Raquel Rodriguez Comments On Facing Former Ally Dakota Kai

There will be new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions crowd on Monday’s Raw with Raquel Rodriguez on one side facing off against her former friend Dakota Kai.

The duo of Kai and Rodriguez were a dominant force during their run together in NXT. While using the name Raquel Gonzalez in NXT, “Big Mami Cool” really got to shine once she became a bodyguard associated with Kai. They went on to win the Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic in 2021 and they were two-time NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions.

After Raquel captured the NXT Women’s Championship, it appeared as though things were fine with the team until Dakota attacked her former ally. Raquel would go on to defeat Dakota at NXT Takeover 36 in August 2021. The story wasn’t over there because Kai cost Raquel the NXT Women’s Title against Mandy Rose in October 2021. That would lead to more matches with Raquel ultimately winning the feud since she was the babyface in the storyline.

While Raquel would get called up to the main roster on Smackdown in April 2022, Kai was released by WWE. However, Kai came back after former NXT boss Triple H took over WWE Creative for the main roster. Kai appeared at SummerSlam on July 30 to become part of a group (likely to be named Damage CTRL) with Bayley & IO SKY.

The team of Kai & SKY won two matches on Raw to make the finals of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship tournament this coming Monday on Raw. Meanwhile, Raquel Rodriguez & Aliyah also won two matches to make the finals.

During an appearance on the Smackdown Lowdown on Peacock/WWE Network, Raquel talked about Monday’s match to crown new Women’s Tag Team Champions on Raw:

Raquel: “I know Dakota very well. We were the first NXT Tag Team Champions and we were the first ever two-time NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions. But that doesn’t change anything. She’s made her choices and I’ve made mine, and I am very excited to be making these finals — my Raw debut with my girl Aliyah by my side.”

Aliyah, who has not won any titles during her WWE career, also spoke about how she’s got a lot left to prove and how she’s confident that they can win:

Aliyah: “Thanks, Raquel. I mean, I know I’ve got a lot of proving to do and I haven’t proven myself yet. But with Raquel by my side, I am confident that we are going to be taking those tag team titles.”

The team of Raquel Rodriguez & Aliyah made it into the finals after defeating Natalya & Sonya Deville on the August 26 edition of Smackdown thanks to a dominant performance by Rodriguez.

H/t to Fightful for the transcription.