{"id":252195,"date":"2026-07-09T18:29:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T18:29:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/09\/it-caught-me-off-guard-wwe-released-4-time-champion-after-giving-her-a-new-theme-song\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T18:29:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T18:29:05","slug":"it-caught-me-off-guard-wwe-released-4-time-champion-after-giving-her-a-new-theme-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/09\/it-caught-me-off-guard-wwe-released-4-time-champion-after-giving-her-a-new-theme-song\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;It caught me off guard&#8221; &#8211;\u00a0 WWE released 4-time champion after giving her a new theme song"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"5189719\" data-slug-id=\"2806167\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<img data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/cmc-predictor\/v2\/cross-icon.png?w=40\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" alt=\"close\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>WWE is headed towards The Biggest Party of the Summer in the first week of August. Meanwhile, a female star opened up about her release from the Stamford-based promotion, which came some time after she received a new theme song and was working in the mid-card scene.<\/p>\n<p>In 2022, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/player\/dakota-kai\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Dakota Kai<\/a> appeared at SummerSlam alongside Bayley and IYO SKY, and the trio created <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/team\/damage-control\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Damage CTRL<\/a>. Kai was a tag team specialist and proved it inside the square circle, as she held 4 tag team championships (2 NXT and 2 WWE) in the Stamford-based promotion. Unfortunately, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/wwe\/rumor-major-dakota-kai-update-wwe-release-reports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">she was released from the company in 2025<\/a> following WrestleMania 41.<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"template__newsletter-inline-banner-form-combo-widget\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<p><img id=\"subscribe-img\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\nThanks for the submission!\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>Speaking on <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8chA6tqr_-Q\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Ring The Belle<\/a><\/em>, the multi-time Tag Team Champion opened up about her second release from the company. Kai stated that the release initially caught her off guard, as she received a new theme song and was going after the Women&#8217;s Intercontinental Championship. However, she understood that it was a business decision. Looking at the bright side, the 38-year-old ex-WWE star stated she&#8217;s ready to complete her bucket list of opponents in the industry.<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I know. I had a new song. [When the release happened, the fans were so shocked.] I know. Yeah. It was one of those things where I thought, I&#8217;m finally getting some traction. I got a new song and things like that. So, it caught me off guard too. But I mean, at the end of the day, it is business. You know what I mean? For better or for worse. Now, I can just do what I love and just go out there, and I&#8217;ve got a whole bucket list of girlies I want to wrestle,&#8221; Kai said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"sportskeeda-embed\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/wwe\/embed\">\n<div class=\"yt-wrapper\">                    <noscript><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Dakota Kai reacts to viral SmackDown clip, \u201cinjury prone\u201d label, Damage CTRL, and Charlie\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8chA6tqr_-Q?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/noscript>                    <\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube\" data-embed=\"8chA6tqr_-Q\">\n<div class=\"play-button\"><img height=\"370\" width=\"660\" data-img=\"https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/8chA6tqr_-Q\/sddefault.jpg\" data-img-low=\"https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/8chA6tqr_-Q\/sddefault.jpg\" class=\"lazy-img\" alt=\"youtube-cover\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr\/>\n<h2>What was Dakota Kai doing on WWE RAW before her release?<\/h2>\n<p>In 2024, the company announced a tournament for the newly introduced Women&#8217;s Intercontinental Championship. In January 2025, Dakota Kai made it to the finals and lost to Lyra Valkyria. After her loss, she picked up three wins and was gearing up for another shot at the title.<\/p>\n<p>However, she suffered another injury by the end of January and ultimately received her release from WWE in May. She&#8217;s currently working on the independent circuit as a performer. It&#8217;ll be interesting to see if she ever returns for a third run with the promotion.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>If you use quotes from the article, please credit Ring The Belle and provide an H\/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-post-rating-widget\">\n<p><template id=\"post-rating-feedback-modal-template\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-feedback-box\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-content\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-data\">\n<p>Why did you not like this content?<\/p>\n<p><textarea id=\"dislike-feedback-text\" rows=\"4\" placeholder=\"Please type your feedback...\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<button class=\"close\">Cancel<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"submit\">Submit<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-widget-parent hidden\">\n<div class=\"rating-parent-container\">\n<div class=\"rating-content-holder\">\n<p>Was this article helpful?<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-action-container\">\n<div class=\"like-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-like-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"like\" title=\"like article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"like selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dislike-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-dislike-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"dislike\" title=\"dislike article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-dis-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"avatar selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\nThank You for feedback\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"bottom-tagline bottom\" data-tab=\"bottom\">\n<p>Get all the hottest wrestling news FIRST by clicking <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=sportskeeda.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\" class=\"bottom_tagline_link\" data-tab=\"bottom\">here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tag-cloud\">\n<div class=\"tags-text\">\n<div class=\"scrollable-content-holder  article-padding\">\n<p class=\"article-p  \">Quick Links<\/p>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerLeft\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Left \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img style=\"background: none;\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-left.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button><\/p>\n<nav id=\"pnProductNav\" class=\"pn-ProductNav\">\n<\/nav>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerRight\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Right \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img style=\"background: none;\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-right.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<p>More from Sportskeeda<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<span class=\"publisher-name\">Edited by Aakaansh Sukale<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/wwe\/news-it-caught-guard-wwe-released-4-time-champion-giving-new-theme-song\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WWE is headed towards The Biggest Party of the Summer in the first week of August. Meanwhile, a female star opened up about her release from the Stamford-based promotion, which came some time after she received a new theme song and was working in the mid-card scene. In 2022, Dakota Kai appeared at SummerSlam alongside [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":252197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6806],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-252195","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gossip"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}