Bayley Reveals What Kind Of Female WWE Talent She Wanted In New Stable
At WWE SummerSlam, Bayley made her return to professional wrestling after being out of action for over a year. However, the former Triple Crown Champion was not alone, as she returned alongside a debuting IYO SKY, known as Io Shirai in "NXT," and Dakota Kai, who had previously been released in April.
"This is something that I've wanted for a while, I would say a couple of years, and actually something that I've talked to [Triple H] about before," Bayley said on "After the Bell with Corey Graves." "Just wanting something different for the division and using girls who I think were either underutilized, or that didn't get that opportunity or didn't get that spotlight, and just wanted to evolve myself."
At SummerSlam, Bayley, SKY, and Kai stared down Bianca Belair in the center of the ring shortly after she had retained her "Raw" Women's Championship against Becky Lynch. Lynch, who suffered a separated shoulder during the match, came to the aid of Belair, turning face in the process for the first time in a year. The trio backed off and would not be seen until the following night on "WWE Raw" when they attacked Lynch backstage following a promo, attacking the injured shoulder and presumably writing Lynch off television.
By the end of the night, SKY had her first main roster match as she took on Belair in a non-title match that ended in a no contest after Bayley's stable went at it with Belair, Asuka, and Bliss (the latter two having being attacked by Bayley's group during their singles match earlier in the night) with the crowd encouraging the women to keep fighting.
Bayley hasn't wrestled in front of fans since prior to the pandemic, as she tore her ACL days before fans returned at the Money in the Bank PLE in 2021. Bayley was set for an I Quit Match against Belair, who was then the "SmackDown" Women's Champion. Bayley's last in-ring match to date took place on the June 25th edition of "WWEt SmackDown" when she teamed with Seth Rollins to defeat Belair and Cesaro in a mixed tag team match.
Kai and SKY were major parts of "NXT" for many years. Both women took part in the first-ever women's War Games, with Kai's team winning despite her never entering the match, as she turned heel and attacked her Team Kick partner Tegan Nox before going to the back. SKY went on to win both the "NXT" Women's Championship and the "NXT" Women's Tag Team Championship alongside Zoey Stark. Only she and AEW's Athena, formerly known as Ember Moon, have held both titles. Kai is also a former "NXT" Women's Tag Team Champion alongside Raquel Rodriguez, though their two reigns lasted a combined three days.
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