35-year-old former champion needs to turn face upon active return to WWE

A few years ago, WWE's roster was seemingly lacking great babyfaces. It was almost a dying breed. Roman Reigns only started getting cheered, ironically, when he turned heel. Today, however, that is not the case.

Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, LA Knight, Sami Zayn, Becky Lynch, and Bianca Belair are some of the most over babyface stars on the roster. While Bayley's team, Damage CTRL, has remained solely on the other side of the spectrum since arriving at SummerSlam 2022, maybe it is time for one of its members to make the turn.

Dakota Kai unfortunately tore her ACL back in May and has been out of action for a while now. Despite this, she returned to WWE television at SummerSlam this year to celebrate IYO SKY's coronation as Women's Champion.

The nature of her injury may perhaps be the reason Kai is kept away from getting physical, albeit it was noticeable that she pushed back on attacking Bianca Belair on the August 18 episode of SmackDown.

It's a given The EST of WWE will be back to exact revenge on Bayley and IYO SKY. Meanwhile, Dakota Kai could turn face and leave Damage CTRL behind, branching out on her own as a singles competitor. The former Women's Tag Team Champion was one of the highly regarded stars from NXT by Shawn Michaels.

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Dakota Kai gives an update on when she will be back to in-ring competition in WWE

Dakota Kai was injured during her tag team match alongside Bayley against then-tag champs Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez on the May 17 episode of SmackDown.

Speaking on her Charliegirl Twitch channel, Kai shared more details about her ACL tear while also saying that she won't be stepping into the ring until at least next year in January:

"Probably, 2024, actually," Kai answered after she was asked when she'd be wrestling again. "I do think it's funny that a lot of people are like, 'She's not injured at all, look at her walking around.' ACL injury, it's – I haven't even learned how to jump and run again yet."

Dakota Kai continued:

"I think I'm going to start running this week. ACL recovery, especially for someone that is in sport or something like that, where you use your legs a lot — if I was a desk worker or something like that, I would be back to work properly, like fully now, but because it's wrestling I won't be clear until January." [H/T: Wrestling Inc.]

While it is a long way until 2024, Dakota Kai can be used as a significant WWE Superstar going forward without Damage CTRL holding her back. She may otherwise easily be lost in the shuffle.

Meanwhile, check out here about which Hall of Famer is it that Bayley should face in a WWE ring down the line.