Dakota Kai may have appeared regularly in WWE since the SummerSlam 2023 premium live event, where she made a surprise appearance celebrating Iyo Sky's WWE Women's Championship win, but she hasn't stepped into the ring for a match in about nine months.
She was sidelined with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury during her WWE Women's Tag Team Championship match with Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez on Friday Night SmackDown last May, and despite having a serious injury, some fans noted that Kai seems to move well whenever she's on TV with her Damage CTRL teammates.
Kai responded to these comments during a Twitch stream, providing an update on her condition and hitting back at those who say she is potentially faking her injury.
“I'm tired of people saying, 'She can run and jump, but she's not cleared yet?' No, that's not how it works. Obviously I can run and jump because I've been doing that for the last few months, but they have a set date for when you actually get cleared because I still have to do fights and they have to check every step of when I'm actually cleared. I'm not going to be in a wheelchair for nine months and then suddenly stand up and say, 'I'm cured.' It is not how it works."
She went on to talk about her rehabilitation and training, revealing that it won't be long until she's back in the ring to actually fight.
“I’ve been running. I've been jumping. Please stop with 'she's lying, she's faking'. Do you think it was my choice not to fight for nine months? Do you think it was my choice? No. I don't know when the release date will be. Please stop asking me. The rehab is going great, though. It won’t be long now.”
Damage CTRL has dominated the SmackDown women's division even in Dakota Kai's absence from the competition, recently adding two new members in Asuka and Kairi Sane.
