Tag: Damage CTRL

Dakota Kai Out 8-10 Weeks With A Torn Meniscus

Dakota Kai is unfortunately no stranger to knee surgery in her career, and it appears she’s headed for another one, as per “WWE Raw” commentary. Kai, who was attacked last week by Shayna Baszler, Sonya Deville, and Zoey Stark — a group now known as The Pure Fusion Collective — needs surgery for a torn meniscus in her right knee and is expected to be out of action for 8-10 weeks.

It’s unclear when the injury actually took place, but Kai hasn’t wrestled a match since July 27 at the WWE SuperShow live event in Tokyo, Japan, where she and IYO SKY defeated former WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill. She was slated to take on Deville on last week’s “Raw,” having laid down the challenge the week prior, but was seemingly written out of that match by the backstage attack and replaced by her Damage CTRL ally SKY, who emerged victorious. On Monday’s episode, Kai was nowhere to be found while SKY and Io Shirai competed against Baszler and Stark in a No. 1 Contenders’ match for The Unholy Union’s women’s tag titles, a match that ended in a no contest when the champions attacked both sides.

Kai suffered a torn ACL in the same knee last year and only returned to action in February. Damage CTRL has been plagued by knee problems in 2024, with Asuka still recovering from her own injury with no timeline for her return having been announced.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Trish Stratus Coming Out Of Retirement For Match At WWE WrestleMania 39

Trish Stratus will officially come out of retirement at WrestleMania 39, joining forces with WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Becky Lynch and Lita in a six-woman match against Damage CTRL. The match was made official on this week’s “WWE Raw” where Lita and Lynch thanked Stratus for helping them even the odds in their rivalry against Bayley & Co. 

Stratus stepped out and told Lita “I’ll always have your back” and that it was a pleasure to watch her win gold with “The Man.” At this point, Damage CTRL confronted the three women in the ring.

“You two [Lita and Stratus] are legitimately the reasons why we are in this ring right now,” Bayley said, thanking the Hall of Famers for their contributions to the business. “That said, the three of us [Damage CTRL] are going to be the reasons you never come back!”

At this point, Stratus referenced her promo from “Raw” last August, where she teased stepping out of retirement. 

“I warned I could go real quick from ‘I am retired’ to ‘I was retired,'” Stratus reiterated. “I couldn’t think of a better place to shut your mouth up than at the Grandest Stage of Them All!”

Stratus then looked at the WrestleMania sign and issued the challenge to Damage CTRL.

Bayley immediately accepted the challenge, something that seemed to upset IYO SKY and Dakota Kai. Thereafter, Stratus and Lita delivered tandem offense to throw SKY and Kai out of the ring, leaving Lynch and Bayley to come face-to-face in the ring. The segment ended with an upset Damage CTRL retreating from the ring.

It remains to be seen if Damage CTRL implodes at WrestleMania 39, seeing as WWE teased some tension between the trio on Monday’s show.

Stratus had previously retired following her loss to Charlotte Flair at SummerSlam 2019 in her hometown of Toronto. Subsequently, Stratus teased the possibility of unretiring for a match against Lynch, especially when Lynch was portraying her “Big Time Becks” heel persona. Stratus would also get physical at a pair of WWE live events last August, coming to the aid of Alexa Bliss and Asuka during their rivalry with Damage CTRL. As such, the news of Stratus coming out of retirement has been widely expected and is not surprising in the least.

Besides the aforementioned six-woman match, the confirmed lineup for WrestleMania 39 includes Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes, John Cena vs. Austin Theory, Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair, Asuka vs. Bianca Belair, Brock Lesnar vs. Omos, and Logan Paul vs. Seth Rollins. Other rumored matches include Bobby Lashley vs. Bray Wyatt, Edge vs. Finn Balor, Rey Mysterio vs. Dominik Mysterio, and Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens vs. The Usos. 

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Trish Stratus Returned To WWE On RAW, Helping Lita And Becky Lynch Win Women’s Tag Titles

Last night on RAW, Trish Stratus returned, helping Lita and Becky Lynch win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship from Damage CTRL’s IYO Sky and Dakota Kai.

Stratus took out Bayley, preventing her from interfering in the title match. Lynch put SKY in an armbar while Lita nailed Kai with a top-rope moonsault to dethrone Damage CTRL on the Road To WrestleMania.

Lita and Lynch are both in their first reign as WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, ending Damage CTRL’s second title run at 114 days. SKY and Kai won the titles from Alexa Bliss and Asuka at WWE Crown Jewel on November 5th, 2022.

Lita Makes Surprise Return To WWE Monday Night RAW – Aids Becky Lynch Against Damage CTRL

WWE Hall of Famer Lita made her return to WWE during this week’s episode of RAW and has her sights set on Damage CTRL.

In the main event of RAW, Bayley faced Becky Lynch in a Steel Cage match, the same match the pair were meant to have at RAW’s 30th-anniversary show.

During the closing moments of the match, Lita made her return and took out IYO SKY and Dakota Kai who were at ringside.

Lita’s most recent match in WWE was at last year’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view event, where she lost to then-Champion Becky Lynch in a RAW Women’s Title match.

During an episode of the Broken Skull Sessions, Bayley named Lita as her dream opponent from any era.

It is WrestleMania season, and Lita’s new pattern seems to suggest she likes showing up around the Elimination Chamber. Did she just appear for a one-off last night? Or is there more involvement planned for her in the coming months?

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1622807855345831937

Sources: eWrestlingNews and Wrestling Inc.

Why Becky Lynch Vs. Bayley Steel Cage Match On WWE Raw Is XXX Didn’t Happen

Fans looking forward to the Steel Cage Match between bitter rivals Bayley and Becky Lynch on “WWE Raw is XXX” were left puzzled as the match ended abruptly, with the referee never calling for the bell. 

According to Fightful Select, WWE called an audible on the Bayley vs. Lynch bout due to the earlier “Tribal Court” segment featuring The Bloodline going longer than planned, which meant that “several segments needed to be trimmed” through the rest of the show.  

Fightful added that the original plan was for “the match and entrances to get two segments,” which would have typically meant a 10-14 minute match at the least. Once the opening Bloodline segment ran too long, WWE felt it made sense to “work an angle to set up to a full on match” at a later date, rather than having a short cage match lasting barely a few minutes. WWE obviously had a ton of segments already planned for the rest of its 30-year anniversary edition of “Raw.”

The angle in question was set up after Bayley and Lynch got their entrances, following which Damage CTRL’s IYO SKY and Dakota Kai jumped “The Man” and launched her into the wall of the cage with a double-team flapjack. Thereafter, Kai once again smashed Lynch’s back against the cage before locking the cage to deny WWE Official Adam Pearce and others entry into the cage. Following a moonsault from Kai, Damage CTRL hit a triple-team move planting Lynch face-first to the mat.  

Eventually, Pearce used a boltcutter to enter the ring, but Lynch was deemed unable to compete. The segment ended with Damage CTRL posing atop the cage. 

Both Bayley and Lynch are confirmed entrants in Saturday’s Women’s Royal Rumble Match. Lynch has the opportunity to win the annual battle royal for the second time in her career, following her victory in the second-ever Women’s Royal Rumble in 2019, meanwhile, Bayley has never won the Rumble. 

Source: Wrestling Inc.