The SummerSlam PPV started off strong with a big return of Bayley after the opening bout between Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair. She was then joined by Dakota Kai and Io Shirai, to form a new faction.
Fightful Select provided some updates on this big development. They noted how the former women’s champion had been training for weeks in preparation for her return.
Dakota Kai made her surprise return at SummerSlam after being released in April this year. She was a name people within the company thought Triple H would make a priority to bring back.
The former NXT women’s tag champion had gotten several main roster looks. There were writers who were ‘baffled’ when she wasn’t included in the draft last year.
Multiple companies were interested in signing her after her release, including AEW. Though her talks with Tony Khan didn’t move past the introduction stage.
There were people within the company pushing for her signing but it’s unknown why the AEW president didn’t bring her in.
Io Shirai had been in news lately with reports of her contract expiring soon. She had been out of action due to an injury since April, and there had been no creative plans for her in NXT 2.0.
This new women’s stable is a product of the new WWE management. The report says that the idea for it was pitched a while ago before Kai was released. Vince McMahon wasn’t interested in the idea, and he rejected it.
Raquel González and Kay Lee Ray were both also pitched as members of an alternate version of the faction before their respective main roster call-ups.