Dakota Kai has revealed it was Bayley who inspired the Damage Control faction.
A guest on the Insight Podcast, Kai said Bayley brought the idea to HHH himself.
“That whole thing came out of the blue. It was probably two days before SummerSlam, and Pam, Bayley, just texts me out of the blue. She’s like, ‘Hey, I just pitched this to Hunter.’ I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ So, she was talking about an all-women’s faction for years since I was starting at NXT. She’d always been pitching this idea of, ‘I want an all-women’s faction. I think this would be so cool. I hope we get the chance.’”
A year before SummerSlam at Performance Center, Bayley took pictures with Iyo Sky, herself, Kai, Raquel Rodriguez and Alba Fyre to put faces to her idea for HHH as that was what she wanted.
The idea didn’t gain any traction until Bayley pitched it against right before SummerSlam. Kai told Bayley she wasn’t even with the company any longer. She was let go.
HHH texted Bayley back the day before SummerSlam saying he loved the idea and it was going to be Bayley, Iyo Sky and Kai.
“I was like: Holy, s–t! I need to pack. I need to pack. There is too much to do!” Kai laughed.
Kai said the members had to hide in a bus before their big debut.
“I have never been in that position where I had to be hidden before. I thought it was so cool!” laughed Kai again. “They brought us over to ‘gorilla’ in a golf cart with black covers over the sides.”
Kai said that Tommaso Ciampa saw her and she waved hello to him before they headed to the ring where Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair awaited them.
“That moment was so special especially because Bianca was in the ring and she’s one of my closest friends in this business too,” she said.
