Dakota Kai on Wrestling in Japan, Breaking into WWE, New Zealand Pop Culture | Busted Open 

Loveeeee that you brought Dakota on the show! One of my personal favorites!!!!!

She is so cute and the accent just adds to it

She is good in the ring and on the mic, NZ legend

What a great interview she seems so genuine the way she responds to everything Dave says. She deserves a run she has been nothing but spectacular since returning from injury.

We need a mid-card title for the WWE Main Roster in the Women's Division. We need either an Intercontinental Title or United States Title or whatever. And Dakota Kai needs to be the inaugural champion of this new title. That is my hope & wish for 2024. I need to see some kind of gold around Dakota Kai's waist. The start of many more golden opportunities for King Kota.

I always root for my fellow Polys in wrestling! I hope Dakota Kai finds her place amongst the greats. She’s got so much potential! NZ’s always been an amazing hub for creativity and competition. Great guest and conversation, Dave!

Boy did I learn a lot from this interview. I wouldn't mind if Busted Open did interview segments with other Members of Damage Control.

Hope Dakota gets a deserved push sometime soon in her career. Proud of her coming from a New Zealander!

When "The Rock" Rocky Maivia started hitting it big, he IGNITED the coming of Diversity in Pro Wrestling. Here's this Black Samoan with, as he puts it, " a peanut butter complexion" becoming one of the biggest stars in wrestling. And with that one move he elevated the state of Blacks/Africans, Samoans, & all other kinds of People of Color. Through him, Latinos & Asians & Indians & Middle Easterners as well as anybody with Mixed Ethnicities believed they could rise up just like he did. We had non-White stars before but once The Rock took off, he changed how far they could rise. Him joining the Nation of Domination, a group dedicated to breaking down barriers By Any Means Necessary, was the fuel for this fire that would forever change the industry. And The Rock always represented both sides of his heritage equally. Young Dakota Kai sees this. She sees not only a Samoan but an Afakasi Samoan like her on top of all this. She notices the Anoa'i/Maivia family dominance in Pro Wrestling & has the confidence to join these ranks. Rikishi Fatu telling The Rock about him doing good for "the Island Boys" in 2000 was one of the realest things said in promo. Rikishi DID do it for The Rock. Rikishi DID do it for The People. That was the precursor of the Bloodline story right there. Dakota Kai gains more & more confidence seeing just how deeply embedded Samoans are in Pro Wrestling. And through all of her pro wrestling travels before joining the WWE, Dakota Kai carried this cultural pride with her. Once she was able to join the WWE in the mid 2010s, Samoans have REALLY put down their mark in the industry. The Rock is a bonafide major movie star, Rikishi is a legend, Rikishi's sons The Usos are the tag team of dreams with their Samoan/Fijian manager Tamina Snuka, Umaga may have died prematurely but he left his mark on the business, Roman Reigns came out of NXT to the WWE main roster making his mark in The Shield, Samoa Joe is not related to the Anoa'i family but is making his mark in TNA & eventually in WWE, Haku/Meng is a Tongan but that's a related Pacific Islander group so he's cool & so are his sons, Yokozuna's impact can never be forgotten even though his time was before Dakota Kai started watching wrestling. And Dakota Kai first showed up in the WWE through NXT as Evie against ANOTHER 1st time Samoan, Nia Jax. It wouldn't be long for Dakota Kai to start showing off the Shaka & represent for this Samoan greatness. I LOVE seeing the Pacific Islander representation in Pro Wrestling rise up. I love them being cultural ambassadors. The first time I ever heard of a "Samoan" was in Pro Wrestling. You DO learn about cultures through Wrestling. I used to watch pro wrestling in dedicated fashion during the Monday Night Wars but stopped around 2001 & have only kept up with it peripherally here & there since then......UNTIL... ...The Rock came back in February with WrestleMania XL Kickoff & the whole confusion with Cody Rhodes & Roman Reigns. The Rock got my eyeballs on the show again but what REALLY got me to stick around was the WOMEN'S DIVISION. I knew the Women's Division had grown by leaps & bounds in the last decade but this was my first time truly looking at them in earnest. And who got my interest most of all in this new look at WWE's Women's Division? Damage CTRL featuring Dakota Kai along with Bayley, Io Shirai/Iyo Sky, Kairi Sane, & Asuka. I became an instant fan of the group & starting binge watching the archives to see their histories as well as the history of the Women's Division in general in NXT & WWE main roster. The Women's Division is DAMNED good. And this goodness is enhanced by Dakota Kai with one of the most interesting personalities & movesets around. I hope 2024 is the year she finally gets her main shine because she is not utilized to her full potential yet. She represents Samoans & Pacific Islanders just as well as all of those I named earlier. Loved to see Tamina & Dakota Kai interact backstage at WrestleMania 39 as Tamina adorns Dakota with Samoan protection. The flower lei & the yellow circles of paint on Dakota's cheeks. Loved seeing that Samoan unity there. Damage CTRL is effectively Team AAPI with its Japanese & Samoan members so I would like to see the team start going buckwild after King & Queen of the Ring is over. The Bird Lady Lyra has hell to pay & it's time to get her under CTRL.

