Charlie (Dakota Kai) Opens Up About Spending A Year Away From Wrestling After WWE Release, ‘I Just Really Needed To Take A Step Back In Terms Of Finding The Passion & The Love For It Again’

WWE

Charlie, formerly known as Dakota Kai in WWE, has opened up about taking a year off from wrestling following her release last year.

She was one of the May 2025 WWE releases and only returned to the ring in March 2026, wrestling AEW star Kris Statlander at Pro Wrestling Eve’s Wrestle Queendom show.

That was on March 8 and her last match in WWE prior to being released was March 24, 2025, making it almost an entire year out of the ring.

In a new interview on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Charlie spoke about why she took a year away, saying that she didn’t necessarily intend for it to be a year and she just was just waiting for the right time to return.

She explained:

“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 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 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.”

Since the match against Statlander, Charlie has been in the ring again, facing fellow former WWE star Shotzi Blackheart at House of Glory Culture Clash during WrestleMania week.

Her former Damage CTRL teammate Kairi Sane was one of the WWE releases this past Friday.

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