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The women’s division in WWE is stronger than ever currently, even with the absence of huge name stars like Sasha Banks, Naomi, and Charlotte Flair. This is thanks to the great talent they’ve been replaced by. Included in this are two NXT greats who have transitioned to success on the main roster, Shayna Baszler and Dakota Kai.WWE talent may portray themselves as rivals on TV, but behind the scenes many are great friends. As far as the women go, this is especially true with the likes of Sasha Banks and Naomi or Bayley, Rhea Ripley and Raquel Rodriguez, and Shayna and Dakota. The last two had a great rivalry in NXT, and even endured some real life controversy, but behind the curtain they are best friends.
Shayna Baszler And Dakota Kai Were Two Of The Best In NXT
When looking at the history of NXT’s women’s division, no wrestler has been more dominant than Shayna Baszler was. The former MMA fighter and friend of Ronda Rousey debuted in NXT in late 2017. She was presented as an unstoppable badass. The next year she became NXT Women’s Champion. For the next year and a half Bazler ruled the division, becoming the Women’s Champion a second time, this time for a very impressive 416 days.
Dakota Kai had been wrestling for nearly a decade in the indies, even making a few appearances on NXT and the Mae Young Classic, before joining NXT full-time in late 2017, the same time as Baszler. Kai was a two-time NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion and worked brilliantly as both a face and a heel. While she never quite reached the top as NXT Women’s Champion, she did have memorable matches with Baszler over their years together.
RELATED: 5 Reasons Why Asuka Was The Greatest NXT Champion Of All Time (& 5 Why It's Shayna Baszler)
There Was Some Controversy With Dakota Kai Accused Of Bullying Shayna Baszler
They may be great friends now, but Dakota and Shayna’s time in NXT wasn’t without real world controversy. After being accused by Baszler of being a bully in NXT, Kai responded on Ryan Satin’s Out of Character podcast, saying, "Well, it's in humor, you know what I mean. It's not true. Like I said, I love sarcastic humor. I will take jabs at people in a light-hearted way. But I guess, I can take that now and do it in a serious light. So it works. But yeah, I guess I am a bully, which is funny because our story back in NXT was completely flipped. She was the bully and I was the scared person, girl.”
Kai laughed and smiled while talking about the accusation, so it doesn’t seem as if was a big point of contention between her and Baszler. It does indeed seem funny and ironic though that Dakota Kai was accused of being a bully when she was for so long portrayed as the girl next door underdog, while Shayna Baszler was the bullying and menacing heel. Whatever problems they may have had in NXT, however, were resolved between the two.
RELATED: Dakota Kai: The 10 Best Matches Of Her Career
Shayna Baszler And Dakota Kai Have Lived Together And May Have Even Dated
Shayna Baszler didn’t have quite the success on WWE’s main roster as she did in NXT, but with Triple H now in charge, she has seen her star rise in recent months. It’s an understatement to say that the same has happened with Kai. Earlier this year Kai was shockingly released by WWE, and Baszler had no problem breaking character a bit and tweeting about how great her friend was.
Thankfully, one of Triple H’s first decisions as the head of creative was to bring her back. Dakota Kai returned in a shocking moment at SummerSlam as part of Damage CTRL with Bayley and Iyo Sky. As one half of the current women’s tag team champions, she is getting her chance to shine.
While Baszler and Kai don’t get to work together as much now, they are still great friends, as evident in Shayna’s YouTube channel, which shows the two together often, laughing and getting along, and even doing their makeup together. They have even lived with each other, and there have been rumors that they were a couple, which they never addressed.
No matter their status as friends or in the ring, Dakota Kai and Shayna Baszler are two of WWE’s best stars, not just in the women’s division, but in the entire company. It’s great to see Baszler getting pushed again and to see Kai getting the chance she always deserved.
