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When Bayley first gathered Dakota Kai and IYO SKY to form Damage CTRL, it was already a formidable group. It’s only gotten bigger and badder since then.
While Kai is still working her way back from injury, SKY is now the WWE Women’s Champion. And in November, Kairi Sane and Asuka joined the team as well, making Damage CTRL without a doubt the most powerful all-women’s faction in WWE history.
In the world of WWE storylines, Bayley’s position as leader seems a bit tenuous. But whether she’s fated to be drummed out soon or sticks around for the long haul, she told Phil Strum on the Under the Ring podcast that she recognizes exactly how special this lineup is.
“I mean, I love it — I don’t just like it, I love it,” Bayley said. “I was actually thinking about this a few days ago. I was going to make this big old sappy post about it, but I’ll just share it here. I just think it’s insane, the group of women that I have in this group, in this faction. It started out with IYO and Dakota, obviously, and it’s two women that you didn’t get to see on the main show. And they’ve already shown what they can do, especially IYO, being the champion right now.”
Bayley recalled meeting Asuka for the first time after seeing her wrestle years ago in SHIMMER and being amazed by her even back then, and called her “one of the most influential women in wrestling.”
She had equally complimentary things to say about Sane, concluding that she felt “so grateful” for this version of Damage CTRL to have come together.
Bayley also talked about the importance of the size of the group, noting that for the longest time, it was common to only see one or two women wrestlers on any given WWE show.
“The cool thing about having an all women’s faction is that we don’t all have to have a match,” Bayley said. “You saw IYO vs. Michin, for example [on the Jan. 5 episode of SmackDown], and we didn’t all have a match but we were all there, we all appeared.
“So automatically you get five women on the show where you would just get two otherwise, and I think that’s more empowering, and it’s more … something for the NXT girls, at least, to look up to, and it’s something that I have always dreamt about.”
“I was happy with the three of us, but to have four or more was my ultimate goal, so this has been just a dream come true,” she added.
Listen to Strum’s full conversation with Bayley above to hear her talk about her iconic NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn match with Sasha Banks, getting advice from Stone Cold Steve Austin and Dusty Rhodes, and how she came into her own during the WWE’s ThunderDome era. And be sure to check out the Under the Ring YouTube channel to watch this episode and many others with guests from throughout the world of pro wrestling.