Dakota Kai and Persia Pirotta Among WWE's 1st Batch of Releases in 2022

Wrestling fans were hit with another batch of heartbreaking and infuriating releases this weekend, with 10 talents being cut from WWE, and all from the NXT brand. The two that really have me up in arms: Dakota Kai and Persia Pirotta. Oh boy.

I've been a Dakota Kai fan since watching her indy matches, where she competed under her more familiar name, Evie. The New Zealand-born sensation made her first appearance in WWE as Nia Jax's first opponent on NXT in 2015, and it was a year later that the renamed Dakota Kai signed her WWE contract and later appeared in both Mae Young Classic tournaments. Dakota's early years saw her appear frequently on NXT, which included an angle where she was continuously intimidated and targeted by the sinister Shayna Baszler.

Dakota formed a team with real-life best friend Tegan Nox during that time, but it would eventually lead to her biggest moment in her WWE career. At NXT WarGames in 2019, Dakota was set to participate in the first-ever Women's WarGames match, as she ended up on Rhea Ripley's team after Mia Yim (who was chosen over Dakota) was mysteriously attacked. When it was Dakota's turn to enter, she appeared to head for the ring, only to turn back and brutally attack Tegan Nox, turning heel for the first time in WWE. It was later revealed that Dakota was behind the attack on Mia, as she was angry over Mia being chosen over her, but the subject of her anger was Tegan, because Dakota felt that Tegan abandoned her.

Dakota feuded with Mia before Tegan came after her, and it led to a street fight at Takeover in February of 2020, which Dakota won thanks to sudden interference from Raquel Gonzalez, who was repackaged as Dakota's evil henchwoman. The pair's alignment, in storyline, was due to Dakota and Raquel's shared belief that they were overlooked in NXT, but that changed with their alliance, as it led to big things for the pair. Dakota and Raquel went on to win the first-ever Women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, with their reward being the newly-instilled NXT Women's Tag Team Championship.

The pair lost the titles on that same night, and Raquel was eventually elevated to capture the NXT Women's Championship. I and other fans felt that it was a matter of time before Dakota would turn on Raquel, and that's exactly what happened, as Dakota attacked Raquel in July 2021 to make her own play for the title. Dakota felt that Raquel used her to get to the top, but she would fail to unseat her as champion. However, Dakota ended up costing Raquel at Halloween Havoc when she attacked Raquel and caused her to lose the title to Mandy Rose. The pair continued their feud, and it was during this time that Dakota adopted a new dark and crazed gimmick, but in 2022, Dakota began a slow face turn that included a partnership with Wendy Choo in the 2nd Women's Dusty Cup.

Though they lost the tournament, Dakota regained an old friend in the form of Raquel Gonzalez, leading to the duo winning the tag titles for the 2nd time at NXT Stand and Deliver, but they would lose them days later. Dakota's last appearance saw her fail to dethrone Mandy Rose as NXT Women's Champion.

Persia Pirotta was also among the released superstars, ending her WWE tenure after only 13 months. Persia debuted as a wedding guest for the nuptials between Indi Hartwell and Dexter Lumis, with Persia's real-life close friendship with Indi being used in storyline. In that time, Indi and Persia formed a tag team and made continuous attempts at the tag titles, with their biggest shot coming at Halloween Havoc. After Indi had to tend to Dexter, an angle began where Persia voluntary faced tag teams on her own, and won them, but they were back together when Dexter recovered.

We would later see dissension between the pair, with Duke Hudson appearances in the lives of both women being part of the angle. It would lead to Indi and Persia being at odds with each other, but instead of Persia turning heel against Indi, the angle was portrayed as two friends having differences between them. The main focus of their spat was their relationships, Persia was insistent that she and Duke were a hotter couple than "In-Dex," though a poll said otherwise. After WrestleMania weekend, Indi and Persia decided to band back together and actually attempt to make a tag team out of Duke and Dexter, but it was just weeks into this angle that the release happened.

What makes this even crazier: Dexter Lumis was also released. Oh boy. I pretty much know where they're going with this. Persia's gone. Dexter's gone. Indi and Duke remain on NXT. I sense Indi turning heel with a revelation that she and Duke had been secretly seeing each other, which would also include the evil Indi badmouthing her former husband and former friend in the process. It's going to happen, count on it.

I am never happy with releases, but the last batch of releases in recent years have infuriated me, because a bunch of them are my faves. Dakota Kai was really getting over with her current babyface gimmick, I think she would have really shined had she remained on NXT, and it's very shameful due to the fact that not only had she never won the NXT Women's Championship, but both of her tag title runs were immensely short. As for Persia, she and Indi should have been tag champs. I did like their angle involving their storyline relationships, but once they were back together, they should have been pushed. Yet another case of Vince McMahon fumbling the ball at the goal line.