Former WWE champion pays tribute to Damage CTRL member; Kairi Sane has heartfelt reaction

Damage CTRL is arguably one of the most popular factions on WWE SmackDown. Former World Champion Nic Nemeth (fka Dolph Ziggler) recently paid tribute to a member of the heel stable.

The 43-year-old was released from his WWE contract last September after being with the Stamford-based company for over 19 years. Following his release, Nemeth has made appearances at TNA Wrestling, NJPW, and Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide. In his latest match, the former Intercontinental Champion failed to defeat Moose for the TNA World Championship at the Rebellion pay-per-view.

The former World Heavyweight Champion recently took to X/Twitter to pay tribute to Kairi Sane. Nemeth shared a picture of himself executing an elbow drop onto Moose from the recent match while referring to the Damage CTRL member's version of the move as the best in the game:

"A shout out to the best elbow in the game, @KAIRI_official [Kairi Sane]🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️#tna #rebellion," he wrote.

The WWE Women's Tag Team Champion responded to the veteran performer's praise as she shared a picture of herself executing the move and another standing next to the former Dolph Ziggler:

Damage CTRL member praises Giulia following her NXT appearance

At the 2024 NXT Stand & Deliver during WrestleMania weekend, the camera panned towards Japanese professional wrestler Giulia as she was sitting in the crowd. The former NJPW Strong Women's Champion is reportedly headed to WWE after bidding farewell to World Wonder Ring Stardom.

IYO SKY and Dakota Kai appeared in an interview with Stephanie Hypes for Bodyslam.net at a media event ahead of WrestleMania XL. The Damage CTRL members were asked to share their take on Giulia potentially signing with WWE, along with World Wonder Ring Stardom's former executive producer, Rossy Ogawa.

In response, the duo claimed that it would be great if the move happened as Dakota Kai praised Giulia, referring to her as an incredible talent:

"She’s an incredible talent, though, and we’ve obviously, IYO was at STARDOM for the longest time. I was at STARDOM for a little bit, too. So having that connection would be amazing for us because the women over there are incredibly talented, and Giulia included, she’s amazing," said Dakota Kai.

Damage CTRL had a WrestleMania to forget, as all the members failed to win their respective matches on The Grandest Stage of Them All. It will be interesting to see what lies ahead for the group, with Bayley already headed in a different direction.