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Pro wrestling fans have access to a lot more behind the scenes information today than they ever have, even if some of it is difficult to vet at times. One thing no one should assume, however, is that they know more about a wrestler’s injury recovery status than the companies are making public.
Case in point: Damage CTRL stalwart Dakota Kai, who has been out of action since last May due to a torn ACL. Kai has been back at the side of her groupmates for a while now, and has been walking and moving around the ringside area in seemingly normal fashion.
Because this is wrestling we’re talking about, that’s led some fans to suspect that maybe she is good to go and simply milking her injury for storyline purposes. But as Kai explained on her Twitch stream this week, not only is she frustrated with how long it’s taking her to return to action, the silly speculation is only making it worse (h/t Fightful for the transcription).
I’m so sick of seeing people saying, ‘She can run and jump, but she’s not cleared still?’ No, that’s not how this works. Obviously, I can run and jump because I’ve been doing it for the last few months, but they have a set date for when you actually get cleared because I have to still do matches and they have to check all the boxes of when I’m actually cleared. I’m not going to be in a wheelchair for nine months and then suddenly stand up and go, ‘I’m cured.’ That’s not how it works.
Kai confirmed that she has been running and jumping, but simply being able to do so doesn’t mean the WWE doctors are fully satisfied that she’s healed up enough to wrestle. She also said that while she has no firm date for when she’d be cleared, “It’s definitely not long now.”
That’s great news for her supporters, and potentially bad news for Bayley who has been having her moments of trouble staying in control of Damage CTRL as it is. In the meantime, any skeptics should keep their comments to themselves, because Kai sounds like someone who will be raring to go as soon as she’s given the OK.
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