Dakota Kai Discusses Wanting Her Heel Turn At NXT TakeOver WarGames To Be As Vicious As Possible

Dakota Kai wanted her WWE NXT heel turn in 2019 to be vicious.

On November 23, 2019, WWE saw the first women’s WarGames in history. While that made the occasion memorable in itself, many fans remember it for the stunning heel turn before the match had even started, as Dakota Kai took out Tegan Nox when the pair were the last remaining members of their team waiting to enter the match. Now, the 37-year-old has reflected on her shocking beatdown of her supposed friend back in NXT.

Speaking to Chris Van Vliet on Insight, the former WWE star detailed wanting her heel turn in 2019 to be ‘vicious’.

“I was in NXT probably for a couple of years at that point. And I was like this happy-go-lucky bubbly babyface, which is a much easier character for me. When I got told about this WarGames situation happening, I didn’t want to get my hopes up because things change last minute, you never know. But I wanted and also needed to make this as vicious as possible to make the change be believable, if that makes sense. I wanted to lock into that because I really wanted people to believe that I could pull this off. And that WarGames match without my heel turn was amazing, too. You had the best girls on the Black and Gold brand, like Rhea Ripley, Candice [LeRae], Iyo [Sky], Shayna [Baszler]. So everything was just perfect. It was the perfect melting pot of all of us working together. But I needed it to be vicious for the reason of I need to make them believe that I can be a savage.”

-Charlie

Following her heel turn, Dakota Kai worked her way into NXT Women’s Championship contention. Just a few months after betraying Tegan Nox, she took on Io Shirai for the brand’s top gold at TakeOver 30. After coming out of the match unsuccessful, she began teaming with Raquel Gonzalez (now Raquel Rodriguez), with the pair becoming two-time NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions.

Although Kai was released by WWE in early 2022, she was back with the company by that year’s SummerSlam, this time on the main roster. This started a near three-year run with the company, only ended in May 2025 when she was once again subject to a round of roster cuts.

Now she’s back on the independent scene, the woman now known simply as Charlie has reflected on her two separate WWE releases, saying her 2025 departure came as ‘more of a shock’. You can read more about that here.

Looking to the future, though, she’s also named three dream opponents now she’s an active competitor again. You can read more about that here.

As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Charlie (FKA Dakota Kai) as soon as we hear more.