Former WWE star Dakota Kai explains why she took a year off from wrestling

While speaking to Chris Van Vliet, former WWE star Dakota Kai explained why she took time off from the wrestling business until the EVE: Wrestle Queendom VIII event in March of 2026…

“I took almost a year off. I don’t know, I think after leaving WWE, I didn’t want to necessarily rush back into anything. I wanted to get back into wrestling on my terms and just find that passion and that love for it and just do it for fun. Basically, I wanted to do it for fun, and it was just a matter of the perfect time. Then when Will Ospreay hit me up. He’s basically like, we’d love to have you on the show, here’s what it is. When I found out I’m like wrestling Kris Statlander I’m like, oh my god, perfect. She’s been on my bucket list for years, literal years. So it just worked out.

It was weird, because during that time off, the longer I was away from wrestling, which was needed for me, personally, just mentally and emotionally, it was like the thought of wrestling again was looming over me. I have very severe performance anxiety, so the longer I was away, the more anxious I got about it. But then she made it so easy, she’s the best.”

“There was no real time limit of I want to be away for this amount. It was just more of a feeling, I guess. As soon as the opportunity came up that it was going to be there at that show on the big Wrestle Queendom show against Kris, I was like, Ah, this was meant to be. Yeah, it was cool.

I mean, I just really needed to take a step back for me in terms of just finding the passion and the love for it again. I didn’t mean for it to be a year. I know everyone was like, Why did you take a year off? I’m like, I didn’t mean to, and for that to be that amount of time, I just kind of took the time I needed. Then when the opportunity came up to be against Kris, it was perfect.” (quotes courtesy of ChrisVanVliet.com)