Dakota Kai was released by WWE in May, and she recently shared a photo revealing her new look. The 37-year-old is near-unrecognisable and is thought to be preparing for her in-ring return after a lengthy hiatus.
Whether this change in appearance is part of her next professional wrestling gimmick isn't clear, but Kai recently said that she's "gonna get back into it" soon after spending most of 2025 focusing on building her Twitch brand.
As a reminder, Kai won the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships on two occasions with Iyo Sky. Their second reign lasted for 100 days.
In NXT, she won the inaugural Women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and is a former two-time NXT Women's Tag Team Champion. However, WWE released her in April 2022 before Triple H decided to bring her back later that same year in order to form the Damage CTRL stable.
Prior to her signing with WWE, Kai wrestled under the ring name Evie, and appeared for Impact Pro Wrestling (IPW) in her native New Zealand, Pro Wrestling Women's Alliance (PWA) in Australia, American promotions Shimmer Women Athletes and Shine Wrestling, as well as Japanese promotions Pro Wrestling Zero1 and World Wonder Ring Stardom.
Kai's WWE momentum was halted in mid-2023 when she suffered a torn ACL, an injury that left her sidelined for the better part of a year. Shortly after returning, it looked like she might be on track to become the first Women's United States Champion. Instead, Kai was released in May 2025, much to the disappointment of fans.
Since departing WWE, Kai has focused mainly on her Twitch channel, "charliegirl." In addition to that, she's launched a YouTube channel, comprised of stream highlights and personal vlogs.
Kai has yet to address her WWE release in detail, but did issue a statement earlier this year where she said, "Trying to get through all the messages and man, whether it's from friends, family, colleagues, coaches, you guys. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. That's the stuff that matters. I got to make memories, create the best friendships and travel the world. I'm beyond grateful for the opportunities."
She added, "Gonna take a little time but just know...we are far from done. l've BEEN ready. Let's go."
You can see Kai's new look in the Instagram post below (along with a comparison of her WWE style).