Dakota Kai: Rhea Ripley Convinced Me To Get Into The Locker By Saying She Actually Fit In The Locker

Dakota Kai won the 2021 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, but things weren’t always so glorious for her when standing side-by-side with her partner Raquel Gonzalez.

When Gonzalez faced Rhea Ripley on a recent episode of NXT, Ripley made sure to get rid of Dakota Kai by stuffing her in a locker, school style. When speaking with Fightful, Kai was asked about how the idea was brought up to her, and it was actually Rhea herself who pitched it. How Ripley came up with the idea is a little more curious.

“Okay, so, this is a weird story. They were talking about how they were going to do this bit. Rhea, for some reason, knew that I could fit in this locker because she fit in that locker. I was like, ‘What are you doing putting yourself in a locker?’ I don’t know. She’s just fooling around, maybe? Maybe just trying to hide from someone and play a prank. I don’t know how she knew, but she knew I could fit in there. Like, okay? But, I did it and I fit, so. She’s a contortionist, I guess. She can really—I don’t know. I don’t know how that works. I was looking at her, like, ‘These lockers aren’t big, but I’m smaller, so… I guess we could try.’ Yeah, she shoved me in there and I fit, so. So weird,” Kai laughed. 

More laughs would follow shortly after when Dakota Kai would go viral due to TikTok’s “Buss It Challenge.” Kai credited Malcolm Bivens for coming up with the idea that led to over 550,000 views on Twitter alone. 

#BussItChallenge pic.twitter.com/nd4gRAaKjF

— ℭ———— ——– (@DakotaKai_WWE) January 15, 2021

“When he messaged me about the idea the day before—I don’t have enough confidence to do anything like that myself. But, when he told me the idea about it, I’m like, ‘I could do that.’ ‘Cause it’ll be a double swerve. People wouldn’t think that Dakota Kai would do it. I mean, it’s a double swerve because you’re watching [Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania] with Malcolm. So, yeah!,” Kai said.

The video was actually made for Twitter, but ended up getting ripped and posted to Youtube, TikTok and other platforms, spreading all over the internet. Kai sang the praises of Bivens, who has been appearing on the NXT brand managing Tyler Rust.

“I was told that it was doing the rounds quite a bit because someone said that it was uploaded to TikTok. I was like, ‘Damn. Someone’s really leeching off mine and Stokes’s creativity.’ But, his brain is ridiculous in terms of creativity and stuff. The things he thinks of, even something as small as something potentially going viral or a TikTok challenge. He’s so hilarious. I give 100% props to him. That was his idea. I was only in part of it,” said Kai. 

Kai now has a huge match ahead of her, when she teams with Raquel Gonzalez to compete for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships on March 3. You can see the action on WWE NXT Wednesdays at 8 PM EST on the USA Network.