It’s safe to say that Team Damage CTRL has been running things in the WWE’s women’s division, especially on Raw since finding their way into the main roster, last summer. Being in the top position, they are certainly enjoying their Road to WrestleMania 39. It’s also certain that they will feature in the card for the show of shows in a prominent way.
The teaming of IYO Sky, Dakota Kai, and Bayley to form Damage CTRL was a step that rejuvenated their career but that wasn’t the initial plan. The leader Bayley originally had something different planned for her faction with different team partners. Recently appearing in an interview, she revealed those names and one of them hasn’t been with the WWE for almost two years.
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While speaking with Ariel Helwani, Bayley revealed who she originally wanted for Damage CTRL. Peyton Royce now known as Cassie Lee was her first choice which would have to require the former IIconics member to return to the company. However, she got pregnant and the idea was nixed. Tegan Nox was also a choice for Bayley but she didn’t make it to the WWE in time for the group’s first show-up at SummerSlam,
“That is something that I’ve thought about for a couple years before it actually happened. I know Dakota has talked about this in her interviews in the past. It had a different group of people as the time went on.
Peyton Royce was someone that I really wanted in there. Tegan Nox was someone that I wanted in there. There were a lot of people that it just kind of changed throughout time and as people left the company and things like that, but Dakota was always, she’s one of the OG’s that I always envisioned in this group.”
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Damage CTRL lost their tag team titles to Becky Lynch and Lita
Damage CTRL had a blast with Bayley leading the promising talents Dakota Kai and IYO SKY since SummerSlam 2022. They were also originally planned to enter WrestleMania 39 as WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions. But things changed drastically. With Lita and Becky Lynch forming a mega team, it was only a matter of time before they took the titles away from the former two-time champs.
As envisioned by Bayley, Peyton Royce didn’t make her WWE return as she is still trying to figure out things as a new mother. Since leaving the WWE, she won the Impact Knockouts Tag Team Championships with her former IIconics partner Billie Kay aka Jessica McKay. As for Nox, she has since returned to WWE as a babyface talent on SmackDown. But she has yet to do something significant in her mainstay run.
Bayley also cited a specific reason to the head of the WWE creative, Paul “Triple H” Levesque for her vision about the dream team of Damage CTRL rather than just three wrestlers coming back to look good together,
“Damage CTRL is just showing the world how much more there is to offer than just what you see on TV every week,” she said. “IYO and Dakota have so much to offer the world. I want to kind of just let them know that they can just do everything. Just because the spotlights are on certain people, you are born to be here, you are meant to be here and to make history.” (quotes courtesy Wrestling INC)
