes solely focused on The Bloodline again? Will it be cinema… Yes. Is there still money in The Bloodline… Yes. Was it the right call? That’s to be determined!
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