Reviewing The End of Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez's Alliance

We all saw this coming ever since Raquel Gonzalez became NXT Women's Champion. We all figured that it was only a matter of time before Raquel and Dakota's year-plus long alliance would end because of that title. None of us were surprised with what went down on the latest edition of NXT. The only one who was surprised: none other than Raquel Gonzalez herself.

Let's talk about how this alliance started in the first place. It all started with a kick; one from Dakota to Tegan Nox at Takeover WarGames in 2019. Dakota's anger over being overlooked for the Women's WarGames match led her to attack Mia Yim to get on, and use that opportunity to attack Tegan, as she blamed Tegan for not standing up for her when Rhea Ripley was building her WarGames squad. This led to a long feud with Tegan that would take center stage at NXT Takeover: Portland on February 16, 2020, with Dakota and Tegan's grudge match seeing Raquel Gonzalez (formerly named Reina Gonzalez) return to NXT and help Dakota defeat her former friend.

And thus, a villainous alliance began. Dakota and Raquel's bond was due to their belief that they had been overlooked and ignored for a long time, and we would see them get their elevation in the year that passed, with their biggest moments taking place just a few months prior. First, the pair won the first-ever Women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, and it was just a few weeks later that the pair were crowned the first-ever NXT Women's Tag Team Champions. Though the pair lost the titles less than an hour after they were awarded the belts, Raquel challenged Io Shirai for the NXT Women's Championship, and won the title on the first night of NXT Takeover: Stand & Deliver.

Dakota and Raquel remained together as the latter continued to dominate as NXT Women's Champion, but it came to an end on the latest edition of NXT. The pair came out to address the women's division, with Raquel stating that she had beaten everyone that came up against her: Io, Mercedes Martinez, Ember Moon, you name it. Dakota added that Raquel had beaten them all and that she would stand by her and make sure that Raquel remained champion, but once Raquel's back was turned, Dakota delivered a swift kick to Raquel and later picked up the title, making Dakota's intentions known: she wants the title.

The minute that Raquel won the title back in April, the question was asked: "How long until Dakota turns on her?". Even though nothing is official, we have our match for NXT Takeover 36 on August 22: Raquel vs Dakota for the NXT Women's Championship. A couple of pluses in this build-up: first off, Dakota's betrayal turns Raquel face for the very first time. I had been pulling for a Raquel face turn for a while, ever since her battle with Mercedes saw Raquel show respect to Mercedes afterwards. Reina/Raquel had been amazing in her villainous role for years, now it's time to see what she can do as a heroine. If she retains at Takeover, we could see her against heels such as Candice LeRae or Franky Monet down the line, more likely the latter, as Franky's debut saw her make her intentions of being champion very clear.

Secondly, Dakota furthers her own evil demeanor with this betrayal, and promos could see Dakota claim that she "made" Raquel and brought her into NXT. Honestly, Dakota and Raquel really gives me HBK and Diesel vibes, mainly due to the fact that in each case, the "heavy" won top gold first. A third factor is the possibility of Dakota winning the title. I certainly believe she's due, some would say overdue, for a big shining moment--she's been in NXT for six years now. I would be very happy to see Dakota take the title at Takeover, but say she does--who does she really feud with? If Mandy Rose's stable (yes, there's one brewing) is a face group, then maybe we see Mandy go after Dakota, but that really doesn't leave any other options.

In all, the segment was amazing, the swerve was done well, and we have a completely new story in NXT's Women's Division. The countdown to Takeover is on!

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