The best interview.. awesome

Great interview, I hope you have her on again sometime down the track. Well done everybody.

Dakota kai is immaculate

Remember the bushwackers were from NewZealand 😂

Dakota needs to win a singles title

Dakota looking good 😊

Dakota representing us kiwis is a huge accomplishment. She should be proud of how she is doing and proud that she is the only kiwi representing us in the biggest wrestling company in the world.

Dakota & Damage Ctrl are the best, triple h needs to let them run the division. love this interview have her on more, she such a calming spirit.

I would be interested on her thoughts on Flight of the Conchords. You know, since they were the 4th most famous folk parody duo of New Zealand.

Tama and Tonga are not fully related to The Bloodline. They're Haku's adopted sons and Haku. When Haku moved to the US from Japan to pursue pro wrestling, he lived with Sika and Patricia Anoa'i, Roman's parents. Haku credits Patricia Anoa'i for teaching him how to speak English and Sika for letting him live with them rent free while he trained under both Sika and Afa. Because of the close relationship they developed during this time, he really became a member of the family and was always treated as such even though they do not share a blood bond. Roman, Jey, Jimmy, and Solo refer to him as their uncle due to the fact that he shares such a close bond with the family. Paul Heyman relationship with the family goes back 30+ yrs. so he is also considered an extended member of the family.

She can be cute, pretty, beautiful, gorgeous with that accent and humbleness but also can be badass, evil, hypocrite, backstabber, traitor and angry insulter. She can be everything! Also love her moves, her styles, her gears and hairstyle and mostly I love her doing that rock hand sign and doing like shooting an arrow, I don't know what that is but its badass. I hope her knee injury heal perfectly. Thank you Dakota for sharing the knowledge

Welcome to America 😊

when wwe did mass release of Dakota, dexter lumis and others. I was bummed. I felt that out of all of them they should have not been released. Lucky someone listened and brought them back.

I was happy to watch this. I really like this side of Dakota Kai.

We want the NXT Dakota Kai on the main roaster.

King Kota 🤩

Dave i wanted to let you know, that puertorican flag behind you makes me happy everytime i see it

Dakota is awesome.

2018-19 kai was fire in heal turn was The best in NXT history next to tomasso and gargano

Dakota is just a spoiled Samoan princess. But it's such a beautiful thing to look at her 😍❤️

love her

In a streaming room yet on a phone call. Good job sirius. working like Audacy.

Amazing 🎉🎉🎉

I love me some Dakota Kai 👌💙

I didnt realize she was samoa i thought she was maori lol polynesian same thing! Shes right though our islands of samoa are just tiny dots on the world map 😂🙏🏾🕊️

Next up Tegan Nox

🔥

dakota is beaut

That's my sister

Dakota fears John Blud

She has that strong kiwi accent. I thought by now she'd be sounding more like American.

People do realize there’s Samoan wrestlers in wwe that aren’t in the bloodline smh

Too Bad its not Dakota Kai vs Becky Lynch tomorrow 🫤

Why is she not in Queen of the Ring???

So… Dakota to the Bloodline confirmed? Never knew her Mom was Samoan

What can I say, she is amazing and will never get the booking or recognition she deserves in wwe. They continue to book her like a weak jobber who can't even look good for more than a minute in a match. Dakota has sooo much to offer but things are what they are...>

your so beautiful dakota , i'm am so in luv wit you!!!!!

Dakota needs to someday ask the Tolkien Estate if she can have a match in Hobbiton

Beautiful 😍

Dakota, first lady of the bloodline ☝️

If she’s part Samoan, she should be in the Bloodline 🤷🏽‍♂️

Dakota Kai marriage Brandin Stephens y’all

So she can’t be in the Bloodline?